Production of Fruit 



shoots, and the tree, being weakened, will 

 begin to produce fruit. 



Sometimes the roots, the original sources 

 of the sap, are approached. The principal 

 roots are laid bare in the spring and exposed 

 to the fresh air and the heat of the sun for the 

 whole summer. Being deprived of the cool- 

 ness and the dark required for their function, 

 they supply less food to the tree and this 

 poverty results in the appearance of flower 

 buds. A more effective method, but one 

 which unless used with discretion will ruin the 

 tree, is to lay bare, mutilate and cut off some 

 of the roots and then to replace the earth. 

 This will evidently diminish the supply of sap. 

 Or if a tree is small enough it may be trans- 

 planted in the autumn, retaining all its roots, 

 when the disturbance effected by this change 

 will cause it to flower in the following year. 



147 



