36 ORCHARD FRUIT TREE CULTURE 



but something remains to be said. All non-fruiting growths are 

 nipped back at an early stage, but there is a principle involved in 

 the amount of foliage retained which must be adhered to. Some 

 good people think that this must be reduced to the lowest possible 

 minimum, but we think there is a limit beyond which it is dangerous 

 to go. The fruiting spurs, which are encouraged here at the expense 

 of nearly everything else, carry a certain amount of foliage of their 

 own, enough perhaps to develop themselves without contributing 

 much to the general welfare of the tree. But there is not only the 

 health of the tree to be provided for ; there is a crop of fruit, and 

 with an insufficiency of foliage to maintain vitality and growth 

 the tree would stand still and prematurely age, and the fruit would 

 be lacking in size. This foliage is supplied by leaving a portion of 

 the summer growths shortened back to within a few inches of their 

 base. Afterwards, if these are not required for the formation of 

 new spurs, they can be completely removed when pruning. We 

 know, without being botanists, that the leaves of a tree are its lungs, 

 and that they are as essential to growth and health as the roots are. 

 In the cordon tree, possessing but a meagre superficial area, foliage 

 may be rigidly kept within bounds, not to a hard and fast minimum, 

 but in strict accord with its healthy maintenance, determined by a 

 study of the tree itself. Deprived of too much foliage it will age 

 prematurely or canker. We shall find an opportunity of again 

 referring to cordons, for in the days of more intensive cultivation, 

 which are yet to come, we believe the cordon will come into its 

 own and become a much greater factor in the economy of the fruit 

 farm than it has hitherto been. There will be a great development 

 when we have advanced a little further in our scientific knowledge 

 of stocks. At least, we think so. The making of trees, though 

 largely determined during the first three years of their existence, 

 goes on for some years, not often developing new lines so much 

 as consolidating and improving those given earlier. When they are 

 permanently planted and established in their new home, that work 

 is taken up again and carried on until the tree has developed and we 

 have the perfect fruit producer. We have dwelt at some length 

 upon their beginnings, because, after all, that is the most important 

 period. Like as we take the greatest pains in educating our children 

 while they are yet young and form them while yet they are receptive 



