OF FRUIT TREES. 49 



low one. We have the respectable authority of Mr. 

 T. Pickering, that such trees as are tall should be cut 

 down close to the ground, to prevent their being shak- 

 en by the wind, and to promote their growth. It may 

 eeem strange, he observes, to advise the cutting down 

 a tall, well-grown plant, yet it is necessary ; for the 

 roots are always hurt and shortened by the removal ; 

 it is impossible for those that remain, to nourish the 

 same body ; this is the reason we so often find our 

 trees dead at top and hide-bound. Should my direc- 

 tions, he says, be followed, which are from thirty 

 years experience, such vigorous shoots will spring up, 

 as will in ten years become much larger trees than if 

 they had stood uncut for forty years ; and the bark 

 and every appearance of the tree will be like one from 

 the seed, and much trouble will be saved in staking, 

 to prevent their ruin from the wind. This method 

 has not, we believe, been very frequently adopted, al- 

 though recommended byother cultivators beside the 

 venerable author just cited, the result of whose long 

 experience, and the reasons assigned for the practice, 

 must be deemed satisfactory. It has been stated by 

 an English author, that when young trees are planted 

 out from the nursery, as soon as they begin to break 

 in the spring, they are to be cut down to three or four 

 eyes, according to their strength, to furnish them with 

 bearing wood. If this were not done, they would run 

 up in long naked branches, and would not produce one 

 quarter of the fruit which they would when this is 

 properly performed. It is a point of considerable im- 

 portance to observe, that in cutting off a branch, it 

 should always be done just above a bud close to its 

 shoulder, leaving a smooth and sloping surface that 

 the wound may heal the first season. When a small 

 piece is left above the shoulder of the shoot or bud, 

 the sap ceases io nourish it,and of course the piece dies 

 and communicates a fatal disease to the sound wood. 

 *5 



