26 PRUNING AT TRANSPLANTING. 



Trees pruned yearly, judiciously, without too much of 

 thinning out of the tops, because our hot suns require 

 foliage to shade the limbs far more than in climates of 

 more regular and even temperature ; will rarely require 

 to have a large limb removed. Old orchards that have 

 been neglected, it is best to go over at the same time given 

 above for young trees. Do not practice the use of an axe 

 and leave a knob of six inches, to either send out many 

 sprouts, or rot and decay, sending its poison into the sap 

 that goes to form new wood. Use a pruning saw, and 

 trim all smooth with a knife ; then paint or gum over the 

 fresh cut. 



Soft wooded trees like the peach or grape vine, a hali 

 inch or so should be left above the bud ; but with these 

 rarely is it necessary to cut limbs or canes over half to 

 three-quarters of an inch diameter. 



The standard apple, pear and plum, should have theii 

 first branches start at about three to four feet from the 

 ground, while those to be treated as dwarfs, as the apple 

 on Paradise stock, pear on quinces, peach on plums, 

 should have the lower branches start from about one foot 

 from the ground, and yearly so pruned as to cause them 

 to form a pyramidal shape at first ; this being brought 

 into a rounded head, at the end of three or more years, 

 by shortening the leading upper shoots the most. 



There are a few leading points in the pruning and cul- 

 ture of trees, of which DUBREUIL, a french author who has 

 been largely quoted, gives some good points in pruning ; 

 in others, our practice leads us to think he fails. When 



