ODD METHODS OF PRUNING AND TRAINING 383 



and among the roots. Fill it in by degrees and beat it down firmly 

 all through the pot, taking care not to injure the roots. After pot- 

 ting, the trees are set in a sheltered place outdoors, the pots being 

 covered with leaves. If the soil is moist enough when the trees are 

 potted, they will not need watering. 



When spring comes the tree must be thinned out and the pots 

 plunged one-third their depth in the earth. The trees remain here 

 all summer, are watered carefully every morning when the weather 

 is bright and dry and syringed with pure water if the green fly 

 is troublesome. In July when the trees are well rooted, a top- 

 dressing of stable manure and kiln-dust in equal parts is given 

 them. A few days before it is used it is spread out in thin layers 

 outdoors and soaked several times with liquid manure. It is applied 

 to the soil in the pots, in layers 2 inches thick near the rims, but 

 thinner near the stems of the trees. This top-dressing greatly im- 

 proves and strengthens the trees for the coming year. After grow- 

 ing in pots one summer, trees are fit to be sold the following au- 

 tumn or spring. Old cherry trees that have been cultivated in pots 

 for years are kept during winter in one of the orchard houses. When 

 spring comes and their buds start, the pots are 

 plunged up to the rim in the ground in the 

 cherry house. 



The pyramidal form is best and most used 

 for potted cherry trees. Pruning is not often 

 necessary the first year after potting, for the 

 strength of the tree goes to form short fruit 

 branches ; but after the trees are well rooted, 

 strong shoots are sent out in summer. Sum- 

 mer pruning consists mainly in pinching back 

 these strong shoots to six or seven leaves 

 each. If after this first stopping they grow 



LATED ^O^'LA?" A out a am tnev are a S am pinched back. On 



CURB the leading branches, side shoots that are not 



needed to fill empty spaces or make new 



leaders are stopped at the third leaf. The sour cherries, which form 

 young buds better on the side shoots, might be pruned less. 



Much winter pruning is not needed for trees that have been well 

 stopped in summer. Winter pruning must be done as soon as leaf 

 and bloom buds can be distinguished. It is done upon the same 

 principle as outdoor pruning, but as the room in orchard houses is 

 limited, all growth must soon be pruned into fruit branches. 



After the cherries are all gathered, the trees are plunged outside 

 in a sunny, sheltered place and left there until repotting time in 

 October or November. Trees that have been potted but one year 

 seldom need larger pots at this time, so 2 or 3 inches of the top 

 soil in their pots is taken out and replaced with fresh. Larger pots 

 are given in after years when these young trees become root-bound. 

 Cherry trees ought to be repotted every other year. 



