PRUNING. 305 



though old hardened bark will not swell up so quickly as the new 

 bark on a young shoot. 



Stopping and Pinching out. When the point of a shoot is cut off or 

 pinched out, while that shoot is in a growing state, it is said to be 

 stopped ; that is, the shoot is prevented from extending in length, and 

 the sap which was before impelled to its growing point, is now ex- 

 pended in adding to the largeness or succulence of the leaves or fruits 

 which may be on the shoot, or in swelling or developing the buds, or, 

 in some cases, changing them from leaf-buds into flower-buds. The 

 principal uses of stopping, however, are to promote the setting and 

 swelling of fruit, either on the shoot of the current year, as in the 

 case of the vine and the melon, or at its base, as in the case of the 

 peach. By stopping the stem of the tobacco-plant, and of the basil, 

 above the third or fourth leaf, the leaves acquire an extraordinary 

 degree of magnitude and succulence, and the same result is sometimes 

 produced with common spinach and the curled parsley. By stopping 

 flower-bearing shoots after they have shown their flower-buds, and re- 

 moving these, as in the case of annual flowers, the strawberry, the 

 raspberry, the rose, &c., the blossoming and fruit-bearing seasons are 

 retarded, as they are accelerated by stopping all the shoots on a plant 

 that are not blossom-bearing. This stopping has been carried to great 

 lengths in the cultivation of fruit trees in pots, or in the training of 

 them as cordons. (See Training.) Much of the winter pruning of trees 

 might be prevented by stopping the shoots early in summer, provided 

 the state of the tree did not require that the shoots should be allowed 

 to grow their full length in order to send down nutriment to the 

 increase of the roots, in consequence of which greater vigour is in 

 turn imparted to the stem and branches. 



Disbarking. -Disbarking the living tree used to be practised for two 

 purposes : one to clear the trees of moss, lichens, or insects, and 

 permit more freedom of growth to the young bark and alburnum ; and 

 the other to induce fruitfulness. The latter was effected by ringing 

 or removing a band of bark, of more or less width, entirely, and thus 

 checking the flow of the sap. This practice is now abolished, as fer- 

 tility may readily be secured by skilful root-pruning. Disbarking for 

 the tanner consists in removing the whole of the bark, and is best per- 

 formed in spring, when in consequence of the abundance of ascending 

 sap, the bark separates easily from the wood. 



Disbudding is the removal of buds early in spring, just when they 

 are beginning to develop their leaves, and is commonly performed with 

 the finger and thumb ; the object being to lessen the number of shoots 

 or of blossom-buds to be produced. By lessening the number of 

 blossom-buds, it will add to the strength and probability of setting of 

 those which remain, and the same increase of strength will take place 

 in respect to the shoots, whilst, at the same time, the number of these 

 is reduced to an approximation of that which can ultimately be 

 retained for training. By applying this mode of pruning judiciously 

 to such trees as the peach, apricot, and plum, especially whtn trained 

 against walls, the use of the knife may be in a great measure dispensed 



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