155 
the other hand, should a strong branch become uncontrollable in 
spite of heading back, it may, in extreme cases, be advisable to 
check the flow of sap towards it by making an incision as shown 
at C, immediately below its-point of attachment to the stem. 
Thus we have a means of transforming a wood bud into a fruit 
bud and vice versa, by making a cut below the rudimentary bud if 
we want a fruit bud, or above it if we want a wood bud. These 
methods should, however, be only used with discrimination, else 
more harm than good would ensue. 
Revovatine OLp TREES, 
Fruit trees planted in good soil and possessed of a good stem 
are susceptible of living.to a great age. It, however, often happens 
that through years of neglect their branches have grown to excessive 
length and are, to a great extent, deprived of fruit shoots, or that 
the crop is carried up too high, hence adding considerably to the 
cost of gathering; or again the trees are diseased, and in order to 
suecessfully combat the pests which infest 
them they must be shortened in. Again, the 
variety of fruit the trees bear may be unsuit- 
able, and it may be expedient to change it 
by means of budding or of grafting. In all 
these eases it may be desirable, or even im- 
perative, to shorten the tree and head it 
back. For that purpose the saw is ealled into 
requisition, and the cuts are smoothy pared 
with a sharp knife, the wound being then 
smeared with clay, or with the shallac paint, 
or some of the other paint already referred to. 
The figure illustrates an old plum tree 
which has thus been renovated. The plum, Top of an old plum tree 
petter than most other fruit trees, stands "°Sdei"ek ie 
eutting back hard to old wood without show- 
ing symptoms of dying back, which, under similar conditions, are 
often shown by apples and more particularly by peaches and 
nectarines. 
Early in the spring the roots of the tree, which may be good 
for many years more, become active, the sap commences to move 
upwards, and a number of hidden and dormant buds are excited 
into life. Shoots burst out of the old stumps, and as they grow 
they should be thinned out to the number of three or four only, 
well placed and likely to form a symmetrical head. Should these 
few shoots, which are destined to serve as main limbs, grow too 
rankly, they may be pinched or eut back during the summer, and 
laterals will grow on the tree, which will be shortened at the time 
of winter pruning. If, however, these shoots show only a moderate 
growth, they are better left alone until the pruning season, when 
