PRUNING OF DWARF APPLES. 27 



bottom of the tree ; I prefer letting it remain, 

 for, as the new wood will grow but little the 

 first year, the shoots will swell and get strong, 

 and if it is a good bearer will form bloom 

 buds all up these young shoots : this perhaps, 

 will alarm some to allow the tree to bear so 

 young, but it must be remembered that the 

 trees while young will produce the finest fruit : 

 besides it is necessary to throw them into bear- 

 ing early, to keep them from growing too luxu- 

 riantly. It is useless having a great fruitless 

 tree covering a large space of ground, while by 

 proper management you can get an equal 

 quantity of fruit off a tree half the size, and 

 that fruit finer, and the tree kept sufficiently 

 strong and in perfect health, by the mode of 

 pruning I shall adopt. 



Now the tree having stood two years with- 

 out being headed down as before described, it 

 will throw out some young side shoots towards 

 the top of the original shoots, these should be 

 cut off within two buds of the bottom, allow- 

 ing the original shoots to grow straight up, till 

 they get to the height you wish them, say five 

 or six feet or higher, then cut their tops off, 

 and keep all the young shoots spurred in every 

 year, to about two buds, nearly the same as 

 you would a red currant tree ; by this means 

 it will throw all those spurs into bloom buds, 



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