45 



growth is matured to a certain extent, and the stronger the wood while 

 they are young the sooner will they be able to produce full crops. It is 

 one of nature's laws that plants, as well as animals, are usually only 

 impelled to reproduce their kinds after a certain stage of maturity is 

 reached. Trees, it is true, will sometimes bear early, but any fruit 

 produced before a certain age or size is attained lessens the vigour of 

 the plants. The time required for trees to reach maturity will vary, 

 often considerably, according to the kinds of fruit and the local condi- 

 tions under which they are growing. Asa rule, trees may be considered 

 to have reached a fair degree of maturity in four or five years after they 

 are planted. 



Pruning to increase Productiveness. Very frequently when trees are 

 growing in rich natural soils, or manure has been used too freely, they 

 will continue to expend their energies chiefly in the production of wood 

 and increasing in bulk, after the time when they ought to be yielding 

 good crops of fruit. Sometimes these strong-growing trees will bloom 

 freely, but the flowers wither off without setting fruit, or perhaps the 

 latter may form, but drop soon after. This result is often due to the 

 shoots being so strong that they divert the material that is required for 

 the development of the fruit into woody growth. This state of affairs 

 is likely to continue unless the excess of vigour is checked by the 

 cultivator. It is the too common practice in dealing with such trees to 

 thin out and head back the branches severely, under the mistaken idea 

 that the remedy lies in taking some of the wood away. But this is 

 precisely what the cultivator ought not to do, as such treatment only 

 aggravates the evil. The more the branches of a tree are cut away the 

 greater effort will the plant again make to restore the balance between 

 roots and branches, which has been disturbed. These over-vigorous 

 trees should be kept rather full of branches than otherwise, to lessen the 

 tendency to rampant growth. The remedy in such cases is not to cut 

 away branches-, but to check the excessive vigour of the trees by 

 curtailing the supply of nourishment through lessening the power of the 

 roots. This object may be effected by root-pruning. The usual way of 

 performing this operation is to cut a semi-circular trench on one side of 

 the tree at such a distance from the stem as will depend upon its size, 

 and separate all the roots that come within that radius. Make the 

 trench as deep as the roots extend, spade wide, and separate the roots 

 with clean cuts. In the following year treat the other side of the tree 

 in the same way. This treatment will often bring these refractory teees 

 into fruit-bearing condition. The most effective way of root-pruning, 

 however, is to carefully bare the roots of the tree to be operated upon, 

 and then to shorten back the coarser roots and those having but few 

 fibres. At the same time, all vertical roots that are over 18 inches deep 

 should be cut through. By adopting this plan, a better selection of 

 roots is obtained by the operator than by following the ordinary method, 

 and he, consequently, has a more perfect control over the trees. On the 

 other hand, however, this system entails more labour, and the operator 

 mast have special knowledge to enable him to work judiciously. Ro^t- 

 pruning may be done at any time between the fall of the leaf and the 



