212 Home Vegetable Gardening 



a few of the most promising, which may be left to 

 be developed into large limbs; and then as these 

 new limbs grow on, gradually to cut out, using a 

 fine-tooth saw and painting the exposed surfaces, 

 the surplus old wood. Apples will need more prun- 

 ing than the other fruits. Pears and cherries need 

 the least; cutting back the ends of limbs enough to 

 keep the trees in good form, with the removal of an 

 occasional branch for the purpose of letting in light 

 and air, is all the pruning they will require. Of 

 course trees growing on rich ground, and well cul- 

 tivated, will require more cutting back than those 

 growing under poorer conditions. A further pur- 

 pose of pruning is to effect indirectly a thinning of 

 the fruit, so that what is grown will be larger and 

 more valuable, and also that the trees may not be- 

 come exhausted by a few exceptionally heavy crops. 

 On trees that have been neglected and growing 

 slowly the bark sometimes becomes hard and set. 

 In such cases it will prove beneficial to scrape the 

 bark and give a wash applied with an old broom. 

 Whitewash is good for this purpose, but soda or 

 lye answers the same purpose and is less disagreea- 

 bly conspicuous. Slitting the bark of trunks and the 

 largest limbs is sometimes resorted to, care being 

 taken to cut through the bark only; but such prac- 

 tice is objectionable because it leaves ready access 

 to some forms of fungous disease and to borers. 



