230 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



branches as they were; but under the hot suns and strong 

 winds of an American climate, a vigorous shortening in is 

 requisite. 



As horticultural theorists strongly insisted that pruning 

 at transplanting was injurious, J. J. Thomas, Esq., author 

 of the Fruit Culturist, has settled the question by direct 

 experiment. Of six apricots, two years from the bud, 

 about seven feet high, five were cut back and one left 

 uncut at transplanting. The most vigorous of the five 

 made 21 shoots, from 6 to 21 inches long. The weakest 

 had 9 shoots G to 7 inches long, not counting the shoots 

 less than G inches in length. The impruned tree had on 

 7 shoots, all less than 2 inches, and not one-twentieth 

 part of the amount of foliage to be found on other trees. 

 Experiments upon cherry trees, planted at the same time, 

 equally showed the necessity of priming at transplanting. 

 Trees unpruned when transplanted are so checked that 

 it requires years to restore them. In a southern climate 

 they must be more severely cut back, when planted out, 

 than in that of Macedon, New York, where the experi- 

 ments were made. 



It matters very little how closely we prune the top of 

 the trees; only have good roots, and a single season's 

 growth will restore the balance. Do not leave more than 

 one or two buds to a branch of the previous year's growth 

 if the tree is of much size at the time of transplanting. 

 Coniferous trees, as the pines, firs, etc., are exceptions, for 

 if cut back at planting, the leader being lost, the form of 

 the tree is difficult to restore. Hence those only of this 

 class should be planted which have been taken up and 

 reset annually in the nursery until a mass of fibrous 

 roots has been formed. These must be protected from the 

 air until the tree is reset. Broad-leaved evergreens, like 

 English laurels, evergreen oaks, may be cut back and a 

 portion of the leaves removed to lessen evaporation, with 



