CHAPTEE Y. 



PEUNIXG ITS PPJKCIPLES AND PRACTICE. 



This is one of the most important oj)erations connected 

 with the management of trees. From the removal of the 

 seedling plant from the seed bed, through all its succes- 

 sive stages of growth and maturitv, pruning, to some 

 extent, and for some purpose, is necessary. It maj, 

 therefore, be reasonably presmned, that no one is capable 

 of managing trees successfully, and especially those con- 

 ducted under certain forms, more or less opposed to 

 nature, without knowing well hoio to prune^ what to prune ^ 

 and when to pnine. This knowledge can only be acquired 

 by a careful study of the structure of trees, because the 

 pruning applied to a tree niiLst (aside from the general 

 principles on which all pnming depends) be adapted to 

 its particular habits of growth and mode of bearing its 

 fruit. It is in view of this fact that the chapter on the 

 structure and mode of fomiation of the diiferent parts of 

 fruit trees has been given in the first part of this treatise, 

 that it may form the basis of this branch of culture. 



The idea that our bright American sun and clear 

 atmosphere render pruning an almost unnecessary ope- 

 ration, has not only been incidcated by horticultural 

 Avriters, but has been acted upon in practice to such an 

 extent tliat more than three fourths of all the bearing 

 fruit tj-ces in the country, at this moment, are either lean, 

 nii^r^^iiiiv-cd skeletons, or the heads are i^erfect masses of 



