54 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



these branches, that consume a lot of sap, will harm their neighbors. Furthermore, these 

 branches almost always grow perpendicularly, & since they're very big, it's difficult once 

 they've been pruned to make them take on a desired shape. Additionally it would need to 

 be a very vigorous tree to sufficiently nourish the number of suckers to be saved. I 

 imagine that the mature tree would have quite enough branches so that the roots won't 

 suffer at all if several suckers are cut off. If the tree is too vigorous & has to be restrained, 

 I'd prefer to fill it out by pruning the natural branches or even leaving it with a lot of 

 twigs rather than saving the suckers. 



"Regarding branches of medium strength with their buds quite close together, 

 most of which are triples, these are the most valuable ones. They're the ones that grow the 

 best branches & the most attractive fruit. So in general some of them should be saved & 

 pruned fairly long, depending on the strength of the tree. But since the main purpose is to 

 obtain fruit, there is a difficulty that's dealt with poorly by a number of gardeners. Since 

 the good fruit buds usually are situated quite far from where the branch originates, the 

 gardeners' urge to obtain fruit makes them prune these branches extremely long. In this 

 case the most common result will be that the most vigorous branch will emerge at the end 

 of the branch to be preserved, & there's a risk that the base will thin out. On the contrary, 

 if the branch is pruned short to avoid this problem, it clearly will be necessary to forego 

 the fruit. Here's how to get out of this difficulty: of two good branches nearby, one must 

 be cut back to two or three buds to obtain wood branches 



