PRUNING, WINTER. 



405 PRUNING, WINTER, LATE. 



year. This may appear to be a contra- 

 diction of a maxim previously laid down, 

 to prune short an over-vigorous branch and 

 leave the weak ones long. The con- 

 tradiction is only apparent : the one applies 

 to a whole tree, which is to be treated 

 alike in all its parts ; the other to a tree 

 whose equilibrium is to be restored the 

 one to the production of wood, the other 

 of fruit. 



The tendency of sap to flow to the ex- 

 tremity of the branch leads to a more 

 vigorous development of the terminal bud 

 than of the lateral buds ; accordingly, 

 where it is desired to obtain an elongation 

 of the branch, it is necessary to prune back 

 to a vigorous wood bud, and to leave none 

 beyond it which can interfere with the 

 action of the sap. 



7 he mort the sap is retarded in its circu- 

 lation, the smaller is the force with which 

 it acts in developing branches, and the 

 greater in action in producing flower buds. 

 Trees only begin to develop flower buds 

 when they have reached some maturity, 

 for it is necessary for the production of 

 flower buds that the sap should have at- 

 tained some consistency, and circulate 

 slowly. This elaboration is assisted by the 

 extended course it has to run in the length- 

 ened branches ; it is also assisted by broken 

 and interrupted lines. This well-known 

 principle has been taken advantage of to 

 check the sap by pinching and torsion, 

 and even partially breaking over-vigorous 

 branches. These mutilations have been 

 found to diminish the vigour of the shoots 

 and branches, by forcing the sap into new 

 branches while the older branches are 

 elaborating their fruit buds. 



Pruning, Winter. 



The process of pruning fruit-trees is per- 

 formed at two seasons winter and summer. 

 Winter pruning should be performed while 

 vegetation is entirely at rest the period 



which follows the severest frosts, and which 

 precedes the first movement of vegetation 

 that is to say, the end of February or the 

 very beginning of March in ordinary years. 

 If trees are pruned before the strong frosts 

 of winter set in, the cut part is exposed to 

 the influence of the severe weather long 

 before the first movement of the sap takes 

 place which is so necessary to cicatrize the 

 wound, and the terminal bud is conse- 

 quently often destroyed. Equally trouble- 

 some are the wounds made during frosts : 

 the frozen wood is cut with difficulty j 

 sometimes the cut is ragged, and they dc 

 not heal ; mortality attacks the bud, and 

 it disappears. To prune after vegetation 

 has commenced, except where summer 

 pruning is to be pursued, is not to be 

 thought of; therefore, let it be done in 

 February, if the frost has disappeared, 

 more especially for the peach, whose buds, 

 placed at the base of last year's shoots, are 

 particularly exposed to the action of the 

 ascending sap. Summer pruning will be 

 best treated of under the particular species, 

 each of which require to be attended to at 

 different periods. 



Pruning, Winter, Late. 



When all other methods of checking the 

 superfluous vigour of a tree fail, late winter 

 pruning is sometimes practised, when the 

 shoots have attained a length of of an 

 inch, when the sap has already reached 

 the summit of the branches, and the buds 

 near the base push less vigorously. An- 

 other expedient is to apply side grafts to 

 the branches, the grafts being fruiting buds. 

 When they blossom and fructify, the fruit 

 absorbs the superabundant sap of the tree : 

 this, however, is only applicable to the 

 apple and pear and other pip fruit. 



In the case of pyramid trees, the vigour 

 of the tree is diminished by arching all the 

 branches, so that their extremities are 

 directed to the ground ; this is dens by 



