FRUIT TREES. Chap. IV. 67 



others are shortened & fastened horizontally or close to the horizontal. Since trees grow 

 new branches every year, this arrangement, cutting back, & curtailing is repeated every 

 year. The idea is to create a pleasing display against the wall, attractively balanced & 

 symmetrical on both sides of the trunk, well trimmed everywhere without clutter, and to 

 produce fruit that's exceptional in size & comparable in fine quality to that grown in the 

 open. The tree thus is destined to spend its life in circumstances contrary to its natural 

 inclination, subjected to iron from the moment its buds begin to swell until its fruit is 

 harvested. It's always under the watchful eye of a gardener who combines a sharp eye 

 with a skillful hand to put harmony & proportion into his work, good judgment in 

 conducting himself & in making decisions based on the situation at hand, the foresight to 

 conserve his resources for future needs, and to adjust his operations with a view to their 

 outcome & their consequences; someone with a knowledge of everyday natural order & 

 the ability to distinguish situations where it should be followed from those where it ought 

 to be changed, and a familiarity with his discipline, with all of its elements, their purpose, 

 & their use. In short, someone who knows by arrangement & intelligent cutting of its 

 branches, how to achieve for a tree beauty of form & the benefits of fecundity. 



These, in summary, are the ideas behind a pruned tree, the definition of pruning, 

 & the attributes of one who wishes to practice it successfully. Some propositions & 

 definitions that we're about to state can be thought of as elements of pruning, in which 

 everything should be performed according to reason & principle, and nothing by habit & 

 by chance. 



