Training and Pruning of Fruit Trees. 183 



a sufficient supply, either for the greenhouse or the market, may 

 be potted off. By keeping part in a cold-frame, a succession 

 may be retarded, and thus a supply obtained till the end of March, 

 when the season will furnish an ample stock of other flowering 

 plants to take its place. The plantation made in June will continue 

 to furnish plenty of flowering plants the second year after plant- 

 ing, but should be afterwards renewed, as the flowering plants 

 become weaker and far fewer in number after the soil is exhausted 

 by bearing a succession of the same sort of crop. A few leaves 

 thrown over the bank will protect many of the flowers in ordi- 

 nary winters, and retard their flowering till the beginning of 

 spring. 



Annat Cottage, Jan. 1 2. 1 842. 



Art. XIII. Some Remarks on training and pruning Fruit Trees. By 

 a Correspondent. 



It is well to understand the various methods of training in use 

 in British and Continental gardens ; and, knowing them, any 

 mode or modification may be adopted which circumstances may 

 require, provided the general principles are kept in view. Orna- 

 mental shrubs are easily managed, because they have not a ten- 

 dency to rear themselves by forming a strong stem ; but with 

 regard to fruit trees the case is otherwise. These, it is well 

 known, if left to nature, form one strong stem, supporting a top 

 which reaches the height of 20, 30, or 40 feet, or more. In order 

 to attain this, the sap rushes, whilst the tree is young and 

 vigorous, towards the leading shoot; and, if lateral branches 

 are occasionally produced, the flow of sap is not strongly directed 

 towards them, compared with that towards the more upright 

 part. At length, however, a ramification does take place, in 

 comparison with which the leading shoot becomes less and less 

 predominant, till it becomes ultimately lost amongst its com- 

 peers. A tolerably equal distribution of sap then results, and a 

 conical or spherical top is formed, bearing fruit, not generally 

 in the concavity, where it would be greatly excluded from light, 

 but at the external surface, where the fruit itself, and the leaves 

 immediately connected with the buds producing it, can be fully 

 exposed to light, air, and dews. It was remarked, that lateral 

 branches were occasionally produced on the stem, in the progress 

 of its ascent. When the top is formed, these are placed at great 

 disadvantage, owing to their being overshaded, and they are 

 then apt to decay, the tree assuming the character of a large 

 elevated top, supported on a strong naked stem. This is the 

 natural disposition of trees, and to this it is necessary to attend 

 in order that it may be counteracted where the natural form of 



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