' - '.:',.." 

 I7 8 TZft? /KG/7 1 GROWER'S GUIDE. 



they must be well supported with stakes afterwards, for at least two years. Severe 

 root-pruning requires great care. Taking out a circular trench a yard from the stem, 

 and cutting one-third, half, or two-thirds of the roots off a tree, is not the practice we 

 have found successful. When trees, pears for instance, become large and produce nothing 

 but luxuriant shoots in summer, that are cut out in winter, root-pruning may be practised 

 with great advantage, provided it be done cautiously yet effectively. The soil should 

 be rt,noved from over the roots as far outwards as they extend strongly, say a yard 

 and a half away in the case of trees against a 10-feet wall, more if the trees are higher ; 

 or if in the open, quite that distance or more with trees fifteen to twenty years old ; 

 but it is safer to keep well away from the stem than to operate too .closely. Cutting off 

 one- third the roots at a yard, two-thirds at a yard and a half, and the remaining third 

 at two yards from the stem is a good principle to follow, varying the distance in 

 accordance with the strength of the trees and the character of the roots. Sometimes 

 root-pruning has no material effect, through the fangs which form near the bole and go 

 straight down having been overlooked. See page 160 ante, and proceed as directed. 



Indiscriminate root-pruning must not be practised. The condition of trees should 

 be accorded due weight, and thought must govern action. The special requirements of 

 each kind will have due consideration in the proper place. As a rule October and 

 early November are the best months for pruning, because the ground is warm, and, if 

 also moist, the cut-back roots soon heal over ; then, if the soil is suitable, they quickly 

 form a network of fibres, without which firm, fruitful growth cannot be expected. 



SHAPING AND TRAINING. 



Shaping Trees. Pruning is essentially a shaping process. Trees naturally assume 

 forms that do not render them the most profitable, and the art of the cultivator may be 

 displayed to great advantage by the intelligent use of the knife. Fanciful modes of 

 shaping have never been popular in Britain. Lost in antiquity is the origination of the 

 cup-shaped gooseberry bush, yet it prevails with singular uniformity all over the world. 

 Its advantages are accessibility of every part to climatic influences, which promote fruit- 

 fulness, and affording facilities for pruning and gathering the crops. This form, more 

 or less modified, is applicable to trees of the larger fruits as well as bushes. The process 

 of forming a cup-shaped head is the same in both standard and dwarf trees. A fruit 

 tree left to itself becomes a wilding, in poor soil stunted, in generous soil making long 

 growths incapable of supporting the fruit eventually produced, and the branches are 



