1871 



THE POMOLOGIST AND GARDENER. 



199 



nourishment to the remaining portion, wliich will 

 consequently grow with ncaly double their former 

 luxuriance." 



By this mode of reasoning — and we believe it is 

 founded on truth — the operator, in pruning to stim- 

 ulate the wood-producing force, must perform the 

 the process at some moment when the amount of 

 nourishment supjilied by the roots for all the 

 branches and buds has not been diminished by the 

 action of the buds and branches to be amputated ; 

 that is, some moment after the sap is matured in au- 

 tumn, and before the buds burst in spring, govern- 

 ing himself in each case as to time by the ability of 

 the tree to resist the action of inclemency. That is, 

 upon the hardy apple and grape he may operate at 

 any time during winter, but the more tender peach 

 and cherry will be less likely to sutler if left un- 

 touched till early spring. That heading back in 

 spring stimulates to a more vigorous growth is now 

 become an axiom in tree culture, and the nursery- 

 man, with peach trees unsold, cuts them back to 

 stumps with a single bud, conscious that in the fall 

 he will have better trees than those not cut back. 



The grape-grower with a wiry shoot of two feet 

 in length and twenty buds, cuts back in spring to a 

 single eye, and from that eye grows a bearing vine. 

 The hedge-grower, anxious to form a base to his 

 live fence, cuts back his plants in spring, and, if he 

 deals in suitable plants, is rewarded by fall by the 

 possession of half a dozen or more shoots for every 

 one cut down, each new shoot larger than the one 

 it stands in place of 



In explaining the rules of practice which ought 

 to govern in pruning to stimulate the fruit-produc- 

 ing force, it is only necessary to bear in mind that 

 these two forces are antagonistic, and that whatever 

 strengthens the one beyond that state of equilibri- 

 um which is the result of normal health, weakens 

 at the same time the opposite or antagonistic force. 

 Suppose we have a case in which the supply of food 

 furnished by the roots is more than a normal sup- 

 ply for all the buds and branches, and there is in 

 consequence a continued tendency to form wood 

 and not fruit buds ; the only remedy in such a case 

 is to diminish the amount of nourishment supplied 

 to do which the system of roots must be made smal- 

 ler, and limited to pasture grounds of narrower di- 

 mensions. This is done by root-pruning, a process 

 in which a circular trench is dug around the tree 

 some twelve inches deep, and the large roots cut off 

 at a distance greater or smaller from the body, de- 

 pendent upon the size of the tree and its luxuriance 

 of habit. An amputation of about one-third of the 

 whole length is probably in most cases sufficient. 

 Heading back and shortening in are not the only 

 pruning processes that tend to stimulate vigorous 

 growth. 



Fruit spurs are all at the expense of the wood 



system, and the removal at any time by the pruner 

 of those in excess, or of small branches wliich have 

 ceased t<i make annual wood-shoots, is to relieves the 

 the wood-forming system from un<lue taxation. Ex- 

 cept this slight cutting, we are of opinion that no 

 other summmcr pruning can be indulged with the 

 apple and pear, except the removal of a water 

 sprout or cross branch, without diminishing the or- 

 der of assimilation and lessening the amount of 

 nourishment for next year's growth, which is the 

 opposite pruning to induce wood-growth. 



In practice, also, there are several other proces- 

 ses which the operator may bring to bear in aid of 

 root-pruning when trees too vigorous in habit are 

 to be brought int(j bearing. Pinching the young 

 shoots, so as to bruise the points and prevent fur- 

 ther elongation, is one, and this seems to paralyze 

 wood-growth and tend to fruitfulncss. So also does 

 stripping off the leaves in midsummer after the an- 

 nual buds are formed. AVe remember once to have 

 witnessed an occasion where excessive rains in Au- 

 gust caused the cherry and pear trees to cast their 

 leaves, and that among them were spice pear trees 

 headed back, which were covered with annual 

 shoots in this manner stripped of their leaves; and 

 we remember that in the genial weather of Septem- 

 ber these same spice pear trees seemed to undergo a 

 fall growth, throwing out a small tuft of leaves at the 

 points of the annual branches, the wood buds along 

 the whole branch swelling and undergoing a con- 

 version into fruit-buds, which studded the branches 

 with pears the following season, giving the appear- 

 ance a good deal of a rope of onions.— Fastera (Ey.) 

 Ruralist. 



Cldb Footed Cabbages. — We have never seen a 

 club footed cabbage at the West. On the old 

 grounds of New England the cabbage grower often 

 experiences serious difficulty from this cause. As 

 a remedy, the Oardeners' Chronicle recommends an 

 application to the roots of the young plants of the 

 following : " One gallon of fresh soot and one 

 pound of saltpeter reduced to a powder and mixed 

 with water to the consistency of tar. The root of 

 every plant is dipped in this mixture before plant- 

 ing." This ]ilan is said to be perfectly efficacious. 



Fruit in Fern Leaves. — In England and France 

 dried fern leaves are used very extensively for 

 packing fresh fruit, grapes especially ; they seeming 

 to possess, to an unusual degree, the property of 

 preserving vegetable and even animal substances 

 for a long time. 



SAVINC4 Flower Seeds. — The seeds of such 

 flowers as are liable to be scattered and lost to the 

 raiser, as the pansy and flox, for instance, may be 

 kept for use by tying a bit of muslin around the 

 seed-bud before it ripens and opens. 



