PRUNING. 33 



Propagation by Pieces of Hoots. 



Many varieties of trees, and nearly all varieties of Blackberries, 

 Raspberries, Gooseberries, Currants, &c., can be readily propagated by 

 small pieces of roots. Cut the root into pieces of about two inches 

 in length, any time in autumn or winter, and pack them in moist 

 sand, storing where they will be free from frost. In spring prepare 

 a frame with a gentle bottom heat and plant them, covering about an 

 inch deep, in a sandy loam ; as soon as they have well started they may 

 be transplanted out into the open field. Some propagators keep them 

 in the winter packages until the spring is well advanced and the ground 

 becomes somewhat warmed, when they plant at once in the open ground, 

 setting the upper end of the piece of root just level with the ground, 

 and then covering the whole surface with about three inches deep of 

 some light mulching material. 



CHAPTER IV. 



PRUNING. 



1. Pruning to promote Growth or modify the Form of Fruit-trees. 



IN this country almost all fruit-trees are grown as standards. In 

 this way they develop their natural forms, attain the largest size, 

 and produce the greatest quantity of fruit with the least possible care. 

 Our bright and powerful sun, reaching every part of the tree, renders 

 the minute systems of pruning and training, which occupy so large a por- 

 tion of the English works on the subject, of little or no moment to the 

 cultivator here. Pruning is therefore commonly resorted to only for 

 the purpose of increasing the vigor of feeble trees, or to regulate and 

 improve the form of healthy and luxuriant trees. 



Pruning has the power of increasing the vigor of a tree in two ways. 

 If we assume that a certain amount of nourishment is supplied by the 

 roots to all the branches and buds of a tree, by cutting off one-half of the 

 branches at the proper season we direct the whole supply of nourish- 

 ment to the remaining portion, which will consequently grow with 

 nearly double their former luxuriance. Again, when a tree becomes 

 stunted or enfeebled in its growth, the thinness of its inner bark, with its 

 consequent small sap-vessels (which it must be remembered are the prin- 

 cipal channel for the passage of the ascending supply of food), renders 

 the upward and downward circulation tardy, and the growth is small. 

 By heading back or pruning judiciously, all the force of the nourishing 

 fluid is thrown into a smaller number of buds, which make new and 

 luxuriant shoots, larger sap-vessels, and which afford a ready passage to 

 the fluids, and the tree with these renewed energies will continue in vigor 

 for a long time. 



This treatment is especially valuable in the case of small trees of 

 feeble or stunted growth, which are frequently cut back to a single bud, 

 and a new shoot or shoots, full of vigor, gives a healthy habit to the 



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