Principles and Practice of Pruning. 



pruning may be adopted. Three or four feet may be taken ofl, in 

 cases of necessity, at a single stroke, and if judiciously performed, 



will convert the broad head 

 which is beginning to become 

 enfeebled, into a smaller, 

 neat, round, and open head, 

 possessing the thriftiness of 

 a young tree, and bearing as 

 large and excellent fruit. 

 Fig. 124 shows the tree be- 

 fore being thus cut back, and 

 Fig. 125 the same, with all 

 the ends of the branches 

 (shown by dotted lines) re- 

 moved. It must be remem- 

 bered here, as in all other in- 

 stances, that the outer shoots 

 must be sufficiently thinned- 

 back to admit light to the in- 

 terior. The shearing, which 

 is sometimes adopted, like 

 that of a common hedge, only thickens the foliage on the out- 



Fig. i as. 



side, and increases instead of diminishing the evil. 

 Pruning the Cherry, The cherry usually needs but little prun- 



