215 CHERRIES* 



bark* If any gum remains, it must be cut or scraped 

 off : the best time for this is when it is moistened with 

 rain ; it may then be scraped off without bruising the 

 bark. This operation is very necessary. 



"Wherever the bark or branches have been cut off, 

 the edges should be rounded, and the composition ap- 

 plied. If the young shoots are properly trained, 

 they will produce fruit the following year ; and in the 

 second year they will produce more and finer fruit 

 than a young tree which has been planted ten years, 



"Never make use of the knife in summer, if it be 

 possible to avoid it, as the shoots die from the place 

 where they are cut, leaving ugly dead stubs, which 

 will infallibly bring on the canker. These shoots 

 may be cut in the spring to about two eyes, which will 

 form a number ol flower-buds. 



"When cherry trees begin to produce spurs, cut out 

 every other shoot, to make the tree throw out fresh 

 wood : when that comes into a bearing slate, 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, take the same 

 method as before directed with the fore right shoots. 



"Great care should be taken to rub off many of 

 them in the month of May, leaving only such a num- 

 ber 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 weakened by bearing a plentiful crop of 

 fruit. The reason is obvious ; the great exhalation 

 which would be occasioned by the sun and air in the 

 common mode of pruning, is prevented by the compo- 

 sition keeping in the sap which nourishes the branch- 

 es 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 op- 

 eration, and likely to continue so for many years. 



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



