35 



pests which radiate away from their central home in all 

 directions, and thus ignorance of cultural methods and the 

 habit of letting things slide may render a man's fruit garden 

 a curse to his neighbourhood. If he plants nothing, there 

 is nothing to be said. If he plants trees, he is morally 

 bound to care for them so adequately as to prevent their 

 being mischievous to others, or else, by some such law as 

 that which the government proposed for acceptance in 1895, 

 his neighbours should be empowered to make him. 



39. It may be well to hear what successful fruit-growers 

 in other countries say as to this fruit-tree shaping : 



1 . " All deciduous fruit trees should in this country be cut back after 

 planting to within twelve inches ' of the ground. I should prefer a 

 head within six inches of the ground. Among my early plantings I 

 can show trees with a clean trunk four to five feet high, and I keep a 

 few of these as monuments of my ignorance. The rest I shall cut 

 down and grub out. Leave three or four buds at the top of the tree, 

 and don't worry if the first year some small branchlets conie out all 

 along the trunk. They will help to shade your tree, and you may 

 have to use some of them to balance the head next spring. As a 

 rule your tree will not need the knife the first summer, and while 

 shading the trunk from, sun-scald is wise, cutting low will generally 

 give foliage to protect it amply." 



2. " The top of the tree directly after planting out should be cut 

 back to, say, fifteen inches above the ground. Let three buds grow 

 at the top ; three limbs are better than four or five. When twigs 

 start out a little way below, pinch the terminal out and stop them. 

 They then put out a few leaves and shade the trunk. In the follow- 

 ing winter-pruning season cut off the three branches, leaving them 

 about twelve inches long from the trunk. Allow each of them to 

 send out two shoots, pinching back all others as soon as they utart out 

 as twigs. At next winter's pruning, the third year from the bud, cut 

 off these six branches to eighteen inches in length. Each of these six 

 is allowed to put out two shoots and the others are pinched back. The 

 next year the tree has twelve branches, and has assumed a goblet 

 form and is symmetrical, if care has been taken to pinch back all the 

 twigs except those encouraged to grow." 



3. " The b?st method to secure a tree with a low head is to cut tin- 

 transplant off, not less than sixteen inches from the ground. Allow 

 a few of the healthiest buds near the top to grow, taking care the 

 head is evenly balanced. It is best that they be distanced a little, not 

 all springing from close to the top. All stuff that comes out below 

 these may be left to grow a few inches, and then must be pinched out 

 at the bud, allowing the bunch of foliage to remain to protect tho 

 trunk till the head is large enough to do that office. Then the trunk- 

 is cleared off bare. Allow the shoots forming the head to grow unin- 

 terruptedly all through the first season. The following \\inter cut 

 them back to tenor twelve inches, just above a series of strong healthy 



