ORCHARDS. 315 



ting, taking care to bury a portion of this, and giving the* 

 lower edge an outward turn before covering it, and in this 

 way preventing the rabbits from burrowing under. 



Pruning. As regards the pruning of orchard trees, we 

 cannot do better than reproduce the advice given by Mr. 

 W. Iggulden, some years since, in the pages of '* Farm 

 and Garden " : 



" Much of the success attending the efforts of the more 

 experienced and intelligent fruit tree planters is largely 

 due to having pursued rational methods of pruning from 

 the first. Too often trees are stuck in the ground, and 

 allowed to grow as they please; and not a few of those 

 who are anxious to do well mar their initial efforts to fail- 

 ing to prune their trees properly during the first few years 

 they have them. It should be remembered that newly- 

 moved trees have, of necessity, to be severely root-pruned, 

 and root-pruning naturally destroys the balance between 

 the top and root growth, with the result that anything in 

 the shape of vigorous wood growth is out of the question, 

 always supposing that nothing in the shape of restoring 

 the balance by pruning is attempted. If the top growth 

 is checked badly, owing to a failure in the sap supply from 

 below, then there is a tendency for the wood to produce 

 fruit buds, and to harden to the extent of becoming 

 stunted. 



' ' Once a tree commences bearing fruit prematurely it is 

 almost certain to remain in that productive state ; and, as 

 a consequence of this great strain on the constitution, little 

 or no new growth is formed, and a badly-dwarfed tree is 

 the result. No only are stunted trees of no practical value, 

 but nothing short of drastic measures will ever improve 

 them. We readily admit that many trees, planted under 

 highly favourable conditions, have eventually grown into 

 a serviceable size in spite of neglect as far as pruning is 

 concerned, but they would have done better had they re- 

 ceived proper attention at the outset. As it happens, 

 however, these may be termed mere exceptions to the rule, 



