70 



TEANSFL ANTING. 



Fig. 36 



tree, and fig. 



so as to correspond wij;h the diminished supply. This may 

 be done in two ways : one, by shortening back every shoot 

 of the previous year, to one quarter of its length, and in 

 extreme cases, every shoot may be shortened back to one 



lud, just above the previous 

 year's wood. The other mode, 

 attended with more labor, but 

 preserving the full size of the 

 head, is to leave all the shoots 

 entire, and remove every al- 

 ternate bud, leaving the ter- 

 minals, or remove two-thirds 

 or three-quarters of the buds 

 in the same way. Neither of 

 these modes can in the least 

 degree destroy the natural sym- 

 metry of the tree. Cutting 

 off large branches at random 

 often quite spoils the shape. 

 Fig. 36, represents anunpruned 

 37, the same with the shoots shortened back. 

 Where peach and other trees have 

 been once a year trimmed up to a single 

 stem, while in the nursery, the mode of 

 shortening is shown by figs. 38 and 39. 



A few experiments only are needed 

 to convince any one of the advantages 

 of thus cutting in the shoots. In 1846, 

 an orchardist on the Hudson, carefully 

 transplanted 180 apple trees into good 

 mellow soil. The roots had been cut 

 rather short in digging. One-half had 

 their tops shortened back, so as to leave 

 only one bud of the previous season's 

 wood ; the heads of the other half were 

 =» suffered to remain untouched. The season 

 proved favorable. Of the ninety which 

 had their heads pruned, only two died, and nearly all made 

 fine shoots, many being eighteen inches long. Of the 

 ninety unpruned, eight died ; most of them made but little 

 growth, and none more than six inches. Both the first and 



