OF PRUNING. 



From Lindley's Horticulture. 



The qiianMiy of limber thai a tree lormy, llie 

 Rmount ap.d quality ol' its secretions, th^■ brillinncy 

 oC its colors, the pizc of its flovver.-^, oud, in short, 

 its whole benu'y depend upon the action ol" its 

 branches and Ic ives, iind ilieir heahhines.'. The 

 object of the pruner is to diminish the num- 

 ber of leaves and branches ; whence it may be at 

 once understood how delicate are the operations 

 he has to practise, and how Ihorouirh a know- 

 ledge he ought to possess of all the laws which 

 regulate the action of the organs of vegetation. If 

 well directed, pruning is one of the most useful, 

 and, if ill-directed, it is among the most mischiev- 

 ous, operations that can take place upon a plant. 



When a portion of a healthy plant is cut ofi, all 

 that sap which woulil have been expended in sup- 

 porting the part removed is directed into the parts 

 which remam, and niore especially into those in 

 the immediate vicinity of it. Thus, if the leading 

 bud of a growinii branch is stopped, the lateral 

 buds, which would otherwise have been dormant, 

 are made to sprout forth ; and, if a growing 

 branch is shortened, then the very lowest buds, 

 which seldom push, are brought into action : 

 hence the necessity, in pruning, of cutting a use- 

 less branch clean cut ; otherwise the removal of 

 one branch is only the cause of the production ofa 

 great many others. This effect of stopping does 

 not always take place immediately ; sometimes its 

 first edieci is to cause an accumulation of sap in a 

 branch, which directs itself to the remaining buds, 

 and organizes them against a fa'ure year. In 

 ordinar}' cayes, it is thus that spurs or short hear- 

 ing-branches are obtained in great abundance. 

 The growers of the filbert, in Kent, procure in 

 this way greater quantities of bearing wood than 

 nature unassisted would produce ; for, as the fil- 

 bert is always borne by the wood of a previous 

 year, it is desirable that every bush should have 

 as much of that wood as can be obtained, for 

 which every thing else may be sacrificed ; and 

 Buch wood is readily secured by observing a con- 

 tinual system of shortening a young branch by 

 two thirds, the effect of which is to call all its 

 lower buds into growth the succeeding year ; and 

 thus each shoot of bearing wood is compelled to 

 produce many others. The peach, by a some- 

 what similar system, has beep, made to bear fruit 

 in unfavorable climates (Hart. 7'rans., ii. 306); 

 and every gardener knows how universally it is 

 applied to the pear, apple, plum, and similar trees.* 



* [Nothing is more general, of late years, than com- 

 plaints of the short period of productiveness in the 

 peach tree, throughout the middle states. Although 

 this is often owing to the worm, which girdles the 

 tree at the root, yet the almost total neglect of pruning 

 is a frequent cause of sterility and decay. When lelt 

 to itself the interior of the head of the tree becomes 

 filled with small dead branches, and the trunk and 

 larger limbs bark-bound and moss-covered ; the whole 

 tree is enfeebled ; leaves are only produced at the ex- 

 tremity of the long branches, and the fruit borne, if 

 Vol. 1X.-62 



Even the fig-tree has thus been rendered much 

 more fruitful than by any other method. Whene- 

 ver,"' says Mr. Knight, " a branch of this tree 

 appears to be extending with too much luxuriance, 

 its point, at the tenth or twelfth leaf, is pressed 

 between the finger and thumb, without letting the 

 nails come in contact with the bark, till the sole 

 succulent substance is felt to yield to the pressure. 

 Such branch, in consequence, ceases subsequently 

 to elongate ; and the sap is repulsed, to be ex- 

 pended where it is more wanted. A fruit ripens at 

 the base of each leaf, and during the period in 

 which the fruit is ripening, one or more of the 

 lateral buds shoots, and is subsequently subjected 

 to the same treatment, with the same result. 

 When I have suffered such shoots to extend free- 

 ly to their natural length, I have (bund that a 

 small part of them only became productive, either 

 in the same or the ensuing season, though I have 

 seen that their buds obviously contained blossoms. 

 I made several experiments to obtain fruit in the 

 Ibllowing spring from other parts of such branch- 

 es, which were not successful: bull ultimately 

 found that bending these branches, as far as could 

 be done without danger of breaking them, ren- 

 dered them extremely fruitful ; and, in the present 

 spring, thirteen figs ripened perfectly upon a 

 branch o.f this kind within the space of ten inches. 

 In training, the ends of all the shoots have been 

 made, as far as practicable, to point downwards." 

 {Hort. Trans., iv. 201.) 



The effect produced upon one part by the ab- 

 straction of some other part, thus shown in the 

 developement of buds which would otherwise be 

 dormant, is seen in many other ways. If all the 

 fruit of a plant is abstracted one year when just 

 forming, the fruit will be finer and more abundant 

 the succeeding year, as happens when late frosts 

 destroy our crops.* If of many ff)wers one only 

 is left, that one, fed by the sap intended for the 

 others, becomes so much finer. If the late figs, 

 which never ripen, are abstracted, the early figs 

 'he next year are more numerous and larger. Il 

 of two unequal branches, the stronger is shorten- 

 any, is comparatively worthless. Ey pursuing the 

 practice recommended in the text, the trees may be 

 preserved for a long time in a high state of vigor and 

 productiveness. A. J. D.l 



* [The apple trees, in this country, very commonly 

 bear enormous crops every other year ; and the or- 

 chardist finds himself nearly destitute of fruit one season, 

 while his trees on the following year are nearly break- 

 ing down beneath their load. The excessive fecundi- 

 ty of one season so exhausts the free that it requires 

 another whole season for recovery. A certain and 

 uniform crop may be obtained every year, by thinning 

 out one-half or two-thirds of the apples when they 

 have attained about one-fourth of their usual size. 

 The remainder will grow to greater perfection than if 

 all were left ; while the tree, having produced onlj- a 

 moderate crop, will bear again the succeeding year. 

 When this practice has been pursued for some years 

 with trees that have just fairly commenced bearing, 

 it often happens that they will afterwards produce 

 moderate annual crops if left to tht-mselves. A. J.D.] 



