P R U 



P R U 



bottom to top at regular ilistaiiccs, and, at the 

 same time, sonic proportional part of the most 

 naked old wood, and of the two preceding years 

 past bearers, be pruned out to make proper room 

 for this requisite young successional supply of 

 future bearers in the following summer, to be 

 now retained in a general manner, both laterally, 

 and as terminals to the general patent branches, 

 which should be pruned accordingly ; and mostly 

 all the said supply of the present retained sboots, 

 except the fis, must be more or less shortened 

 according to their situation and strength, to en- 

 courage their furnishing more readilv a proper 

 suppiv of shoots in sprinir and summer tor the 

 succeeding vear's bearine, as noticed before, 

 leaving the strongest shoots always the longest, 

 as is more fully explained under each of their 

 rtspccuve genera ; but as the fisrs always bear 

 towards the end of the shoots they must not be 

 shortened. 



With respect to the apples, pears, plums, 

 cherries, &c., as they continue to bear on the 

 same branches of from two or three to many 

 years standmg, the said bearers must be conti- 

 nued accordingly ; and the trees only require an 

 occasional supjdy of young wood, according as 

 any of the branches become defective, or unfit 

 for bearing, and want removing ; which should 

 now be cut out as may seem necessary, training 

 in here and there in proper plaseos some good re- 

 gular young shoots tov^ards the lower part, and 

 where it may seem necessary, to be coming gra- 

 dually forward to a bearing state, to be ready to 

 replace worn-out and other useless branches, to 

 be cut out, as they may occur : and of the 

 young wood, selecting what may appear neces- 

 sary of the best well-placed shoots, and the su- 

 perabundance, or those not wanted for that 

 purpose, together with all irregular-placed 

 shoots, rank luxuriants, and other ineftectual 

 growths, should be now cut clean out, close to 

 whence they originate, not leaving any spur or 

 stump, as every one would push out several 

 strong unnecessary shoots the next spring, to 

 the prejudice of the trees and fruit : particular 

 regard slioidd be paid to preserve the shoots at 

 the termmation of all the already trained branch- 

 es entire, but not more than one to terminate 

 each branch ; preserving also carefully all the 

 proper fruit-spurs, taking care that the supply 

 of young w ood be occasionally reserved, and the 

 branches in general of these trees be trained in 

 at full length, and continued so in future, as 

 far as the linnted space will admit : and accord- 

 ing as any extend above the wall or espalier or 

 any where beyond their proper limits, they be 

 pruned down with discretion to some convenient 



bud, or lateral shoot, or lower branch, whieli 

 should be trimmed entire. 



In this pruning, as in the summer c'r-ssiiig, 

 it is of importance to have a strict eye to the 

 lower parts of wall-trees, Sfc, to see if there is 

 any present vacancv or any that apparently will 

 soon happen ; in which cases, if aiiv good shoot 

 is situated contiguous, it should be trained in 

 either at full length, or shortened to a few eyes 

 to force out two or more shoots if they shall 

 seem necessary ; for precaution should ever be 

 observed in taking care to have betimes a suf- 

 ficient stock of young wood coming forward to 

 iill up any casual vacancy, and substituting a 

 new set of branches in place of such as arc 

 either decayed or stand in need of retrenchment. 



In wall-trees and espaliers there are some- 

 times many large disagreeable barren spurs, con- 

 sisting both of old worn-out fruit spurs, and of 

 clusters of stumps of shortened shoots project- 

 ing considerably from the branches, occasioned 

 by unskilful pruning when retrenching the su- 

 perabundant and irregular shoots, which, in- 

 stead of being cut out close, are stumped off to 

 an inch or t\\ o long, and in the course of a few 

 years, form iiumerous barren stumps, and very 

 little fruit, the trees appearing like a stumped 

 hedge. In this season of pruning, (in this case) 

 it is proper to reform them as well as possible by 

 cutting all the most disagreeable stumps clean 

 out close to the branches, leaving these at full 

 length, especially in apples, pears, &c., and re- 

 serving an occasional supply of young wood in 

 different parts : thus in t\\ o or three years sueh 

 trees may be reduced to a regular figure and a 

 proper state of bearing. 



It is observed that bad pruning ruins many a 

 good tree, as is observable in numerous gardens, 

 where the wail-trees and espaliers appear as just 

 described, pruned every year, yet never pro- 

 ducitig any tolerable crop of fruit. 



Severe injudicious pruning in strong wood is 

 greatly prejudicial to the health of some sorts of 

 slone-fruil-trees, by causii}g tliein to gum and 

 soon decay. I'lums and cherries, in particular, 

 are often greatly damaged by a too severe disci- 

 pline of the knife, these being very liable to 

 gum by large amputations: it is therefore of im- 

 portance to attend to these trees well in the sum- 

 mer-pruning, to retrench all the superfluous and 

 irregular shoots betimes in the summer while 

 quite young, and pinch others occasionally 

 where wood is wanted to fill vacancies, so as to 

 require but little pruning out of large wood in 

 winter. 



A general nailing, &C., must every year be 

 perforraedj according as the pruning advancesj 



