600 REMARKS APPLICABLE TO FRUIT TREES GENERALLY. 



fruit is limited by nature, it follows that a few fruit grown to a large 

 size will be less injurious to a plant than the same weight of fruit pro- 

 duced in fruits of small size. As in plants in a state of seed-bearing, 

 the chief energies of the plant are directed to the nourishment of the 

 seed, so in those fruit-bearing plants in which the fruit is gathered 

 green such as cucumbers, gourds, capsicums, peas, beans, kidney- 

 beans, &c. none of the fruit should be allowed to mature any seed, so 

 long as any of it is gathered in an unripe state. Hence the immense 

 importance of thinning out the blossom-buds of trees before they ex- 

 pand, and thinning out the fruit before the embryo of the seed begins 

 to assume that stage which in berries and pomes is called setting, and 

 in nuts and stone-fruit, stoning. 



Any check given to the head of a tree, such as disleafing, the attacks 

 of insects, disease, overbearing, &c., has a tendency to cause the plant 

 to throw up suckers, if it is natural to the root or stock to do so. As 

 the leaves produced at the base of a young shoot are small and gene- 

 rally soon drop off, so the buds in the axils of such leaves are never 

 blossom-buds till they have become invigorated by at least another 

 year's growth ; and hence when young wood is shortened, if blossom 

 is the immediate object, it ought not to be cut farther back than to the 

 first large bud. This is particularly applicable in the case of vines, 

 roses, &c. In shortening such wood on spur-bearing trees, such as the 

 apple and pear, only one or two of the imperfect buds are left at the 

 base of the shoot, and these the following year generally become 

 blossom-buds, if the tree is neither too weak nor too luxuriant. In 

 general, winter pruning a young tree retards the period of its fruit- 

 bearing, but greatly increases the vigour of the tree ; hence delicate 

 trees, such as the peach, require more pruning than very hardy trees, 

 such as the apple and plum. 



Summer pruning effects various objects : it exposes the fruit, where 

 it exists, and also the embryo fruit-buds, and leaves connected with 

 them, to the beneficial influence of light, air, and dews. Such pruning 

 removes the mechanical obstructions to the free and full action of 

 light and air upon the buds, flowers, or fruit. Physiologically con- 

 sidered, the progress of the sap is limited by summer pruning, and is 

 directed towards the leaves and buds on the lower parts of shoots, 

 which are in consequence invigorated, more especially as their free 

 exposure to light, &c., enables them better to elaborate this increased 

 supply. But although the foliage so left to act is increased in size and 

 efficiency, yet the agency of this portion in producing roots is notwith- 

 standing less powerful than the whole mass would be if the shoots 

 were allowed to grow wild throughout the summer ; for in proportion 

 to the mass of healthy foliage so is the increase of roots. Hence 

 excessive vigour is moderated by summer pruning, and this in a 

 greater or less degree according to the time and manner of performing 

 the operation. The longer the operation is deferred, and the less the 

 portion cut off from the shoots, the greater will be the strength which 

 the roots will derive ; and the earlier and shorter the shoots are cut, 

 the less will be the quantity of foliage, and proportionally so the 



