CHAPTER XXVII. 

 PRUNING AND PRUNING INSTRUMENTS. 



Pruning is of great importance in fruit 

 production ; the pruner is to some extent 

 the steersman to the energy of the plants. 



This chapter deals chiefly with general 

 principles. 



Strawberries should have their runners 

 periodically and frequently cut off to 

 strengthen the parent plant, vmless young 

 plants are wanted for propagation. 



Raspberries. — The pruning of this fruit 

 consists in cutting out all canes that have 

 borne, which may be done during winter, 

 or, best of all, immediately or shortly 

 after the finish of the fruit picking, also 

 in winter thinning the new canes, and in 

 spring topping the canes. 



Gooseberries. — The Kentish (and pro- 

 bably the best) method of pruning goose- 

 berries is to cut out the older branches, 

 thereby encouraging the younger ones, 

 keeping the bush sufficiently open to 

 allow the entrance of the hand from all 

 directions. Very little tipping or spur 

 pruning is done. In Worcestershire the 

 tips of the boughs are pruned. Where 

 American Mildew exists the Ministry of 

 Agriculture requires that all young shoots 

 should be tipped, as it is this part of 

 the bush that is chiefly subject to mildew. 

 Suckers should be stubbed out with an in- 

 strument like a sharpened crowbar. 



Red Currants are usually grown on a 

 " leg," branching into five main branches, 

 some of which may be allowed to fork 

 once. These branches are annually spur- 

 pruned and the leader shortened. The 

 bushes may also with advantage be 

 summer pruned, which is good for the 

 fruit, as it exposes it to the sun .and also 

 lessens aphis attack. 



Black Currants.— In Kent their growth 

 is kept young and not too tall by yearly 

 cutting out from the centre of the bush 

 some of the oldest branches, as the 

 younger wood is found to produce cur- 



rants more plentifully and larger. In the 

 case of black currants the branches should 

 spring from the ground — i.e., the bush 

 should not be on a leg. In making cut- 

 tings all the buds are left in, and the 

 j^oung bushes are for two years cut back 

 hard to make them sturdy. 



Plums and Cherries (whether standard, 

 half-standard or bush) should be gradu- 

 ally trained to good shape in the nursery, 

 and are not afterwards heavily pruned, as 

 taking large boughs out of cherries and 

 plums is apt to start gumming. Dead 

 wood should, however, be cut out and the 

 general shape looked to yearly. The fine 

 wood of Morello cherries should be lightly 

 thinned yearly. 



Damsons can be rejuvenated and 

 brought back to fruit production by head- 

 ing back the branches within a few feet of 

 the trunk, say, once every ten years, as if 

 left untouched these trees grow very tall, 

 almost cease to bear fruit, costing much 

 to pick the fruit ; there is also the risk of 

 the gatherer falling, as the branches are 

 brittle. 



(Note. — Insure your fruit pickers. A 

 small holder at Chilham employed a man 

 to gather cherries. The second day he 

 was shot in the eye by the son, scaring 

 birds. Ever since, now several years, the 

 small holder has had to pay so much a 

 week to the man, the total amount yearly 

 being almost equal to the rent of the 

 holding. ) 



Standard Apple and Pear trees should 

 be carefully shaped in the nursery ; and, 

 when older, crossing boughs should be cut 

 out and the trees generally kept somewhat 

 open to admit light and air. If the 

 standard trees are of moderate size the 

 branches may to some extent be spur- 

 pruned, and the terminal leader short- 

 ened. By this means fruit can be borne 

 almost from the trunk to the extremity of 



