THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS 141 
roses and other plants in subsequent chapters, when the plants 
need any special or peculiar attention. 
Fruit-trees and shade-trees are usually pruned in winter, 
preferably late in winter, or in very early spring. However, 
there is usually no objection to moderate pruning at any time 
of the year; and moderate pruning every year, rather than vio- 
lent pruning in occasional years, is to be advised. It is an 
old idea that summer pruning tends to favor the production of 
fruit-buds and therefore to make for fruitfulness; there is un- 
doubtedly truth in this, but it must be remembered that fruit- 
fulness is not the result of one treatment or condition, but of all 
the conditions under which the plant lives. 
All limbs should be removed close to the branch or trunk 
from which they arise, and the surface of the wound should be 
practically parallel with such branch or trunk, rather than to 
be cut back to stubs. The stubs do not heal readily. 
All wounds much above an inch across may be protected by 
a coat of good linseed-oil paint; but smaller wounds, if the 
tree is vigorous, usually require no protection. The object of 
the paint is to protect the wound from cracking and decay until 
the healing tissue covers it. 
Superfluous and interfering branches should be removed from 
fruit-trees, so that the top will be fairly open to sun and to the 
pickers. Well-pruned trees allow of an even distribution and 
uniform development of the fruit. Watersprouts and suckers 
should be removed as soon as they are discovered. How open 
the top may be, will depend on the climate. In the West, open 
trees suffer from sun-scald. 
The fruit-bearing habit of the fruit-tree must be considered 
in the pruning. The pruner should be able to distinguish fruit- 
buds from leaf-buds in such species as cherries, plums, apricot, 
peach, pear, apple, and so prune as to spare these buds or to 
thin them understandingly. The fruit-buds are distinguished 
by their position on the tree and by their size and shape. They 
