THE FIG. .193 



season nothing should be withheld that is necessary to 

 thoroughly consolidate or ripen the wood. Fire-heat 

 should he increased in October, and the air kept dry 

 and circulating about them till this end is thoroughly 

 attained. 



PRUNING AND PINCHING. 



When the trees have shed their leaves, they should be 

 kept comparatively dry at the root aU winter. What 

 pruning is necessary should be performed in winter 

 when they are at rest. Very little pruning will, however, 

 suffice, if their summer growths have been produced 

 and regulated according to the foregoing directions. 

 There will be the main stems, with the cordon branches 

 that were established the previous year, when the young 

 plants were in pots, — now extending right and left 

 to about four feet, — with their lateral growths at 

 regular intervals, and the cordon growths produced 

 this season. My practice ,in pruning figs thus trained 

 horizontally, and from which two crops are to be annu- 

 ally ripened, differs somewhat from that usually pur- 

 sued, and may be described as a mixture of vine-prun- 

 ing on the close-spur system and ordinary peach-prun- 

 ing. The accompanying woodcut, iig. 19, will illustrate 

 at a glance what I mean by this, and serve for the rule 

 which I consider the best in fig-pruning generally. It 

 may be explained to the tyro, that the first crop of fruit 

 produced in fig-forcing is got from the young wood of 

 the previous summer's growth ; and the second, which 

 ripens generally in September and October, from the 

 young growths of the same summer, and which are 

 produced contemporaneously with the first crop of fruit 



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