232 GARDENING. t 



fruit, and that of the head. Trees which produce 

 only on young spurs (as the apple-tree), require a 

 larger provision of this sort than those which give 

 fruit for several years in succession on old spurs. 



5. In choosing between the shoots to be retained, 

 other things being equal, preserve those which are 

 lowest placed, and, of lateral shoots, those which 

 are nearest to the origin of a branch. 



6. The retained shoots should be treated accord- 

 ing to the class of fruit-trees to which they belong. 

 If to that which bears on distinct branches and on 

 old spurs, they should be shortened as little as pos- 

 sible, or not at all ; if to the class which bears on 

 the last year's wood only (as the apple, apricot, pear, 

 cherry, and plum), they should be shortened alter- 

 nately, year and year about, so as always to furnish 

 a proper supply of bearers ; and if to the anoma- 

 lous class which bears on both kinds of spurs, the 

 treatment should be of the mixed kind, partaking of 

 the modes severally prescribed for the two other 

 classes, and in proportion as the shoots may indicate 

 a greater or less assimilation to either of these.* 



7. Shorten strong shoots one fourth, and feeble 

 ones one half. 



Of Training. Many observations led to the be- 

 lief that, though the apple tree, when left to its nat- 

 ural form and bulk, possessed its greatest vigour 

 and productiveness, and was in the condition fittest 

 for large and permanent orchards, still that in other 

 forms, and on feebler stems, and under a treatment 

 in all respects more artificial, it may be made to 

 give fruit of an earlier sort, of a larger size, and of 

 better appearance. Of this important discovery 



* Some gardeners are in the practice of heading down old and 

 much decayed apple-trees within a few inches of the ground. 

 Forsyth was the first to recommend this practice, on the credit 

 of many experiments made by himself, which prove that trees 

 so managed may be restored to vigour and fruitfulness. Sera his 

 work on Fruit Trees. 



