PRUNING MADE PLAIN 



In pruning fruit trees each kind needs separate con- 

 sideration to appreciate how its pruning is carried out, but 

 to do so here would only be to repeat what is said in the 

 notes dealing at length with the various fruits. Sup- 

 posing the ignorant pruner, confident in his own mind 

 that to prune a plant or tree he has only to cut it back, 

 treats a Pear tree and a Peach tree similarly, and cuts 

 back the shoots of both, he would certainly have no 

 crop of Peaches, even though he did of Pears, for the 

 simple reason that the method of flower and fruit pro- 

 duction is dissimilar. The fruits of the Peach tree, like 

 the flowers of the climbing rose, are borne almost solely 

 on the one-year-old growths. The fruits of the Pear, 

 on the contrary, are produced chiefly on spurs i.e. short, 

 sturdy growths that arise on the main branches. A little 

 study of the mode of fruit bearing would guide the pruner 

 and make his work comparatively simple, while head- 

 strong pruning, having for its object only the work of 

 cutting back, might prove disastrous. Take the Apple : 

 fruits are freely produced -on spur growths, but they are 

 also borne on one-year-old shoots. Thus, to prune the 

 Apple exactly as one would prune the Pear is wrong. 

 Red and White Currants give their fruit from spur 

 growths, while the Black Currant fruits chiefly on one- 

 year-old or last year's shoots. Gooseberry fruits are pro- 

 duced both on spurs and one-year-old shoots. In each 

 case special pruning is necessary. Then with some fruits 

 the worker needs to consider varieties separately, for the 

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