60 THE MANSft : GARDEN. 



is this difficulty, that if too late, the tree loses the 

 benefit of sun and air ; and if too early, you have an 

 aftergrowth, which, not being intended, proves a want 

 of skill, and is considerably detrimental. This evil 

 thing too will show itself even when you have made 

 the best choice of season, owing to an unusual warmth 

 and wetness towards the end of autumn. But to 

 avoid the difficulty of a nice distinction as to season 

 which after all may not serve ; and to accomplish the 

 first intention of giving free air to the fruit as well as 

 to guard surely against the trouble of aftergrowth, 

 the following compromise will in all cases be success- 

 ful. Towards the end of July, take a large sharp 

 knife, and reserving only the few twigs that are to 

 be nailed to the wall, go over all your trees of the 

 kind in question, and, by one half hour's indiscrimi- 

 nate slashing, clear off all the encumbrance of breast- 

 wood, that is, of young shoots growing straight for- 

 ward, taking care only to leave about a handbreadth 

 of stubble, or in other words to cut the scions at such 

 distance from the stem. From the higher ends of 

 these stumps, young shoots will very likely arise; 

 but no matter, your work is not finished, their ap- 

 pearance is at a place where they do no harm, and 

 you settle accounts with them by the proper pruning 

 at the end of the year. For this proper pruning you 

 must distinguish leaf from flower buds, and bearing 

 spurs from ligneous shoots, which may be done by 

 looking at the tree better than by a page of writ. 

 When you have enough of flower buds or spurs 

 (little shoots of two inches, with a large head, and 

 not like the rest) say at every half foot or less, make 

 a clean cut in taking of the woodshoots close by the 



