92 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 



should be coated with grafting composition, or with that 

 recommended by Mr. Downing : " Alcohol, with sufficient 

 gum shellac dissolved in it, to make a liquid of the con- 

 sistence of paint, to be put on with a brush." 



This excludes air, and is not affected by changes of 

 weather. 



Pinching is a sort of anticipated pruning, practised 

 upon the young growing shoots, intended to promote a uni- 

 form circulation of the sap, and thus regulate the growth, 

 and also to induce fruitfulness. 



1st. To Eegulate the, Growth. In the management of 

 trees, this is an operation of great importance, as it obvi- 

 ates the necessity of heavy amputations being made at the 

 winter or spring pruning. Instead of allowing certain 

 superfluous or misplaced shoots to acquire their full deve- 

 lopment at the expense of other parts, we pinch them 

 early, and give to the necessary parts, or branches of the 

 ^tree, the nutriment which they would have appropriated, 

 if allowed to remain. In this way, we are able to obtain 

 results in one season, that two or more would be required 

 for, if we depended wholly on the winter pruning. We 

 will suppose, for an example, the case of a young nursery 

 tree in the second year, intended for a standard. In ordi- 

 nary cases, the terminal bud, either the natural one or that 

 pruned to, is developed into the leading shoot or stem, 

 and a greater or less number of buds below it pioduce 

 branches ; and it frequently happens that some of these, if 

 not pinched, acquire so much vigor as to injure the leader 

 and produce a consequent deformity in the tree. Fig 83 

 (A) represents a case of this kind, which is very common, 

 and too often neglected. The shoots, , <z, ought to have 

 been pinched the moment they began to exhibit a dispo- 

 sition to outgrow the leader. There are other cases still 

 worse than this, familiar to all tree growers ; for instance, 

 where a strong shoot is produced on the middle or lower 



