224: PRUNING. 



The French conduct it in beautiful pyramids, on pre- 

 cisely the same principle as the pear and apple ; but the 

 leading shoot must be kept fastened to an upright sup- 

 port a small rod attached to the base on account of its 

 reclining habit. The medlar is but little cultivated. Its 

 treatment may be exactly similar to that described for 1he- 

 quince, its habits of growth and bearing being similar. 



SECTION 3. PKUNING THE CHEEKY. 



The cherry is conducted in any desirable form witi as 

 much facility as any of all our hardy fruit trees. The 

 heart and ~bigarrcau classes are very rapid growers, often 

 attaining the height of six feet the first season from the 

 bud or graft, and in two years forming fine standard trees 

 six to seven feet high, with a few top shoots. They have 

 also large, drooping leaves, and, with few exceptions, stiff, 

 erect, or slightly curved branches. 



The d^ike class does not grow so rapidly. The branches 

 are stiff and erect, the leaves smaller as a general thing 

 than the preceding classes, more erect, thicker, and of a 

 deeper, darker green color. 



The morellos are of a bushy habit, with smaller leaves 

 than any of the preceding classes, and the branches are 

 more slender and closer together. The bark of all is very 

 tough, being composed of several layers of powerful 

 fibres and tissue. It does not yield readily, like that of 

 most other fruit trees, to the expansion or growth of the 

 wood, and this occasions the bursting and exuding of gum 

 in certain localities, especially in the more rapid growing 

 classes. The mode of bearing has already been described 

 under the head of fruit branches, in the beginning of the 

 work. The fruit is produced on wood three years old 

 thus : The shoot of last year's growth, which is furnished 

 now with leaf buds in all its length, will produce at the 



