40 THE FRUIT GARDEN. [JAN. 



principally upon the young shoots of the former summer, the fruit- 

 blossoms rising directly from the eyes of the shoots ; a plentiful sup- 

 ply of which must be reserved annually in every part, to train in for 

 bearing ; they also sometimes bear on the small natural spurs arising 

 on the two or three years' wood, which generally occur more fre- 

 quently in the apricots ; and all such spurs should be carefully pre- 

 served, for they generally bear good fruit ; keeping in mind, how- 

 ever, that the young yearling shoots are to be considered as the gene- 

 ral bearers : observing that as the general branches and bearing shoots 

 are to be trained to the wall or espalier horizontally, about three to 

 four or five inches distant, we must prune out annually all super- 

 abundant shoots, or that are more than can be trained in with proper 

 regularity, likewise a considerable part of the old, or two last year's 

 bearers; and, observing, that as a general supply of the best of the 

 last year's shoots must annually be left in a regular manner in every 

 part of the tree, to bear the fruit the succeeding summer, each of the 

 said shoots must be shortened more or less, according to their strength, 

 now in the winter pruning, as directed below, in order to encourage 

 them to produce a more regular succession of bearing wood in the 

 ensuing summer. The wood which is then produced, will bear fruit 

 in the summer after that ; and the same shoots both bear the fruit 

 and a supply of successional shoots at the same time for future bear- 

 ers, &c. 



Before you begin to prune, in these trees particularly, it is proper 

 generally to unnail and unbind all the young shoots which were 

 nailed or bound in last summer, and great part of their respective 

 mother branches ; by which means you will have room to examine 

 the shoots, and to use your knife properly. 



In the course of pruning these trees, be careful to select the most 

 promising and best situated shoots at the above distances, in a regular 

 manner, advancing, as it were, one after another in every part of the 

 tree, making room for them by cutting out all the other useless or 

 unnecessary shoots, together with a proportionable share of the for- 

 mer bearers, before intimated, and old naked branches not furnished 

 with bearing wood. 



For example, you are to observe, that these young shoots are, as 

 above hinted, produced principally upon those shoots, which were laid 

 in last winter, and which produced the fruit last summer, and some 

 casually on the older wood ; but shall suppose many of the said 

 shoots or branches, which were laid in last winter, to have produced 

 each three shoots in summer, and that they now all remain, but that 

 there may not be room to lay in more than one of the said shoots on 

 each of the branches, it remains to be considered which of these 

 three shoots on each branch is proper to be left; whether the upper- 

 most, middle, or lower of the three : there is no general rule for this, 

 but we will suppose the middlemost, in which case cut off the lower 

 one quite close to the branch, and then that part of the branch which 

 hath the upper shoot upon it must be pruned down to the middle 

 one ; so that there is only the middle shoot now remaining, which 

 terminates or makes the end of the branch ; but, if it is thought 

 most convenient to leave the uppermost of the three, the middle and 



