AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 251 



No. 2. 



PEARS, WITH STRAWBERRIES, AND CURRANTS OR GOOSEBER- 

 RIES, &C. 



Fig. 120. 



A, A. (Circles.) Pears twenty feet by twenty-two, or ten feet by twenty-two, standing 

 along the centre of strawberry beds. 



B, B. (Stars.) Gooseberries, or currants, or raspberries, four to eight feet apart. 

 0, C. Strawberries ; bed four feet wide. 



LABELING AND DIAGRAM. 



All fruit-trees should be labeled when planted, and, in ad- 

 dition to this, a correct diagram of each plot should be pre- 

 pared, so that at a glance the name of every variety you pos- 

 sess may be known. See page 215. 



CHAPTER XVIH. 



Pruning; various Objects, Periods, and Modes of. Cleaning and Scrap- 

 ing Fruit-trees. Fruiting ; healthful Tendency to. The Law of prema- 

 ture or forced Fruiting, and various Modes of its Application. 



PRUNING. 



WE prune to weaken and to strengthen, and often simply to 

 balance that is, to check or invigorate relative portions of the 

 same tree or plant, to give it symmetry, or promote its blos- 

 soming and fruitfulness. 



It becomes important clearly to distinguish the varieties of 

 a process from which such varied results are obtained. The 



