PRUNING. 101 



successive stages of growth and maturity, pruning, to 

 some extent, and for some purpose, is necessary. It may, 

 therefore, be reasonably presumed that no one is capable 

 of managing trees successfully, and especially those con- 

 ducted under certain forms, more or less opposed to 

 nature, without knowing well how to prune^ what to prime , 

 and when to prune. This knowledge can only be acquired 

 by a careful study of the structure of trees, because the 

 pruning applied to a tree must (aside from the general 

 principles on which all pruning depends) be adapted to 

 its particular habits of growth and mode of bearing its 

 fruit. It is in view of this fact that the chapter on the 

 structure and mode of formation of the different parts of 

 fruit trees has been given in the first part of this treatise, 

 that it may form the basis of this branch of culture. 



The idea that our bright American sun and clear at- 

 mosphere render pruning an almost unnecessary operation, 

 has not only been inculcated by horticultural writers, but 

 has been acted upon in practice to such an extent, that 

 more than three-fourths of all the bearing fruit trees in 

 the country are at this moment either lean, misshaped 

 skeletons, or the heads are perfect masses of wood, unable 

 to yield more than one bushel in ten of fruit, well matur- 

 ed, colored, and ripened. 



This is actually the case even in what may be called, 

 in comparison, well-managed orchards. Look at the dif- 

 ference between the fruits produced on young and old 

 trees. The former are open, the fruits are exposed to the 

 sun, and, therefore, they are not only large and perfect, 

 but their skins are smooth and brilliant, as though they 

 were painted and polished. This ought to teach us some- 

 thing about pruning. But this is only one point. We 

 prune one portion of a tree to reduce its vigor, and to 

 favor the growth of another and weaker part. We prune 

 a stem, a branch, or a shoot, to produce ramifications of 

 these parts, and thus change or modify the form of the 



