88 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



seem to have contracted, from old age, a hardness 

 that is incompatible with a free circulation of sap, 

 they too must be knocked off in order to make way 

 for the training of fresh shoots along the old branches, 

 as recommended in the wall department. The scheme 

 there laid down is no uncertain theory, and the suc- 

 cess will be as certain here. 



In order, however, that you may ultimately have 

 a surer dependence than on trees verging towards 

 decay if the soil do not require a total renewal by 

 deeper trenching, and the extracting of old roots, it 

 may be expedient, in order not to be without fruit 

 for some years, to adopt a compromise, namely, that 

 of retaining for a time your old trees, and setting 

 young ones in the intervening spaces. When no 

 good comes by longer waiting on the aged, it will be 

 necessary to trench the ground where they stood to 

 a considerable depth ; and before setting young trees 

 in their stead, to exchange a portion of the soil for 

 that of a plot used for the culture of pot herbs, and 

 which exchange, like free trade, will prove a mutual 

 benefit. 



In choosing the sorts of trees fit for your espalier 



the English, who are enemies to the first mode described, and 

 which obtains in the north. The experiment ought, to be made 

 with respect to wounds that have been anointed, and to such as 

 have not. It would be interesting to see the paint in the middle 

 of the shaving. But apart from all experiment, two things are 

 clear: first, that by pruning in due time, no branch thicker than , 

 the wrist would ever need to be amputated at all ; and, second, 

 with regard to firs, that if the broken, barkless stumps, when past 

 bleeding, were cut clean off with axe or saw, a great many deals of 

 the future growth would be free from the annoyance both of knots 

 and plugs. With regard to fruit trees, by all means prune early ; 

 but if neglected, cut freely without fearing to spoil the timber. 

 Some ointment however is better than allowing the wound to fall 

 into chinks and furnish beds to fungi and moss. 



