26 ORCHARD FRUIT TREE CULTURE 



the winter annual weeds and further to aerate and cultivate it. 

 This done, he heads back the stocks, and when active growth 

 begins will be ever ready to rub off all suckers, that is, the growths 

 belonging to the stock, which naturally having first claim would, 

 if left, rob the new bud or the scion of nourishment and strength. 



The healthier a stock may be, the more persistently does it throw 

 up suckers in its determination to remain " itself." This we can 

 very well understand, and we have to impose our will upon the stock 

 by depriving it of other means of development than those we have 

 provided for it. So the struggle must go on throughout the 

 season and every unwanted wild growth be ruthlessly removed. 



We are now, where we commenced this chapter, at the end of 

 April or the beginning of May. The buds and the grafts have 

 started, and the first care should be to provide each tree with the 

 support of a stout, straight stake, to which the young growth can 

 be secured. At this early stage the union between bud and stock 

 or graft and stock is not strong, it can only consolidate with growth, 

 so that any head pressure from the wind is apt to prize the union 

 apart and this can never be replaced. The stake should be on 

 that side of the stock opposite to the scion. Where you are dealing 

 with a grafted stock one tie should pass round the stake and the lower 

 part of the scion, and another round the upper part, for thus only 

 can security be given. In the case of a bud the first tie should 

 embrace the bud and that portion of stock left above the bud (not 

 more than 2 inches) and the stake ; the growth trained straight up 

 the stake should be secured at every 6 inch or 8 inch interval. 



As regards the growths themselves, these are practically permitted 

 to grow as they please, without let or hindrance, stopping or 

 trimming, for in this way they are best able to provide themselves 

 with a good constitution. In reality, the growing season is so 

 short that they have not time to become formidable or to develop 

 much strength apart from the main growth, this being clearly shown 

 in our illustrations, Figs. 12-15, which are drawn from life. In 

 these figures may be noticed the different habits of growth char- 

 acteristic of the stocks used ; for example, the maiden apple on 

 the paradise stock (Fig. 12) is far less vigorous than the one on the 

 crab stock (Fig. 15), though in all other respects the trees are equally 

 healthy, promising, and satisfactory. The pear shown (Fig. 13) 



