PRUNING. 113 



us suppose the lateral branch of a pear tree, (fig. 85, B). 

 This was cut back the first time to b, and below that 

 point five shoots were produced, none of which were need- 

 ed for branches. We therefore pinched them in June, 

 when about three inches long or thereabouts, and the 

 result is, they are now fruit branches. The same branch 

 was cut back the second time to d, d, and on that section 

 seven shoots were produced that were not needed in the 

 form of the tree, and were consequently pinched, and will 

 become fruit branches. At the points b, and d, d, are 

 small spurs, the base of shoots that have been pinched 

 close to favor the growth of the leader, as well as the 

 development of the shoots below. Without pinching, it 

 would have been impossible to obtain such results in this 

 branch in the same time. 



M. Dubreuil, formerly Professor of Arboriculture in the 

 Garden of Plants at Rouen, in France, sums up the gen- 

 eral principles of pruning as follows. (I may remark here, 

 that in 1849 I visited the Rouen garden, and found M. 

 DubreuiPs theory and practice beautifully illustrated on 

 the trees in his charge. My visit was made at the time 

 of his practical lectures, and I was able to examine the 

 whole with the most satisfactory minuteness. The trees 

 there, under all forms, and embracing' all the hardy spe- 

 cies of fruits, were the best that I found anywhere, not 

 even excepting the much admired and famous pyramidal 

 pear trees of M. Cappe, at Paris. They were not only 

 perfect in form, but, as regards vigor and fruitfulness, in 

 the most admirable condition.) He says : 



" The theory of the pruning of fruit trees rests on the 

 following six general principles : 



" 1. The vigor of a tree, subjected to pruning, depends, 

 in a great measure, on the equal distribution of sap in all 

 its branches. 



" In fruit trees abandoned to themselves, the sap is 

 equally distributed in the different parts without any other 



