THE HOME FRUIT GARDEN 



Some widely divergent views have been expressed on 

 the subject of pruning hardy fruit trees, but most experts 

 are agreed that great value attaches to careful and timely 

 summer pruning. By " stopping " the side shoots, fruit 

 buds are induced to form at the base and in due time 

 fruit spurs will develop there. As the trees grow freely 

 during August and September further shoots arise as 

 the result of the " stopping," but they are valueless 

 and the points should be pinched out when they have 

 made two or three leaves. 



Even by strict adherence to the practice of summer 

 and winter pruning the fruit-grower may not command 

 success, though he will do far more to ensure it than the 

 grower who prunes in haphazard fashion. Some trees 

 may grow so vigorously that they remain barren ; some 

 bear fruit more freely on spurs ; others will bear largely 

 on one year old growths. These peculiarities need to be 

 taken into consideration. Gross growth is remedied by 

 searching for gross roots and cutting them off as near 

 the stem as one can conveniently trace them. In the 

 case of varieties that do not bear so freely on spurs, 

 the pruning must be less severe. Shoots should be 

 allowed to grow when there is room for them instead of 

 being summer pruned in the usual way ; but the dis- 

 covery of these idiosyncrasies and humouring them is 

 part of the pleasure of growing Apple trees. 



The Pear. My experience of Pear trees grown in the 

 open is that they are less reliable croppers than Apples, 



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