SPUR-PRUNINQ. 



537 



Fig. 358. 



Spur-pruning, fifth year. 



Summer Pruning. All shoots are pruned, as already directed, in the 

 second and third years. 



Fifth Year. Winter Pruning. All the spurs are allowed to retain 

 three fruitful buds each ; but as there are generally more than are 

 required to keep, some of them are thinned away, retaining the best 

 buds. The ripest buds are 

 most plump and red at the 

 ends. If such buds are situated 

 near to the origin of the spur 

 (as fig. 358, spur A, a a a), they %|u f 6 

 are retained in preference to _ ^5 /} K 

 similar fruitful buds that are 

 nigher the end of the spur (as 

 b b} ; the spur is then cut off 

 (as at c c). When there are 

 no fruitful buds near to the 

 origin of the spur, those are 

 left that are further off ; but 

 always take care to preserve 

 the bud situated nearest to 

 the branch which supports the spur, whether it be a growing or a fruitful 

 one (as spur B, in which a is a fruitful bud, and b a growing one). 



If there be a suitable supply of buds upon the old part of the spur 

 (as c, c c c), they are retained in preference to those buds formed at 

 the bases of shoots which have been pruned during summer (as e b) ; 

 for when there is a proper supply on the old part of the spur, all such 

 shoots are cut clean away, with the exception of one that is situated 

 near to the origin of the spur (as e), when only that bud and the two 

 next are left. 



Summer pruning is performed as before directed. 



Sixth Year. Winter Pruning. In order to convey a correct notion 

 of the treatment of the spurs in future it will be necessary to point them 

 out by numbers, as 1, 2, and 3. The enumeration will proceed from 

 the bole of the tree, along the branch. After three spurs are thus num- 

 bered, begin again and proceed with No. 1, &c. (agreeably to fig. 359). 



Every spur, No. 1, is now cut down to the lowest bud there is upon 

 it, whether it be a fruitful bud (as a), or growing bud (as b). Every 

 spur, No. 2, should have three fruit-buds (as c c c), and every spur, 

 No. 3, four fruit-buds (as d d d d). When a spur, No. 1, is destitute 

 of either a fruitful or a growing bud towards the lower part of it, such 

 a spur is cut down so low as only to leave about one half inch remain- 

 ing (fig. 351), A). There is generally an eye or embryo of a bud 

 situated near to the origin of the spur (as a, spur A) ; from this a 

 shoot or a fruitful bud is produced the ensuing summer, and thus a 

 supply is obtained for that cut away. 



Summer Pi-uning. All shoots are shortened during summer, as 

 before directed. Particular care is paid to the spurs No. 1, as a shoot 

 or a fruitful bud is generally produced nearer to the base of the spur 

 than to the bud that was left at winter pruning, and most commonly at the 



