The Story-Book of the Fields 



position. This abnormal direction is op- 

 posed to the ascensional course of the sap 

 and, therefore, affords a scantier supply to 

 the shoots. This poverty promotes the pro- 

 duction of fruit. When the result has been 

 obtained the branches are restored to their 

 natural position, or else the tree would be 

 exhausted. 



Sometimes the pruning is postponed till the 

 summer when the young shoots are already 

 a few inches long. The sap which has been 

 spent on the production of these shoots, 

 which are now removed by pruning, is a 

 serious loss to the tree, which is no longer 

 able to feed the lower shoots on the branches 

 and turns them into flower buds. 



If none of these methods will induce the 

 tree to bear fruit there are others more 

 violent to which we should only resort in the 

 last extremity. Towards the end of winter, 

 before the sap begins to rise, a ring is cut 

 round the base of the trunk, very narrrow, 

 but deep enough to penetrate the exterior 

 layers of the wood. We know that the sap 

 rises through these exterior layers, which are 

 the youngest and the most easily permeated 

 by fluids ; so that if we partially arrest its 

 course a less abundant supply will reach the 



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