316 



THE PEAR. 



Fi-. 1. 



the knife all the kading shoots, fig. 1, «, a, — that is, the tenninal 

 shoots at the end of each side branch. Of course, this forces out not 

 only a new leading shoot, at the end of the branch, but side shoots, 

 h, b, at various places on the lower part of the 

 shoot. The side shoots are left to grow till the 

 end of May, They have then pushed out to about 

 four or five inches in length. The ends of all these 

 side shoots are then pinched off, leaving only about 

 an inch and a half at the bottom of the shoot. 



" Fig. 2 shows one of the branches, with the side 

 shoots, as they are at the end of June. The dotted 

 lines, h, h, show the point to which these shoots 

 should be pinched off. 



" The terminal or leading shoot, e, is left entire, 

 in order to draw up the sap, which would other- 

 wise force all the side shoots into new growth. 

 jSTotwithstanding this precaution, in luxuriant seasons the side shoots 

 will frequently push out new shoots again, just below where they 



were pinched. This being the case, about 

 the lasi of August M. Cappe shortens back 

 these new side shoots to about an inch and 

 a half. But this time he does not pinch 

 them off. He breaks them, and leaves the 

 broken end for several days attached and 

 hanging down, so that the flow of sap is not 

 so suddenly checked as when the branch 

 is pinched or cut off, and the danger of new 

 shoots beinGC forced out a third time is 

 thereby effectually guarded against. 



"The object of this stopping the side 

 branches, is to accumulate the sap, or, more 

 properly, the organizable matter in these 

 shortened branches, by which means the remaining buds become 

 fruit-buds instead of wood-buds. They also become spurs, distributed 

 over the whole tree, which bear regularly year after year, sending 

 out new side shoots, which are pinched back in the same manner 

 every Summer. 



" In order to keep the tree finely proportioned, the eye of the 

 pruner must be a nice one, that he may, with a glance, regulate the 

 pruning of the terminal branches or leaders, which, as we have just 

 said, are shortened back in March — for then is the time to adjust 

 any extravagances of growth which the tree may have run into, on 

 either side ; and in the summer pinching the balance of growth is 

 adjusted by pinching the side shoots that start out nearest the ends 

 of the branches, quite short, say an inch and a half, while those that 

 start near the bottom of the branch (or the centre of the tree) 



