38 TRAINING. 



lire be attained by keeping the bark in a healthy state by a wash of 

 soft soap. Hinging, which is nothing more than stopping the descend- 

 ing sap in a branch, and forcing it to organize blossom-buds, by taking 

 off a ring of bark, say a fourth or half an inch, near midsummer, is a 

 mode always more or less injurious to the health of the branch, and if 

 carried to any extent finally destroys the tree. It is gradually falling 

 into disuse since root-pruning and other and better modes are becoming 

 known. A ligature or bandage, tightly applied to the limb, will have 

 temporarily the same effect as ringing, without so much injury to the 

 branch. 



Inducing Fruitfulness by other Means. 



The influence of certain soils on the productiveness of fruit-trees is a 

 subject of every-day observation, but the particular ingredients of the 

 soil which insure this abundant bearing are not so well known. Lime- 

 stone soils are almost invariably productive of all sorts of fruit ; and 

 certain strong loams in this country seem to be equally well adapted to 

 this end. 



In a curious work called the " Rejuvenescence of Plants," &c., by 

 Dr. Schultz, of Berlin, the author, who has devoted considerable time 

 to the subject, states that common salt and chloride of lime contribute 

 greatly to the flowering of most plants, to which, however, they can only 

 be applied with safety in small quantities. " Salts of lime," he con- 

 tinues, " appear to produce so nearly the same effect as those of potash 

 and soda, that it is only necessary to place lime within their reach, if 

 there is no deficiency of manure in the shape of general food. Lime will 

 in the main promote, in an astonishing degree, the fruit and flowering 

 of most plants, because calcareous salts promote evaporation and the con- 

 centration of sap." 



Although we cannot coincide with many of Dr. Schultz's views as 

 expressed in this work, yet the remarks just quoted agree so entirely 

 with facts that have come under our own observation, that we gladly 

 place them before the cultivator of fruit-trees. One of the most produc- 

 tive fruit-gardens in our knowledge is on a limestone soil, and another, 

 more than usually prolific, in a neighborhood not very fruitful, is every 

 year treated with a top-dressing of coarse salt, at the rate of two bushels 

 to the acre. These facts are surely worth the attention of growers, and 

 should be the subject of more extended and careful experiments. 



Rendering trees more fruitful by dwarfing, and by adapting them 

 to soils naturally unfruitful by growing them upon other and better 

 stocks, we have already placed before the reader under the head of 

 Grafting. 



CHAPTER V. 



TRAINING. 



TRAINING fruit-trees is, thanks to our favorable climate, a proceeding 

 entirely unnecessary in the greater part of the United States. Our fine 

 dry summers, with the great abundance of strong light and sun, are suf- 



