92 



PRUNING. 



further than twelve feet apart. Thriftier varieties, on Dou- 

 cain stock, may be treated in the same way. 



The Cherry and Plum may be pruned in the form of 

 pyramids on the same principles as the apple and pear. 

 The Morello and Duke cherries may be treated either as 

 pyramids or as smaller, rounded, open-headed dwarfs. 



PRUNING TO PRODUCE FRUITFULNESS. 



Leaf and fruit buds. The distinction between leaf and 

 fruit buds, and a knowledge of the causes tending to the 

 formation of each, lie at the foundation of this important 

 department of pruning. 



Fruit-buds are in general distinguished by their rounded 

 and obtuse form ; while leaf-buds are slenderer and more 



acute. In the accompa- 

 nying figure, A represents 

 a portion of the branch 

 of a pear tree ; b b b are 

 fruit-buds on the extrem- 

 ities of short spurs ; c is 

 a leaf-bud, on a one-year's 

 shoot. The fruit-spurs 

 / are nothing more than 

 stunted shoots, originally 

 produced from leaf-buds, 

 but which, making but 

 little growth, become fruit 

 bearers. In the pear and 

 some other trees, they are 

 never less than two years 

 o d, and they often continue to bear for many years. B 

 exhibits the appearance of the two kinds of buds as seen 

 on the cherry; b b being the rounded fruit-buds ; and c c the 

 leaf-buds, distinguished by their slender and acute points. 



Cause of the formation of each. Whatever tends to a free 

 circulation of the sap, and consequently to a rapid growth, 

 causes the formation of leaf-buds rather than fruit-buds. 

 On the contrary, whatever tends to retard the motion and 

 increase the accumulation of sap in any part, induces the 

 production of fruit instead of leaf-buds. Thus, in the ex- 

 amples just given, as soon as small stunted shoots are 



