CHAPTER XI 

 SOME IMPORTANT POINTS 



BEYOND the point to which we have brought our trees we need 

 add little further, as they have got past their nursery stage when 

 established in their permanent positions. Yet there still remain a 

 few important matters we have scarcely touched upon, and others, 

 belonging more to the future, we ought not to pass by. If our 

 subject had been that of " Fruit Growing for Market," we should 

 want at least three such books as this to deal faithfully with it, 

 and even then could not have exhausted it. So we have done what 

 we set out to do, and have brought the young tree from its creation 

 to its " coming of age." We, however, still retain our interest in 

 it as will be seen. 



PRUNING 



The subject of pruning is a much debated one, and a considerable 

 diversity of opinion is held. Of course, we have decided views of 

 our own, as all have who are worth their salt. No one could 

 possibly succeed who did not follow out a definite course year after 

 year. He who wobbles and works from one method to another 

 gives no method a chance, and ends up in a muddle. 



Broadly speaking, young trees require hard pruning until their 

 framework is satisfactory and until they are permanently established, 

 after which it must be regulated toward the keeping of a well- 

 balanced tree and the production of good fruiting wood or spurs. 

 The centre of the tree must be kept open, and extension made 

 outward, not inward. If growth is too rank, prune the top less 

 severely, but go for the roots. When we root-prune established 

 fruit trees we root-prune twice. One year we open a trench 

 half-way round 2 to 3 feet away from the trunk, according to the 

 size of the tree, and sever all the thick roots we find, even exploring 

 for and severing any tap-roots. We fill in with fresh soil. Then 

 after one year we treat the other half in the same way, and this 

 always acts as a very effectual corrective to rank growth. 



We suppose the most debatable point raised about pruning is 

 whether a newly planted tree should be pruned, or left for a year. 



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