2Z2 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



CHAPTER XL 



PRUNING AND TRAINING. 



Pruning. — This operation is generally performed more 

 at random than any other in gardening, yet is one of the 

 most important and most delicate. Not even a twig 

 should be removed from a tree without some definite 

 object. This work above all others requires care, knowl- 

 edge, and judgment, and should never be left to ignorant 

 operators. In their hands the results can hardly fail to be 

 injurious, but performed by those who base their practice 

 on the laws of vegetation, it contributes to ensure a regu- 

 lar production of beautiful and perfect fruit, and still 

 more to prolong the life and fruitfulness of trees. 



The benefits of skillful pruning, as stated by Du Breuil, 

 are: 



1. It permits one to impose upon its subject a form 

 corresponding with the place it is designed to occupy. 

 Thus to standard fruit trees is given the pyramidal form, 

 or that of the vase Trees thus managed produce larger 

 and more abundant fruits than those left to grow at ran- 

 dom, and occupy less space. Trees upon an espalier or 

 wall, and vines upon a trellis, are made to develop their 

 wood with symmetry and regularity, and occupy usefully 

 the whole surface they were designed to cover. 



2. By pruning, all the main branches of the tree are 

 furnished with fruit-bearing branches duly exposed to air 

 and light in their whole extent. An unpruned peach tree 

 will produce fruit only at the extremity of each branch, 

 but by pruning, all parts of the tree are made fruitful. 



3. By pruning, fructification is made more equal. By 

 suppressing each year the superabundant flower-buds, 



