82 TRANSPLANTING TREES, 



must, therefore, be lessened, by reducing the stem and branches in 

 length or number, or both ; and the more the roots have suffered, 

 the greater must be the reduction of the stem and branches, to bring 

 them to a corresponding condition. 



" Pruning the Roots. This is practised as well to promote fruit- 

 fulness as to lessen the dimensions of trees. The roots are the organs 

 that absorb from the ground the principal food of the tree, and in 

 proportion to their number, size, and activity, other things being 

 equal, are the vigor and growth of the stem and branches. Hence, 

 when a tree is deprived of a certain portion of its roots, its supply of 

 food from the soil is lessened, growth is checked, the sap moves 

 slowly in its channels, is better elaborated in the leaves, and the 

 young branches and buds begin to assume a fruitful character. 



Roots are also pruned to prevent them from penetrating tot) deeply 

 into the earth, and induce the formation of lateral roots near the sur- 

 face, similar to the cutting back of a stem to produce lateral branches. 

 The principle is the same. 



The work is performed by opening a trench around the tree, just 

 at the extremities of the roots : the distance from the tree will, there- 

 fore, depend on its size, and the spreading character of the roots. 

 The trench should be the width of a common garden spade, and deep 

 enough to admit of an inspection of all the roots of the tree. If the 

 lateral roots are to be shortened, this is done first. The knife should 

 be placed on the lower side of the root, and the part separated with 

 a clean draw cut, such as would be performed on a branch. If the 

 tree has vertical, or tap roots, they are most easily operated on with 

 a sharp spade, prepared and kept for the purpose. A smart stroke 

 with such a spade, in as nearly a horizontal direction as possible, will 

 separate a pretty strong root. The extent to which root pruning 

 may be performed, depends on the character of the species, the con- 

 dition of the tree as regards growth, and the object aimed at. Those 

 practising it for the first time should go to work with great caution. 

 It will be better to operate too lightly than too severely. As re- 

 gards the season, it may be performed either at the end of the first 

 growth, in July or August, or in the autumn or winter, when vege- 

 tation is quite suspended. We have operated on cherry trees, with 

 complete success, in August, in a dry time when little growth was 

 going on. At this season, a copious watering should be given after 

 the pruning is performed." 



Pruning, to form particular shapes, to promote the formation of 

 blossom buds, to enlarge the fruit, to cure disease, to increase or 

 lessen bulk, are all treated of at length by Loudon and others ; but 

 all seems to us summed up in the following, written by M. Dubreuil, 

 in France, and first published in this country in Barry's " Fruit 

 Garden." It is more especially applicable to training of trees in 

 gardens, than of standards in orchards. He says : 



