FRUIT TREES. Chap. IV. 85 



& will create gaps or false wood branches on a tree that such a long pruning had assumed 

 to be very vigorous. 



5°. I strip off all twigs & stunted branches from the lower part of the tree, unless 

 they were the only source available to fill or to prevent a gap. {Defin. 3). Concern about 

 a similar defect, or the need to consume some sap that's too plentiful, could be reason to 

 keep some of them at the top. 



6°. I cut off all of the suckers & the false wood branches, unless the tree requires 

 that the latter be treated otherwise. {Defin. 6). 



The top of a tree, where the sap rises most actively & profusely, can be thought of 

 as a "vigorous tree", & the lower part, that gets less sap, as a "weak tree". So the latter' s 

 strong branches should be pruned & the small ones thinned out. The "vigorous tree", on 

 the contrary, should have its medium branches pruned, the large ones removed, & be 

 filled out with small ones. The same analogy applies to the strong side & to the weak side 

 of a tree. Our method is based on the principle that distributing the sap at the top of the 

 tree among a large number of weak branches where it finds only narrow passages 

 diminishes its force & reduces its effect. By contrast, collecting it in the lower part of the 

 tree into a few strong branches whose unrestricted outlets offer no resistance to its action 

 maintains or even increases its force and its effect. 



Secondly, a weak tree should be pruned short, & a strong tree should be pruned 

 long. We follow this rule, taking the terms long & short rigorously & in their strict 

 meaning. We'll add to this rule if we mean these terms in a relative sense. Pruning long 

 in fact means pruning to ten or twelve inches; pruning short means to prune to three or 

 four inches. But given two branches, one strong 



