16 



Tuning. 



Wlien planting a .young fruit-tree, of no matter what variety,' always remove 

 the centre leader. Choose well-growm yearling trees, from a reliable nurseryman, 

 and see that they are free from all disease. The main stem should be short — not 

 more than IS inches high. Select three well-placed arms starting from different 

 portions of the main stem, at a wide angle if possible, and remove all others. 

 Shorten the three arms back to three or four buds, pruning to an outside Ijud or 

 to a bud which will throw tlie shoot in tlie recjuired direction, the object being to 

 form a wide, stout base of main arms to build the future tree upon ; these main 

 arms jointing at different jiarts round the trunk give a very strong base. 



Fig. 1. 

 Planting the tree. 



Figure 1 shows liow the tree should be planted ; Figure 2 shows the correct 

 depth to plant, and Figure 3 shows the correct way to prune the young tree. 



Upon these the sulj-arms and leaders are built in the form of an inverted 

 cone, with no centre leader. The tree must be kept well balanced on all sides. The 

 centre hollow, with a double row of leaders evenly placed all round, must show 

 no crowding anywhere. Figure 4 represents (" a " and " b ") two young apples 

 unpruned, and (" c " and " d ") two young peaches unprvmed. Figure .5 shows 

 tliese same trees pruned. 



