Jan.] The Fruit Garden. 23 



or fix inches afunder, pruning out annually all fuperabun- 

 dant (lioots, or that are more than can be trained at that 

 diftance ; llkevvife oblerving, that as a due fupply of the 

 bell of the laft year's flioots muil annually be lert in a re- 

 gular manner in every part of the tree, to bear the fruit 

 the fucceeding fummer, each of the faidflioots of each year 

 muft be fliortencd more or lefs according to their flrength, 

 now in the winter pruning, as direded below, in order to 

 encourage them to produce " a more regular fucceffion of 

 bearing wood in the enfuing fummer. The wood, which 

 is then produced, will bear fruit in the fummer after that ; 

 and the fame fiioots both bear the fruit and a fupply of fuc- 

 ceffional flioots at the fame time for future bearers, &c. 



Before you begin to prune, you (liould un-naii the greatefl 

 part of the tree, by which means you will have room to ex- 

 amine the flioots, and to ufe your knife properly. 



But in the courfe of pruning thefe trees, be lure to fele£l 

 the moll promifmg and beft fuuated flioots ; which fhoots 

 muft be left at a regular diilance as above, and in fuch order 

 as to be, as it were, coming up in a reguhir manner, one 

 after another, in every part of the tree, making room for 

 them, by cutting out all the other ufelefs or unneceflary 

 flioots, together with a proportionable lliare of the former 

 bearers, -and old naked branches, not furnifiied with bear- 

 ing wood. 



for example, you are to obferve that thefe yoimg (hoots we 

 now fpeak of, are, as above hinted, produced only principally 

 upon thofe young flioots which were laid in laft winter, 

 and which produced the fruit lafl fummer : and we will 

 fuppofe each of the faid flioots, or branches, vv'hich were 

 laid in lall: winter, to have produced three fnoots lafl fum- 

 mer, and that they now remain upon them, but that there 

 may not be room to lay in more than one of the faid flioots 

 on each of the branches ; it remains to be confidcrcd, which 

 of thefe three flioots on each branch is proper to be left; 

 whether the uppermoft, middle, or lower of the three : there 

 is no rule for this, but we will fuppofe the middlmoll of 

 them, in v/hich cafe, cut off the lower one clofe to the 

 branch, and then that part of the branch, which hath the 

 iipper fhoot upon it, muil be cut off clofe down to the middle 

 one : lb that there is only the middle flioot now remaining, 

 which terminates or makes the end of the branch : bur, on 

 the other hand, if it is thought moil convenient to leave 

 fhc uppermoft of the three, the middle and lower are to be 



cut 



