ON TRAINING AND PRUNING. 23 



strands of fresh matting, or pack thread, to tie with ; and 

 observe to leave sufficient room for the swelling of the shoots 

 and branches next season. 



By attending to the proper training of fruit trees, every 

 advantage is promoted, and by a judicious management in 

 other respects, wood may not only be obtained, but preserved 

 in every part of the tree, so that it will bear down to the 

 very bole, which will evidently be greatly to the credit of 

 the gardener, the benefit of the proprietor, and equally con- 

 ducive to the beauty and welfare of the tree. While trees 

 are young, it is necessary to lay a good foundation for a sup- 

 ply of bearing wood in future years, for when this is neg- 

 lected, and they become naked, it is sometime before a sup- 

 ply can be recovered. In shortening a branch, always take 

 care to cut in a direction a little sloping, and the middle of 

 all standard trees should be kept as open as possible. It is 

 requisite to have a very sharp knife, that the cut may not be 

 ragged, but clean, and in the operation be careful that the 

 knife does not slip, so that another branch be cut or damaged. 

 The general pruning of fruit trees is indifferently per- 

 formed by many persons at any time from autumn to spring, 

 and it may be so done without any great injury to them, 

 provided mild weather be chosen for the purpose, and the 

 Wood be well ripened. Although it may be advantageous 

 to prune trees early in the winter, when the wood is well 

 ripened, yet, when the wood is green and the buds have not 

 arrived at a mature state, it is requisite in such cases to defer 

 pruning until spring, taking care, however, that it is perform- 

 ed before the moving of the sap. The necessity of this 

 arises from the circumstance, that as the wood is not ripened 

 in autumn, the sap is then in an active state, and will con- 

 tinue so until the frost, &c., cause it to become stagnant ; 

 and if the shoots were shortened while the sap was in mo- 

 tion, the buds would be considerably injured, and the tree 

 weakened ; such unripe shoots are also more liable to suffer 

 by the severity of winter, and when the pruning is deferred 



