RATIONAL FRUIT CULTURE. 39 



an espalier, with the branches upright instead of horizontal. 

 It has many advantages over other forms. Though the re- 

 duction of the amount of bearing wood by the removal of all 

 side-shoots necessarily means a reduction in the cropping 

 capacity, the fruit is, for that reason, much finer; being fully 

 exposed to the sunlight and air, it is also superior in flavour 

 and colour; hanging close to upright branches, instead of 

 swinging from horizontal ones, it is less liable to be shaken 

 down by the wind; and it is more easily gathered. 



HOW TO PRUNE A BUSH APPLE, OR PEAR. 



When young trees are obtained from a nursery, they are 

 sure to have too few main branches or stems, while some 

 will probably be too weak, or badly placed. The latter should 

 first be cut away; the others should then be shortened suffi- 

 ciently to cause some of the buds near the base to break in 

 spring. The shortening should always be to a bud pointing 

 outwards, so that the growth may be away from the centre, 

 and the cut should slant slightly back from the bud to the 

 opposite side of the branch. There is then no snag or end 

 of dead wood left, an important matter, for snags are wide- 

 open doors for insects or disease germs. At the same time, 

 any side-shoots not suitable for growing on into main stems 

 should be cut back. If the result of pruning is that a tree 

 is left with, say, three shortened main stems, and if each 

 of them branches into two in the following season, the frame- 

 work of a bush, with six stems, is then formed, and all that 

 remains to be done in subsequent years, is to prune back any 

 side-shoots to make fruit-spurs. If more than the required 

 number of stems grow, the best should be selected and the 



others cut away. 



HOW TO PRUNE A STANDARD. 



A standard is, as previously stated, really a bush on the 

 top of a tall stem. It should, therefore, be pruned in exactly 



