Principles and Practice of Priming. 83 



Pruning, as affefting Fruitf illness. As a general rule, the rapid 

 formation of leaves and wood is adverse to the production of fruit. 

 On the other hand, the slow growth of the wood favors the forma- 



97- Head of young tree pruned before 

 the leaves had expanded. 



Fig. 98. Head of young' tree pruned 

 after the leaves had expanded. 



tion of fruit-buds and the production of heavy crops. These two 

 adverse tendencies may be more or less controlled by pruning. 



When the too numerous branches of a tree produce more leaves 

 than can be properly supplied with nourishment, resulting in a feeble 

 or diminished growth, new vigor may be often imparted by judicious 

 pruning, directing the sap into a smaller number of channels, and 

 thus increasing its force ; for example peach trees, after bearing 

 some years and yielding smaller fruit than on fresh young trees, will 

 assume all their former thriftiness by partly cutting-back the heads. 

 Dwarf pear-trees, which have not been sufficiently manured and 

 cultivated, whose pruning has been neglected, and heavy bearing 

 allowed for a number of years, have been restored by severely prun- 

 ing-back the branches and thinning out the fruit-spurs. In all such 

 operations as these, it is indispensable to observe the rule already 

 given to do the cutting-back in winter or early in spring, before 

 the buds have swollen. If trees are too thrifty and do not bear, a 

 check may be given, and many of the leaf-buds thus changed to 

 fruit-buds by a continued pinching-back during summer. 



The production of fruit-buds may be accomplished artificially by 

 checking the growih of vigorous trees ; but such treatment, out of 



