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and the cost is greatly reduced for picking the cuttings, taking them 
out to the headland, and attending to the burning. 
FRUIT-TREE PRUNING. 
In this chapter the shaping and the pruning of the several 
Varities of those temperate clime fruit-trees grown in our orchards 
will be more particularly referred to. 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 
There are a few rules which are applicable in every cireum- 
stance, and which should be borne in mind whatever the system of 
training, or the kind of tree to be pruned, may be. When pruning, 
cut off all dead wood; also one of any two branches which may 
happen to cross and rub against each other, thus chafing the bark 
and injuring the limb. Suppress water shoots and suckers. When 
cutting to a bud do not leave a stump above the bud; but on the 
other hand do not cut the wood off too close to that bud. When 
compelled to remove large limbs, pare off the wound with a sharp 
knife and cover the wound with some dressing, such as already 
recommended in the previous chapter on pruning, or even with clay, 
which, while preventing the air and the dampness from drying and 
rotting the wood, will not prevent the young bark overgrowing the 
wound and gradually healing it. Before eutting a limb off try to 
see what the result of your action is likely to be a few years hence, 
and thus save at an early stage the possible necessity of having to 
cut large limbs at some future period. 
Should it be found necessary to cut a large limb, saw it a short 
distance from the bottom first. Then saw down from above, and 
the limb can be removed without fear of splitting-off below. Never 
cut a branch without having a reason for doing so. Under the 
climatic conditions which prevail here, it is better to err on the side 
of cutting hard back to keep the tree low, than on the side of spar- 
ing the tree the first years of its growth and letting it run up a 
high stem topped with long, lanky branches. 
SYSTEMS OF TRAINING AND SHAPING FRUIT-TREES. 
Climatie conditions to a great extent influence the methods of 
training trees. Thus in colder climates they are often trained 
Cordon fashion, or in Espaliers. Then again the Pyramid shape 
was for a long time a favourite in warmer climates, until the Low 
Standard or Vase svstem supplanted it. 
1. Cordons, which are either vertical or horizontal or oblique. 
Trees trained as horizontal cordons have their stems bent at right 
angeles and fastened to a wire. These cordons are either single. as 
shown in the figure, or double, i.e., with a branch on each side. 
Although this method of training trees is sometimes employed for 
