53(5 THE APPLE. 



shortened, technically " headed in," to one or two buds, and this operation is 

 repeated every spring till the plant is sold or transplanted to where it is 

 finally to remain. The same heading-in takes place with dwarfs, the reason 

 in both cases being that it is desirable to have no more wood left on the tree 

 than the root, after undergoing the mutilation consequent on transplanting, 

 can readily support. Occasionally, both standards and dwarfs are trained in 

 the nursery, either as standards or as dwarfs or espaliers, ia which case, at 

 the time they are to be removed, great care is requisite to take them up 

 with as large a proportion of their roots as possible. The more frequently 

 dwarf trees are transplanted in the nursery before being finally removed, the 

 greater will be the number of their fibrous roots ; and as these must neces- 

 sarily be within a limited space, the quantity of nourishment they take up will 

 be limited also. Hence by their number of fibrous roots, they will suffer 

 little from removal, while by the concentration of these roots they will only 

 absorb the nourishment obtained within a very limited space, and thus keep 

 the tree dwarf, and throw it early into a fruit-bearing state ; or at least pre- 

 vent it from growing so vigorously as if it were furnished with a number of 

 ramose roots, which by extending their fibres to a distance have a proportion- 

 ately greater command of nourishment. Hence maiden plants one year 

 grafted on free stocks that have not been transplanted, are to be preferred in 

 every case where the object is large and vigorous trees ; and when the object 

 is dwarf trees, plants on dwarfing stocks that have been several times 

 transplanted should be chosen. 



1148. Soil and Situation. The apple tree acquires the largest dimensions 

 in a deep strong loam, or marly clay, on a rocky bottom, or on a subsoil 

 that is not retentive of moisture, and in a situation which is neither very 

 high nor very low. "It will grow tolerably well in any common soil, 

 neither extremely sandy, gravelly, nor clayey, on a dry subsoil, and with a 

 free exposure. On wet, hilly subsoil, it will do no good ; but, after being 

 planted a few years, will become cankered, and get coveied with moss. 

 Where fruit trees must be planted on such soils, they should first be rendered 

 as dry as possible by under-draining ; next, provision made for carrying off 

 the rain-w r ater by surface-gutters; and, lastly, the ground should not be 

 trenched above a foot deep, and the trees planted rather in hillocks of earth, 

 above the surface, than in pits dug into it. There is no point of more im- 

 portance than shallow trenching and shallow planting in cold wet soils, in 

 which deep pits and deep pulverisation only serve to aggravate their natural 

 evils of moisture and cold." Sang. 



1 149. Mode of bearing, pruning, and training. The apple bears invariably 

 on the old wood, often on that of the preceding year, and the blossoms con- 

 tinue being produced from terminal and lateral spurs, or short robust shoots, 

 for a great number of years. These spurs require to be thinned out, when 

 they become crowded, to be shortened when they become too long, and to 

 be cut in when they become so old as to produce smaller fruit than is 

 desirable. 



The treatment of spurs is that part of the pruning of the apple when 

 trained against walls or espaliers, on which the production of fruit chiefly 

 depends, and it requires greater skill and care than any other part of 

 pruning. For this reason, and as the spur pruning of the apple corresponds 

 exactly with the spur pruning of the pear against walls or espaliers, and in a 



