PRUNING. 47 



the quince and the pear are alike nourished from the 

 earth by the same food, in quality and substance; the 

 leaves being exclusively the laboratory in which the juices 

 are prepared which form the fruit. Even the difference 

 in the varieties of fruit of the same species, in taste and 

 flavor, is supposed to be owing to no other cause than 

 some different and peculiar formation or property of the 

 leaf. The Chinese form their dwarfs on the most fruitful 

 limbs of bearing trees ; these, when rooted, are separated, 

 and when the fruit is at maturity, being much in demand 

 in China, they bring a price in proportion to the crop 

 they bear; especially oranges, peaches, plums, grapes, &c. 

 They even extend their practice to flowering and other 

 ornamental trees. 



The following mode, as practised in China, is extracted 

 from the account of John Livingstone, Esq., of Macao. 

 See Vol. iv. of the Land. Hort. Trans. 



In the spring, at the time when the trees of fruit or of 

 ornament are in blossom, they commence by selecting 

 those branches which are most loaded with blossoms, and 

 remove the bark quite round the branch, to the depth of 

 about half its diameter. This part is covered with a large 

 ball, of a composition similar to grafting clay. For large 

 branches of elm, &,c., a covering of straw or coarse cloth 

 is used ; but for the orange, peach, &.C., the composition 

 is of itself sufficient. 



When it has been ascertained that the roots formed are 

 sufficient to preserve the living system, and this time va- 

 ries from six weeks to three months, according to circum- 

 stances, from the commencement of the operation, the 

 branches are separated, and after being removed to pots, 

 their fruitfulness is preserved by cramping their growth ; 

 by confining their roots in very contracted earthen vessels ; 

 in carefully regulating and stinting their supplies of nour- 

 ishment; in bending and contorting their limbs into many 

 fanciful shapes, and confining them thus by wires. In 

 the province of Fo-kien, where the best dwarfs are said to 

 be formed, to entice ants to destroy the heart wood, sugar 

 is introduced into small openings made for this purpose. 



Staunton, in his account of the embassy of Lord Ma- 

 cartney to that country, has stated that straw was used 

 with the clay, and a vessel of water is placed above, with 

 an aperture sufficient to allow the water to fall slowly, in 



