150 
and it is this system of training which I shall have in my mind in 
the course of the following notes 
First PRUNING. 
Young budded trees in nursey rows present, the first season of 
their growth, the appearance of a straight switeh, with good buds 
all along the stem. Sometimes they grow so vigorously that they 
throw out laterals. Both such young trees are found in nurseries. 
As their customers like to see as much growth as possible, nursery- 
men generally send out their trees without cutting them back. 
Experienced orchardists generally prefer, 
when ordering from the nursery, one-year-old 
trees, which are merely straight switches with 
good buds all along the stem. ‘These they can 
cut baek, as shown by the dotted. line in the 
figure, to the height they prefer, with a length 
of stem pretty well uniformly the same all 
through the orchard. If they plant trees with 
a head ready formed in the nursery they cut it 
short back on the laterals. Those who, on the 
other hand, have little or no experience of 
fruit growing, would do wisely to select from 
the nursery trees with their heads ready 
formed. When cutting back, especially in the 
warmer and drier localities, a stem 15 to 18 
inches high will be found the best. In the 
cooler districts it can be given a height of 18 
to 24 inches. Cut back to a good bua, care 
having been taken that the tree has not been 
planted too deeply, but that its collar, or 
point of junction between the roots and the 
stem be as nearly as possible flush with the 
surface of the ground. If the tree has suffered 
much, and the buds are very small, the bark 
leathery and wrinkled, the stem somewhat 
dried, and the roots much injured, it is advis- 4 Yearling ‘Tree with- 
= : out Branches. 
able to cut the stem lower still, say at a height ye crogs line pers 
of about 9 inches from the ground, or even where to cut back when 
lower, but in every case above the graft. In Pantins—Barry. 
such cases, however, the proper height should 
be given to the stem, either by pinching the 
straight shoot which will grow from it as soon as it reaches that 
desired height, or by cutting it back later on at the time of winter 
pruning. From a stem topped to a height of 15 to 18 inches several 
short shoots will be sent up from the upper buds; of these, three 
or four of the best shoots, placed symmetrically round the stem, are 
allowed to grow, all superfluous vegetation being rubbed off. These 
