CHAPTEE II. 



PRUjS^I^G applied to the DIFFEREXT SPECIES OF 

 FRUIT TREES UNDER DIFFERENT FORMS. 



Section 1. — Pkuning the Apple and the Peak. 



These two trees belong to the same natural order, ])0- 

 maeecB^ and to the same genus jpyrus ; their habits of 

 growth and bearing are similar, and they may therefore 

 be treated as regards their pruning, under the same 

 head. 



If we take for example a shoot of last season (fig. 6), we 

 find it in the spring, before vegetation commences, fur- 

 nished on all its length with wood buds ; w^hen growth 

 commences, the terminal bud, and probably two or three 

 of the others nearest to it, produce shoots, the others to- 

 w^ards the middle produce small shoots that are in subse- 

 quent years transformed into fruit branches (like fig. 10). 

 Some do not push at all, but are converted into fruit 

 buds (as in figs. 7 and 8), whilst those at the base gene- 

 rally remain dormant, until excited into growth by close 

 pruning. All the buds on these trees have small incon- 

 spicuous buds at their base, which are capable of produc- 

 ing shoots when the principal bud is destroyed or injured, 

 and these buds render the fruit sj^urs so enduring. In 

 young trees the fruit buds are many years in process of 

 formation, and in bearing trees three to four years, accord- 



