THE APPLE. 27 



culture. It is practised only in the case of trees that are 

 making a too-vigorous growth and producing too few 

 fruit buds. Such trees are benefited by having their 

 strongest roots shortened, so as to preserve a more even 

 balance between root and branch. Thus, in the case of 

 pyramids, standards, half-standards, etc., grown on the 

 Crab or Free stock, the roots have a tendency to grow 

 large, produce few fibrous roots, and to form vertical or 

 tap roots which descend deeply into the soil. To shorten 

 these judiciously, therefore, is to encourage the develop- 

 ment of a more fibrous root growth and the production 

 of less vigorous branch growth, with a corresponding 

 greater increase of fruit buds. A tree that is not making 

 strong growth, and yet not forming fruit buds freely, does 

 not require root-pruning. What it requires is careful 

 lifting and replanting in richer soil, to encourage a freer 

 growth. Trees worked on the Paradise stock rarely re- 

 quire root-pruning, and then only in a moderate degree. 

 Fuller details are given in the chapter on " Pruning " in 

 Part II. 



Unfruitful Trees. There are thousands of trees grow- 

 ing in gardens and orchards that fail to yield satisfactory 

 crops of fruit. Many of them yield an abundance of blos- 

 som, but fruit fails to form. This failure is due to the 

 overcrowding of fruit spurs, this preventing the blossoms 

 expanding fully, or so crippling their growth that they 

 become sterile. Another cause is a too exposed or too 

 damp position, the organs of fructification being injured 

 by frost or damp. The remedy in the first case is freely 

 thinning out the spurs in early spring, so as to give the 

 remainder more room to develop ; and in the second to 

 plant in a more sheltered position, and in a more elevated 

 spot. 



Trees, again, that produce few fruit buds, have either 

 been over or insufficiently pruned both in root and branch. 

 The wholesale removal of shoots at one time in summer 

 is another fertile cause of unfruitfulness. If trees are 



