58 



removal of a portion of the shoots would tend to increase the develop- 

 ment of the remaining buds without causing them to form shoots. For 

 example, if the growing shoots of a pear tree are shortened or pruned 

 by removing one-third of their length, say, towards the end of June, the 

 check will immediately cause the remaining buds on these shoots to 

 push into growth and produce a mass of twigs as far removed as may 

 be from fruit-bearing branches. Again, if this pruning is delayed until 

 August, and the season subsequently proves to be warm and dry, the 

 probabilities are that the remaining buds will develop into short spur- 

 like shoots, from which blossom buds may in course of time be formed ; 

 but if the season continues wet, and mild and growing weather extends 

 late into the fall, these same shoots will be lengthened into weakly, 

 slender growths, which never mature, and are of no use whatever. 

 There is no certainty as to the proper time to summer prune, because 

 no two seasons are precisely alike, and trees vary in their vigor from 

 year to year ; and yet this uncertain, indefinite, and constantly experi- 

 mental procedure is the base upon which the advice to " prune in sum- 

 mer for fruit " is founded. 



The pear tree, in fact, requires very little pruning, and that only so 

 far as may be necessary to regulate branches in either of two exigencies- 

 In the first place, when the young tree is placed in its permanent posi- 

 tion in the orchard its roots will be greatly disturbed and many of them 

 destroyed; it will therefore be expedient in this exigency to abridge 

 the branches, so as to restore the balance of growth that existed between 

 the roots and branches previous to removal. 



This pruning at transplanting has its opponents on the theoretical 

 grounds that, as the formation of roots is dependent upon the action 

 of leaves, it must follow that the more branches and leaves left upon a 

 plant the more rapidly will new roots be produced ; but there is one 

 important element overlooked in this reasoning, namely, the loss of sap 

 by evaporation, which speedily exhausts the plant, while it has no active 

 roots to meet the demand. The proper practice is to reduce the branches 

 so as to give the roots the preponderance, and many kinds of trees 

 can only be successfully removed by cutting the stem off close to the 

 ground. 



If the tree has been pruned close back at planting, the first summer 

 will develop the foundation for a well-balanced, symmetrical plant, but 

 as this result depends upon a good start, it is well to keep an eye on 

 the young growths during the first season, and if any of the shoots 

 appear to be developing to the detriment of others equally necessary 

 for future branches, the points of such shoots should be pinched off, 

 but in doing so, let there be as small a removal of foliage as possible, 

 the object being not to weaken, but merely to equalize growth. As a 

 general rule no advantage will be gained by pruning any portion of the 

 shoots after the first season, unless in the case of weakly trees, which 

 will be strengthened by pruning down in winter. The removal of 



