96 TREATISE ON 



that accompany the fruit only when the pit has formed in this kind, & when they've 

 almost reached their maximum size. Drawing more of the sap, these branches are 

 nourished more plentifully. This operation doesn't pertain at all to fruit with seeds, since 

 they have no accompanying shoots. 



4°. If a shoot displays excessive vigor & appears as though it will become a 

 sucker, it's cut off, unless there's a concern that the neighboring branches will inherit its 

 nourishment and also will take on its strength & degenerate. Because in that case it's 

 better to pinch it above the fifth or the sixth leaf & to curtail it by the methods described 

 above. 



Nolo. 1°. Small fruiting branches should be spared during pinching off as they are 

 during pruning. 



Nota. 2°. Pinching off should be more or less rigorous, according to the age & the 

 vigor of the tree. On an old or a declining tree only a few of the fruits & the best of the 

 shoots are saved. The others are removed as soon as the decision can be made, so that 

 they don't needlessly deplete the sap. On a young or a very vigorous tree, on the contrary, 

 only shoots that are poorly situated & those that would cause crowding are cut off, & this 

 is done later on. The preceding proposal assumes a tree that is somewhere in between. 



Noia. 3°. If one side of the tree becomes stronger than the other, its pinched off 

 there more than on the weak side. 1°. so that for the remaining shoots on the strong side 

 that are uncovered & exposed to air & sunshine, transpiration and the hardening of their 

 woody layers moderates their growth. 2°. and so that with a large number of the channels 

 available to the sap now cut off, it will be forced to change over to the other side. 



Nota. 4°. Shoots that slip behind the trellis have to be pulled back, fruit confined 

 or obstructed by the trellis, the wall, osiers, &c, must be freed up, 



