216 On Root pruning of Pear Trees; 



necessity for liquid manuring, as common dung may be laid 

 round each tree in the autumn, and suffered to be washed in 

 by the rains. of winter and drawn in by the worms. In men- 

 tioning liquid manure, I give the result of my own praciice: 

 the great end to attain seems (to use an agricultural phrase) 

 to be able 'to feed at home,' that is, to give the mass of 

 spongioles enough nutriment in a small space, but not too 

 much, so that a tree will make shoots about four inches long 

 in one season, (for such, I conceive, ought to be the maxi- 

 nium of growth,) and at the same time be able to produce 

 abundance of blossom buds and fruit: on trees of many vari- 

 eties of pears, the former will be in too great abundance; I 

 think removing a portion in early sj)ring would be an improve- 

 ment in pear culture. I have not mentioned the necessity of 

 pruning the branches of pear trees thus brought into early 

 fruitfulness; all that is necessary is the occasional removal of 

 a crowded branch, the fact being that root-pruning almost 

 does away with the necessity of branch-pruning. Sometimes, 

 however, a root will escape the. spade, and then in the follow- 

 ing summer, a vigorous shoot or two will make their appear- 

 ance; these should be shortened in July,* to within four buds 

 of their base, and the following autumn the feeding root must 

 be dihgently sought for and pruned. 



"To prune roots with a s))ade may be thought a rough and 

 ungardenlike operation, but to use a knife would be tedious. 

 In defence of spade-pruning, I can only say, that it seems to 

 answer perfectly with my trees, and experience is generally a 

 tolerable guide. 



"I have also practised root-pruning on apple trees for two 

 years, and have reason to hope for perfect success. Some 

 trees have been arrested in a most extraordinary stale of vig- 

 orous growth, making, previously to their being root-pruned, 

 shoots from four to five feet in one season, having been plant- 

 ed about five years. From plums and cherries 1 have reason 

 to hope for the same results. 



"I have not mentioned the possibility of root-pruning fruit 

 trees of twenty or thirty years' growth, with advantage. Ir- 

 regular amputation of the roots of fruit trees, too vigorous, 

 is, I am aware, an old practice, but the regular and annual or 

 biennial pruning of them, so as to keep a tree full of youth 



* All inclining to vigor should be shortened this month, as it tends 

 so much to the formation of bloom buds. 



