330 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



the precise time when this operation can best be performed. As 

 a matter of fact, it is advisable to extend the work over a con- 

 siderable period, and ths means a constant study of the growth 

 of each variety of tree. 



Take the case of an apple-tree that is being trained along a wall 

 or fence. Soon after vegetation has become really active, about 

 the middle of June, a whole thicket of shoots will be found grow- 

 ing on each tree. If these be allowed to remain, the centre of the 

 tree will be entirely denuded of light and air, It is useless merely 

 to snip off the ends of these superfluous shoots. Many of them 

 should be cut right out, and, if need be, so as to ensure that the 

 centre of the tree can receive its proper share of light and air, one 

 or two of the main branches should be sacrificed as well. 



It is necessary, of course, to use discretion, so that promising 

 fruiting shoots are not removed wholesale. The small diagram 

 (No. 55) will show the amateur the difference between a growth 

 which will produce foliage only and one which will bear fruit. The 

 fruiting shoot on the left is the one to retain and shorten at the 

 point indicated by the arrow. The leaf shoot can be sacrificed 

 altogether. 



In the summer pruning of hardy fruit trees the leading shoots 

 those at the ends of branches must not be stopped where 

 plenty of room is available. These should be retained and nailed 

 up. All other growths of the current year may, however, be 

 shortened to six or eight buds an operation which will give a 

 slight check and throw the sap back into the remaining wood and 

 fruit. When the tree is in full leaf, too, it is much easier than it 

 is in the winter-time to see where the dead wood is. This, of 

 course, should be removed. 



The primary object of summer pruning is to strengthen the 

 basal fruit buds of the new shoot, so that they may remain dor- 

 mant during the current year and produce blossom and fruit in 

 the following season. For this reason it is well, while of course 

 indulging in a preliminary thinning out early in the season, to 

 defer anything like systematic pruning till the end of July or 

 the beginning of August. If the pruning is done in the early 



