152 



but not by a person who ** gets into the 

 ** middle and lays about him right and 

 *' left*," but by experienced men, who 

 make it their profession in that county : 

 and few gardeners who have not seen 

 the operatiou, would conjecture what rule 

 they could have for it, as the bearing- 

 buds of this tree are not to be distin- 

 guished in the usual way of other fruit. 



The time, however, chosen there for 

 this purpose, is the month of March, 

 when the shrubs are in bloom ; at this 

 season they are regularly cleared of the 

 superfluous branches, and the blooming 

 branches left, most of which are stopped, 

 a few buds before the fruit. From this 

 management alone is the crop of nuts 

 usually produced in Kent, but in all 

 other places where they grow, this crop 

 is not only uncertain, but not one half so 

 productive, I had long been informed of 

 the practice of pruning, but as I had 

 never heard it explained, I purposely 

 went into the country to observe it, and 



♦ Vide Mr.Knight's treatise on fruit, 4th edit. p.87. 



