148 Pnmmg. 



.summer is probably the best period for the wounds to heal over rapidly. 

 The contour of the trees can best be seen, however, in winter, when they are 

 leafless, and much pruning may be done at that period ; but no cut should 

 ever be made while the wood is frozen. The removal of terminal shoots 

 of the branches that may be transcending their proper limits in conical 

 trees may be done early in the spring, as this will encourage the growth of 

 the side-branches ; but in fruit-trees that have a straggling habit, which 

 needs curbing, it will be much better to watch the young growth in early 

 summer, and remove the tips of rampant shoots by pinching them, and 

 thus direct the sap into other channels, and equalize the growth of the 

 twigs. With trees as well as with men, it is much better to lead than to 

 drive ; and in this case we save the energies of the tree, instead of destroy- 

 ing parts that have been produced, and thus waste so much of its strength, 

 which, by proper treatment, would have been preserved in a useful form. 

 In this matter, the orchardist may learn much from the vine-dresser. 



2d, Pruning to produce fruitfulness consists of those operations upon 

 the plant which tend to abridge its efforts at wood-growth. They consist 

 in shortening the limbs and shoots during the growing season. This is an 

 important part of summer-pruning. A great deal of the work may be done 

 with the thumb-nail and fore-finger; in which case it is called pinching. 

 The effect of this course will be not merely to prevent the excessive growth 

 of wood, but there will also be a development of flower-buds rendering 

 the tree fruitful. It may be asked, " Why not shorten in the limbs of a tree 

 in winter or spring ? " Simply because, if the cutting be done at that time, it 

 will be followed by excessive wood-growth ; which is just the reverse of the 

 object we have in view. " Prune in winter for wood, and in summer for 

 fruit," has become a familiar maxim with orchardists. 



In this kind of pruning, the orchardist may acquire much valuable infor- 

 mation by watching tlie florist, who gives perfection of form, and profusion 

 of blossoms, to his show-plants, by constantly pinching off their points of 

 growth during the early portion of their existence. 



3d, Pruning to thin the fruit is not practised so much as it should be. 

 Many of us are too covetous and grasping, and some of us are, perhaps, too 

 lazy, to make the necessary efforts to thin the fruits which a kind Providence 

 has furnished in a favorable season like the present. To such it may be 



