OP FRUIT TREES* 183 



year; and he finally found, that the trees headed 

 down bore upwards of five times the quantity of 

 fruit that the others did; and it keeps increasing, 

 in proportion to the progress of the trees. " On 

 the 20th of June," says Mr. F., "I headed several 

 standards that were almost destroyed by the can- 

 ker ; some of them were so loaded with fruit the 

 following year, that I was obliged to prop the 

 branches, to prevent their being broken down by 

 the weight of it. In the fourth year afterwards, 

 one of them bore two thousand eight hundred and 

 forty pears, while another tree, not headed down, 

 growing by its side, being twenty years old, bore 

 five hundred pears, which was a good crop for its 

 size : so that there were on the old tree, which had 

 been headed down not quite four years, two thou- 

 sand three hundred and forty more than on the tree 

 of twenty years growth." 



The following is Mr. Forsyth's method of train- 

 ing the trees, that are cut near the place where 

 they were grafted Every year, in the month of 

 March, (April or May for our climate,) he shor- 

 tens the leading shoot to a foot or eighteen inches, 

 according to its strength. This shoot will, if the 

 tree be strong, grow from five to seven feet long 

 in one season ; and, if left to nature, would run up 

 without throwing out side shoots. The reason for 

 thus shortening the leading shoot is, to make it 

 throw out side shoots ; and if it be done close to a 

 bud, it will frequently cover the cut in one season. 

 When the shoots are very strong, he cuts the 

 leading shoot twice in one season : by this me- 

 thod he gets two sets of side shoots in one year. 

 which enables him the sooner to fill the tree. The 

 first cutting is performed any time during the 

 spring, and the second about the middle of June. 

 When you prune the trees, and cut the fore-right 

 shoots in April, always cut close to an eye or bud, 

 observing where you see the greatest number of 



