FRUIT-TREES AND GRASS. 47 



soon prove how essential are restraint and training. 

 A fruit tree is not like one in a forest, a simple, 

 unperverted product of Nature. It is a result of hu- 

 man interference and development; and we might 

 just as reasonably expect our domestic animals to 

 take care of themselves as our grafted and budded 

 trees. Moreover, they do not comply with their 

 raison d'etre by merely existing, growing, and 

 propagating their kind. A Bartlett pear-tree, like 

 a Jersey cow, is given place for the sake of its 

 delicious product. It is also like the cow in re- 

 quiring judicious feeding and care. 



Trees left to themselves tend to form too much 

 wood, like the grape-vine. Of course fine fruit is 

 impossible when the head of a tree is like a 

 thicket. The growth of unchecked branches fol- 

 lows the terminal bud, thus producing long naked 

 reaches of wood devoid of fruit spurs. Therefore 

 the need of shortening in, so that side branches 

 may be developed. When the reader remembers 

 that every dormant bud in early spring is a pos- 

 sible branch, and that even the immature buds at 

 the axil of the leaves in early summer can be forced 

 into immediate growth by pinching back the lead- 

 ing shoot, he will see how entirely the young tree 

 is under his control. These simple facts and prin- 

 ciples are worth far more to the intelligent man 

 than any number of arbitrary rules as to pruning. 



