PRUNING. 99 



2. " The sap acts with greater force and produces more vigorous 

 growth on a branch or shoot pruned shorty than on one pruned long. 

 This is easily explained. The sap acting on two buds must 

 evidently produce a greater development of wood on them, than 

 if it were divided between fifteen or twenty buds. 



" It follows from this, that if we wish to obtain wood branches, 

 we prune short, for vigorous shoots produce few fruit buds. On 

 the contrary, if we wish to obtain fruit branches, we prune long, 

 because the most slender or feeble shoots are the most disposed 

 to fruit. 



" Another application of this principle is to prune short for a 

 year or two, such trees or parts as have become enfeebled by 

 overbearing. (This principle deserves especial attention, as its 

 application is of great importance.) 



3. " The sap tending always to the extremities of the shoots causes 

 the terminal bud to push with greater vigor than the laterals. Ac- 

 cording to this principle, when we wish a prolongment of a stem 

 or branch, we should prune to a vigorous wood bud, and leave no 

 production that can interfere with the action of the sap on it. 



4. " The more the sap is obstructed in its circulation, the more 

 likely it will be to produce fruit buds. This principle is founded 

 on a fact to which we have already had occasion to refer, viz. — 

 that the sap circulating slowly is subjected to a more complete 

 elaboration in the tissues of the tree, and becomes better adapted 

 to the formation of fruit buds. 



" This principle can be applied to produce the following result : 

 When we wish to produce fruit buds on a branch, we prevent a free 

 circulation of the sap by bending the branches, or by making annu- 

 lar or circular incisions on it ; and on the contrary, when we 

 wish to change a fruit branch into a wood branch, we give it a 

 vertical position, or prune it to two or three buds, on which we 

 concentrate the action of the sap and thus induce their vigorous 

 development. 



5. " The leaves serve to prepare the sap absorbed by the roots for 

 the nourishment of the tree, arid aid the formation of buds on the 

 shoots. All trees, therefore, deprived of their leaves are liable to 

 perish. This principle shows how dangerous it is to remove a 



