40 FRUIT TREES. 



Lastly, if the branch grows horizontally, it may be left 

 entire, for in this case the sap will act equally, and 

 buds will spring from every part of the bough, from 

 one end to the other. 



THE MOST SUITABLE PERIODS FOR PRUNING. 



The various operations of pruning fruit trees are 

 practised at two different periods of the year. Those 

 comprehended under the name of winter pruning are 

 performed while vegetation is at rest ; the others, 

 called summer pruning, at various periods of vegetation. 



"We shall first point out the most favourable period 

 for performing the winter pruning. 



Winter Priming. The best time is that which follows 

 the severe frosts, and which precedes the first move- 

 ment of vegetation, towards the month of February. 



If the pruning be performed before the severe frosts, 

 the cut portions of the bough will be exposed to the 

 action of the air, damp, and frosts, long before the first 

 movement of the sap, which is' necessary to cicatrise 

 the parts, and it frequently follows that the terminal 

 bud reserved at the top of the branch is by this means 

 destroyed. 



These accidents occur also if the pruning be 

 attempted during severe frosts. The instruments cut 

 the frozen wood with difficulty, the parts are torn and 

 do not heal, the injury descends below, the nearest bud, 

 which is destroyed. 



If we wait until the buds begin to open, the conse- 

 quences ars still more serious. The sap is spread 

 throughout every part of the tree, and that which was 



