OF FRUIT TREES. 215 



" When cherry trees begin to produce spurs, cut 

 out every other shoot, to make the tree throw out 

 fresh wood: when that conies into a bearing state, 

 which will be in the following year, cut out the 

 old branches that remain ; by that method you 

 will be able to keep the trees in a constant state 

 of bearing, taking the same method as before di- 

 rected with the fore right shoots. 



" Great care should be taken to rub off many of 

 them in the month of May, (middle of June in Ame- 

 rica,) leaving only such a number as you think will 

 fill the tree. By so doing your trees will continue 

 in a fine healthy state, and not be in the least weak- 

 ened by bearing a plentiful crop of fruit. The rea- 

 son is obvious; the great exhalation which would 

 be occasioned by the sun and air in the common 

 mode of pruning, is prevented by the composition 

 keeping in the sap which nourishes the branches 

 and fruit. I cut some trees, as directed above, 

 more than twelve years ago, that are now in as good 

 a state of bearing as they were in the third year 

 after the operation, and likely to continue so for 

 many years. 



" In 1797 I cut some very old trees in the month 

 of May, which were left, to show the old method 

 of pruning; I at the same time cut some branches 

 off the same trees, according to the new method, 

 to show the difference of the fruit, which was taken 

 by all who saw it for a different sort of cherry. The 

 cherries from the old spurs were not half the size 

 of the others, and were at least three weeks later. 

 "Several persons have adopted the new method 

 with great success, and by renovating their old 

 trees, which scarcely bore any fruit, have obtained 

 from them an abundant quantity. But even the in- 

 creased quantity of the fruit is not so material, in 

 cherries, as the increase in the size and in the rich- 



