230 GARDENING. 



to its advantage, and often to its injury. Our own 

 practice is to work the stocks as soon as they have 

 attained the diameter of an inch in the seedbed, 

 and transplant once and permanently; believing 

 that, though repeated removals may hasten the pro- 

 duction of fruit, they retard the general growth and 

 development of th ; plant, and sometimes form a 

 crisis in its health from which it never recovers. 



The rules which govern in this operation are as 

 follows : Take up the young trees with as little in- 

 jury to the roots as possible, and replant them with- 

 out any avoidable delay, in holes not less than three 

 feet square,* and thirty feet apart ; give them the 

 same depth and exposition they had in the nursery; 

 bring the earth and the roots into full contact, and 

 water freely till the young trees give evidence of 

 having taken root anew. The time for this opera- 

 tion is during any mild weather in the spring, before 

 the sap has got into motion; or in the autumn, after 

 its circulation has ceased. f 



Of Pruning. This branch was originally confined 

 to the removal of dead, or diseased, or fractured 

 wood ; but the discovery was soon made that 

 branches might do mischief from their position as 

 well as from their unsoundness : and hence the rule, 

 " to retrench whatever intercepts the rays of light, or 

 prevents a due ventilation of the tree" The next step 

 in the art was to take off redundant branches; as 

 frequent experiments proved that, by lessening the 

 quantity of wood, that which was left was made 

 more productive. A third discovery followed : that 



* For the advantage of this practice, see Cours d'Agriculture, 

 art. Pecher. 



t Each of these seasons has its advocates ; one set forbidding 

 fall planting, because the high winds of the winter shake and 

 fatigue the young trees ; the other spring planting, because a dry 

 and warm spring will destroy them. Our own practice is to 

 employ both seasons indiscriminately, and experience justifies 

 this course. 



