PRUNING. 117 



principle is founded on a fact to which we have already 

 had occasion to refer, viz., that the sap circulating slowly 

 is subjected to a more complete elaboration in the tissues 

 of the tree, and becomes better adapted to the formation 

 of fruit-buds. 



" This principle can be applied to produce the following 

 results : When we wish to produce fruit-buds on a branch, 

 we prevent a free circulation of the sap by bending the 

 branches, or by making annular or circular incisions on 

 it ; and, on the contrary, when we wish to change a fruit 

 branch into a wood branch, we give it a vertical position, 

 or prune it to two or three buds, on which we concentrate 

 the action of the sap, and thus induce their vigorous de- 

 velopment. 



" 5. The leaves serve to prepare the sap absorbed by the 

 roots for the nourishment of the tree, and aid the forma- 

 tion of buds on the shoots. All trees, therefore, deprived 

 of their leaves, are liable to perish. This principle shows 

 how dangerous it is to remove a large quantity of leaves 

 from trees under the pretext of aiding the growth or 

 ripening of fruits, for the leaves are the nourishing organs, 

 and the trees deprived of them cannot continue to grow, 

 neither can the fruit ; and the branches so stripped will 

 have feeble, ill-formed buds, which will, the following 

 year, produce a weak and sickly growth. 



" 6. Where the buds of any shoot or branch do not de- 

 velop before the age of two years, they can only be forced 

 into activity by a very close pruning, and in some cases, 

 as the peach, this even will often fail. This last principle 

 shows the importance of pruning the main branches of 

 espaliers especially, so as to insure the development of the 

 buds of their successive sections, and to preserve well the 

 side shoots thus produced, for without this, the interior 

 of the tree will become naked and unproductive, and a 

 remedy will be very difficult." 



If these principles and practices of pruning be carefully 



