PRUNING 77 



during the following feight years were practically identical, being 

 in the proportions of 



Pruned in autumn .... 106 

 Pruned in mid- winter. . . . 100 

 Pruned in spring . . . 104 



In no case did any damage ensue from the pruning in mid-winter, 

 however severe the weather was (V, 38). 



That the effect of pruning in the summer must be detrimental 

 to the growth of trees, is sufficiently evident from the results 

 obtained in the case of cutting back or lopping in summer, but 

 the annual performance of such an operation interferes with the 

 means at disposal for measuring growth or leaf -size, so that the 

 general size of the tree, or the fruit-crops, are the only means 

 left for measuring the results. Of the original plots of dwarf 

 apple trees several were devoted to summer pruning in various 

 forms, but the results obtained from them as regards growth 

 were of a negative character, the average size of the trees during 

 the next twenty years being within 2 per cent, (below) the winter- 

 pruned ones; but the weight of fruit from them was decidedly 

 deficient, being only 70 per cent, of that obtained from similar 

 autumn-pruned trees. 



The subject was then examined by applying summer pruning 

 using pruning in its strict sense, and not applying it merely to 

 pinching or stopping the growth to a number of apple trees of 

 the varieties Cox's Orange Pippin, Mr. Gladstone and Worcester 

 Pearmain, performing the operation on different dates, and 

 observing the results on the fruiting, as measured by the number 

 of blossom trusses formed in the following year. The observa- 

 tions during six years gave the following values 



Pruned, Dec. i. July 15. Aug. i. Aug. 15. Sept. i. 



ioo 113 119 124 141 



showing uniformly an excess of fruiting as compared with the 

 winter-pruned trees the reverse of what was shown in the 

 previous experiments and a steady increase in this effect accord- 

 ing as the date of the summer pruning was postponed. The 

 increase, however, it may be remarked, is much less than that 

 produced by omitting all pruning, the value obtained in such a 

 case being 180, as quoted on p. 65 ; and, as regards summer 

 pruning, as well as winter pruning, it is found that a reduction 

 in the extent of that pruning favours fruit-production, for 



