36 FRUIT FARMING 



on trees or bushes thus treated, your fruit would be 

 super-excellent ; and in a wet or cold season, what 

 you produced would be much larger and clearer in the 

 skin than from neglected trees. Again, in the case of 

 Raspberries, you cut off 2 to 4 feet of the canes, 

 certainly to save staking on the one hand, but also 

 because you get much larger cones, and jam makers 

 do not like Raspberries that are all seeds, as they 

 must be if left uncut. In neglected gardens, Gooseberries 

 are not one-fourth the size of those from properly 

 pruned plantations. The most forcible example is that 

 of the Cob Nut as pruned in Kent. The tree appears 

 a miserable object after the cutter has done his work, 

 but as the result proves, a better crop and far larger 

 nuts are produced than on trees not pruned ; in fact, 

 if allowed to grow as they like the nuts are but a 

 trifle larger than those called Barcelona in the shops. 



Again, why is wall fruit so much finer than that from 

 the open r Because such trees must be pruned to keep 

 them in position, and moreover, the spurs are always (in 

 properly cared-for gardens) thinned out and naturally 

 all face one way to catch the sun, and have the 

 additional benefit of the radiation of heat from the 

 wall to assist in the ripening of the wood. 



Having given you, perhaps, too much theory, I will 

 now proceed to indicate how I would recommend the 

 pruning to be done on young trees, say standard and 

 half-standard Pears and Apples. In planting, all that 

 is necessary is to cut off any injured roots, and then 

 to shorten back slightly the lower anchor-like roots, 

 taking care to cut in closely the tap root, as well as 

 those that have a distinctly downward tendency, always 

 cutting from the under side. Pears have fewer roots 



