PRUNING. 113 



the straight central trunk shoot out at regular dis- 

 tances pairs of branches which grow from opposite 

 faces of the stem, each pair making a cross with the 

 one above it ; thus, if the first two point respectively 

 east and west, then those above them will be north 

 and south, the next east and west again. These 

 are the primaries, and botanically their arrangement 

 is described as alternate and opposite a method 

 of growth ensuring each leaf as much light, air, and 

 room as possible. 



Three or four inches from their juncture with 

 the trunk they in turn give rise to opposite pairs 

 of secondaries ; but these lie all in the same plane 

 with the surface of their leaves to the sky, and 

 their under part to the, ground. This may tend 

 to make some of our sentences better understood. 



In handling an operation which should be done 

 at regular intervals, and may well precede monthly 

 weedings in the clearing we remove first of all 

 all suckers arising from the ground or stem, all 

 branches tending to grow out of their true direction, 

 and lastly, all those buds on the primaries within 

 six inches of the main stem about to produce 

 secondaries if left alone. By this means is secured 

 a clear space of a foot in diameter down the middle 

 of the tree, light and air let into it, and our pros- 

 pects of a good, abundant, and healthy series of 

 crops greatly increased. 



So far the work of the pruner is simple enough : 

 it is on the question of general pruning, before or 



