PRUNING OF STANDARD APPLES. 29 



cut particularly clean, or left at all bruised, 

 there the insect would be sure to get in, and 

 keep wounding the tree further and further, 

 till it completely ruined it ; therefore, in all 

 kinds of pruning, you ought to cut very smooth 

 and clean, and then it will soon heal over, but 

 if bruised or left rough, it will not. 



Although I am going to introduce a cure for 

 the canker, it is necessary to give the above 

 caution in pruning. 



Now, having selected my standards with 

 young heads, such as are recommended in pa- 

 ragraph the seventh, I should plant them with- 

 out touching their heads with a knife, for if 

 you cut them down, and they do not break 

 freely the first year, they seldom do well after ; 

 but if the head is not cut, and the tree does not 

 grow much the first year, it will get strong, 

 and the main shoots from the stem will get 

 strong likewise, and sooner get out of the way 

 of cattle. 



But where you plant trees that have been 

 two or three years headed down in the nursery, 

 it is necessary to cut out any cross shoots, or 

 where two shoots are close together to take 

 away one, for although they might not injure- 



