234 



PRUNING. 



pinched will start and grow again. In such cases another 

 pinching must be performed within an inch of the previ- 

 ous one. As a gen- 

 eral thing, this will 

 be sufficient ; "but if 

 not, a third must be 

 given in the same 

 way ; for if they be 

 allowed to extend 

 into wood branches, 

 they will require 

 knife-pruning, and 

 create confusion 

 among all parts of 

 the tree. A very 

 general error in con- 

 ducting trees of 

 this kind, and in- 

 deed all others, is to 

 allow the branches 

 to be too close to 

 each other, so that 

 when they come to 

 bear, the wood, foli- 

 age, and fruit, on the 

 interior, are so ex- 

 cluded from the air 

 and light that they 

 all suffer. The fruit 

 is imperfect, and the 

 spurs become feeble, 

 and gradually per- 

 ish. The tree has 

 now two branched 

 sections, each from 

 twelve inches to two feet, as the case may be, and with 



Fig. 112. 



Pear-tree four years old, three times pruned ; 

 cross-lines indicate the fourth pruning; will now 

 be in a bearing state. 



