90 



PRUNING. 



effect, in the practice of lopping early in autumn the stalks 

 of Indian corn immediately above the ear; which, by care- 

 ful measurement, has been found materially to lessen the 

 crop. 



A common method in France, is to allow all shoots to 

 start, and pinch off their ends when they are only a few 

 inches in length. In this way they all subsequently become 

 fruit bearers, without crowding the tree with a confused 

 mass of branches, like those of a sheared hedge. This 

 shortening of the young green shoots, is found much supe- 

 rior to the practice of leaving them till winter. It should be 

 commenced at the top first, and so proceed downwards as 

 the season advances, for the lower shoots always have a ten- 

 dency to be the weakest. A second and further shortening 

 of the upper shoots, is often needed to preserve a proper 

 balance between the upper and lower parts. 



Pyra7nidal Trees. A neat and convenient mode of plant- 

 ing the sides of large walks, on cultivated ground, prefer- 

 able in most cases to espaliers, because less adverse to a 

 natural growth, and hence better adapted to the warm sum- 

 mers of America, where highly artificial modes of training 

 are less needed, is by the use of trees trained as pyramids. 



For this purpose the trees are 

 usually grafted on dwarf stocks, 

 and are placed at distances of six 

 to twelve feet asunder. The first 

 year's growth from the graft or 

 bud, is headed down to within 

 about six good buds of its base ; 

 these buds, as a consequence, 

 grow vigorously. About mid- 

 summer, their growth, with the 

 exception of the upper one, is 

 stopped by cutting off their tips, 

 or by bending and tying them 

 downwards. The upper or lead- 

 ing shoot, then grows with great 

 vigor, and soon needs stop- 

 ping again, to induce the emis- 

 sion of a second tier of shoots about one foot higher, which 

 are treated as the former. This process is repeated for suc- 



Fig. 46. Pyramidal Tree. 



