19.8 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



fruit of the same season. It bore two heavy crops the 

 previous year. To form such a plant, the point was 

 pinched out of the cutting when about a foot high. 

 When the several shoots with which it broke away into 

 growth were long and strong enough to bear it, they 

 were occasionally bent downwards with the hand, and 

 when they had grown 6 or 7 inches long, they had the 

 terminal bud pinched out of them, and these shoots 

 started away again with generally two growths. The 

 plants were then shifted into 8-inch pots, and encouraged 

 to grow in a warm moist house with plenty of light and 

 air. After being well ripened they were pruned back, 

 each shoot to three eyes, except some which were short 

 and stubby enough not to require it. The following 

 spring it was, along with some dozens of others, some 

 larger and some less, but all the same age, shifted 

 into 11-inch pots after they began to grow, and they 

 bore two good crops, and have made plants that, with 

 top-dressing and manure-watering, would continue for 

 several years to bear fine fruit in the same pots. Still 

 it is desirable to give them a small annual shift until 

 they are put into 15-inch pots, which are large enough 

 for any purpose. After they get into pots of the last- 

 named size, and when they require stimulants in the 

 way of fresh soil, the best way is to partially shake 

 them out about the latter end of October, and cut back 

 some of the strongest roots and pot them in fresh soil. 

 By this means they can be kept in excellent bearing 

 condition for many years. 



- After they begin to bear they require next to no 

 winter pruning. It should aU be done by summer 

 pinching, removing entirely superfluous growths that 

 would crowd the plants — pinching those that are left at 



