14 THE MINIAT0EE FKUIT GAUDEN 



bearing varieties, may be reared without this annual or 

 biennial operation. I must impress upon my readers 

 that my principal object is to make trees fit for small 

 gardens, and to instruct those who are not blessed with 

 large gardens how to keep the trees perfectly under 

 control ; and this can best be done by annual, or at 

 least biennial, attention to the roots, for if a tree be 

 suffered to grow three or more years and then be root- 

 pruned, it will receive a check if the spring be dry, 

 and the crop of fruit for one season wUl be jeopardised. 

 Therefore, those who are disinclined to the annual 

 operation, and yet wish to confine the growth of their 

 trees withiu limited bounds by root-pruning say once 

 in two years, should only operate upon half their trees 

 one season ; they will thus have the remaining half in 

 an unchecked bearing state ; and those who have ample 

 room and space may prune their pyramids in summer, 

 and suffer them to grow to a height of fifteen or twenty 

 feet without pruning their roots. In rich soils, where 

 the trees grow freely, they may be root-pruned annually 

 with great advantage. 



The following summary will, perhaps, convey my 

 ideas respecting the management of pyramids and 

 bushes when cultivated as garden trees : — In small 

 gardens with rich soil either root-prune or remove all 

 the trees annually, early in November. In larger 

 gardens perform the same operation biennially at the 

 same season. For very large gardens with a dry good 

 subsoil, in which all kinds of fruit trees grow without 



