70 



FRUIT TREES. 



will then be too late to pinch them. If, indeed, we 

 then cut them off at four inches from their base, we 

 should see all the eyes situated at the base of the 

 leaves, that we wished to form into flower-buds, develop 

 themselves under the action of the sap, which has set 

 in to flow to that part, into anticipative buds, which all 

 at once find themselves in too strait bounds. It will 

 be better, therefore, to submit these neglected buds to 

 twisting, at about four inches from their base, B A, as 

 shown at fig. 55, and to pinch off their tops. It will 



Fig. 55. Shoot submitted to 

 Twisting. 



Fig. 56. Small Shoot near the 

 lower end of the Extension. 



follow from this double operation that the development 

 of these buds will be arrested, and the eyes at the base 

 will advance without pushing forward into anticipative 

 buds. 



Such is the treatment required by shoots intended to 

 become fruit-branches, during the summer of their first 

 development. It is seen that the whole of these opera- 

 tions are not to be practised at once. The proper 

 time for each is indicated by the different stages of 

 growth, and this treatment should be followed during 

 nearly the entire period of vegetation. 



Second Year. In consequence of the various opera- 

 tions that we have described, the shoots which grow 



