546 General Notices. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Pruning. — Now that the summer's business is fairly at an end, it is time 

 to take steps to provide against an inordinate pressure of business in the 

 forthcoming spring ; for any arrears of autumn or winter business, at that 

 busy period, will prove a great hindrance to the carrying out a properly 

 devised system through the ensuing season, and can be justified on the 

 grounds of necessity alone. Planting, pruning, training, trenching, &c., 

 are matters that belong peculiarly to this dormant period, and having before 

 disposed of planting and trenching, by diverting attention to its importance, 

 we will now offer a few practical remarks on pruning. The habits of fruit 

 trees vary, more especially as to the manner of forming and exhibiting 

 their buds ; thus there is no difficulty in distinguishing the fructiferous por- 

 tions of the apple, or of bush fruit in general, whilst the apricot and the 

 filbert are, at this period, somewhat obscure in regard of these points. 

 Even in the pear, more especially some of the newer kinds, such as the 

 Passe Colmar, the Seckel, the Marie Louise, and some others, it is difficult 

 to prune with safety in the early part of winter. For these reasons, there- 

 fore, we say, prune bush fruit the moment you can find time. Follow 

 closely with cherries, plums, and apples, and towards Christmas lay by the 

 knife until the early part of February, when the filberts will be blossoming ; 

 then, after a slight thinning of the crowded and inside spray, male catkins 

 may be brought if requisite, and suspended among the bushes. The apri- 

 cots will, by this time, give unequivocal signs by which to know the true 

 blossom buds ; these, then, may immediately receive their pruning. The 

 peach and nectarine will succeed the apricot ; and these may be followed 

 by the pear, and lastly by the fig. In pruning bush fruit thin liberally. 

 Let no two branches in the black currant and the gooseberry touch when 

 finally thinned ; these seldom require shortening ; an equal and judicious 

 thinning is therefore every thing here. In pruning apples the thinning of 

 the branches or old wood should be the first step ; this, however, requires 

 caution. 



The late Mr. Knight, of Downton, was much against cutting out 

 large limbs, unless a severe necessity existed. His authority is too weighty 

 to be passed over easily, more especially as he lived most of his time in a 

 cider district. In thinning the young wood of espaliers, remember that the 

 first point is to secure a continuance of leading shoots to form a compact 

 tree ; and the second, to secure a free admission of light to all parts of the 

 tree. The same remarks will apply to the pruning of all the rough espa- 

 liers or dwarf standards of the kitchen garden, be they of what kind they 

 may. Raspberries may now be planted and pruned : some of the soundest 

 remarks on this subject, we ever read, appeared in the Chronicle for Octo- 

 ber 9.— (Garrf. Chron. 1847, p. 703.) 



