94 AMERICAN POMOLOGY. 



culture must be thorough, the plants should be kept per- 

 fectly clean, but it is questionable whether the growth 

 should be pushed late in the season ; indeed, it is prefer- 

 able to check the vegetation at mid-summer. For this 

 purpose it has been recommended to cease cultivating the 

 soil, or even to sow the ground with a heavy seeding of 

 oats, so as to check the growth before winter. In good 

 soils, with good culture, the average hight in the rows 

 will be two feet, but there is a great difference in the 

 kinds ; some will considerably exceed this hight. In- 







telligent nurserymen no longer endeavor to have an exces- 

 sive growth in the first year, and many prefer the bedding 

 plan above alluded to. 



Trimming, Pinching, or Heading. The growth dur- 

 ing the first year is generally a single shoot, sometimes 

 two. If there be a second, it should be subordinated by 

 pinching off its extremity, never by trimming it off; in- 

 deed, laterals should always be encouraged, and this will be 

 more and more the case, since the demand for low-headed 

 trees is increasing, as the laws of physiology are better 

 understood. A young tree, well furnished with laterals, 

 is always more stocky, and every way better, though not 

 so tall as that which has been drawn up to a single stem. 

 To encourage this condition, some advise the pinching out 

 the terminal bud in the midst of the growing season, 

 which will cause the swelling and subsequent breaking of 

 the lower buds, so as to furnish plenty of laterals. If 

 done later in the season, especially with strong-growing 

 varieties, a branching head may be formed higher up, d ar- 

 ing the first season, making very pretty trees. This is, 

 however, seldom attempted with root-grafts the first sea- 



