270 AMERICAN POMOLOGY. 



will swell out to their full proportions after this removal, 

 and will realize, when harvested, more money, and will 

 even be of greater weight than if the whole crop had been 

 left upon the tree until its natural period of maturity. 

 The reason is obvious, and depends upon the greater size 

 and fuller development of the fruit, which remains after 

 thinning. 



SUMMER PRUNING has already been alluded to as one 

 of the methods of producing fruitfulness. When it is 

 here introduced as a means of thinning the fruit, the re- 

 commendation may appear somewhat paradoxical yet it 

 is not so. Neither is this cutting a parallel operation to 

 that in which we seek to check the excessive vigor of 

 young shoots by pinching and heading-in, with a view to 

 directing the sap to the lateral buds so as to cause their 

 development for the formation of fruit-spurs, which will 

 insure a greater production of fruit : whereas this summer 

 pruning removes a portion of the crop to be supported by 

 the tree. This plan is most successfully practiced by judi- 

 cious orchardists, among whom may be named Dr. Hull, 

 of Alton, 111., who has thus treated his peaches, nectarines, 

 and plums. This process consists in cutting off the ends 

 of the shoots that are laden with fruit, while these are yet 

 quite small; the superabundance is thus removed in a 

 great degree by the knife, and the excess of foliage is also 

 diminished so as to expose the fruit freely to the sun and 

 air, which insures an increased size and heightened color, 

 particularly to the peaches and nectarines. The remain- 

 ing fruit is also suitably thinned so that no specimens 

 shall crowd one another. The exact distances between 

 them must be determined by the judgment of the operator; 



