THE MANSE GARDEN. 67 



trees, the cherry, if not very old, may be cut over 

 with a circular sweep, about two feet from the ground ; 

 and the consequent shoots set all off in the manner 

 of wheel spokes even bending some of them down- 

 wards, so as to hide the deformity of the naked 

 stumps, and making them fast by tying, not by nails 

 driven into the old wood, as in the case of the apple or 

 pear. The peach, in its age and disorder, had better 

 be replaced by a young tree. But with regard to 

 apricots and plums, in the like circumstances, a very 

 gratifying arrangement may be adopted one by 

 which the tree will no longer be ill looking, but soon 

 clothed with abundant blossom and fruit. This af- 

 fords a pleasure of that kind which we have in the 

 reformation of a prodigal; and in which case, as in 

 the former, some of the complacency is perhaps due 

 to the patience and methods we have employed, con- 

 trary to the opinion of others who judged the recovery 

 hopeless. 



Choose some fine winter day, and begin your 

 operations by wrenching the ragged hedge-like tree 

 entirely from the wall. Cut out a number of its 

 oldest and barest boughs, with a view to acquire a 

 plentiful supply of young wood near the heart of the 

 tree; prune all the remaining branches quite smooth, 

 about half way to the top, and then restore them to 

 the wall, by an equal distribution in the form of a 

 fan ; but let the bared portion of each branch be held 

 out from the wall, about four inches, by pieces of 

 wood set behind. Near the extremity of these 

 branches will be found, by the favour of former ne- 

 gligence, an abundance of young shoots, some of one 

 and some of two years' growth. Let all these be 



