38 FRUIT FARMING 



stronger ones taking the lead, which, provided they are 

 in proper places, may be allowed to go ahead. I 

 consider this severe pruning necessary at first, because 

 some Apples and Pears, if left uncut, form a mass of 

 fruit buds, come into bearing, and never afterwards 

 get beyond a mop- sized head. Some plums have the 

 same tendency. 



Siding. Feathered trees and young half-standards 

 are greatly assisted in strength and vigour, if some of 

 the side shoots on the main stem are left on for a 

 few years. 



Caution. A word against the treatment generally 

 meted out to young trees, both bush fruits and 

 standards, in the matter of pruning. Given a tree of 

 say two or three years' growth that has made a good 

 start in life, your average cutter will prune it just the 

 same, that is to say he will cut rather more than 

 half the current year's shoots away for the first three 

 or four years of its existence. In this way the tree is 

 certainly kept healthy, but it practically does nothing 

 more than make wood, and far too much of that, so 

 year by year the cutter has more superflous wood to 

 take out, and this treatment forces the tree to make 

 renewed efforts at wood growing. If the young tree, 

 instead of being cut so hard (the hard cutting is 

 necessary for two years, but no longer) is allowed to 

 carry a much greater length of its year's growth, say 

 two-thirds in place of a quarter, it will at once 

 commence forming bloom-buds, and the year following 

 will probably bear a little fruit. At the same time, if 

 treated well in the matter of manure, it will also 

 make plenty of new growth to continue building up 

 the foundation of a good tree. The foregoing is what 



