890 THE PRACTICE OF PKUNING. 



seldom require to be at all shortened after a sufficient mimber has been 

 obtained; Care should be taken that the branches are not too numerous in 

 the first instance ; for Cherry-ti'ees are apt to gum when large branches are 

 cut out ; and therefore the necessity for so doing should be prevented whilst 

 the tree is young. Espalier trees should have the branches trained horizon- 

 tally, but with an inclination upwards from the stem in the first instance. 

 The branches may be a foot apart in the May Duke varieties, but rather 

 wider in the case of those with large leaves, like the Bigaireaa, Elton, &c. 

 The terminal shoots need not be shortened. 



"Wall-trees are best trained fan-shape. After a sufficient number of 

 branches has been obtained, the shoots may be laid in at full length. AU 

 fore-right shoots should be pinched back to one or two inches in the begianing 

 of June. The MoreUo, however, requires that a sufficient number of young 

 shoots be annually preserved for bearing, and in order to afford them room, 

 a portion of those that have borne must be cut out. 



In the Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden, the brief but excellent 

 practical directions are these : — 



" Standard Cherries for the orchard require the same management, 

 generally, as standard Apples, and the same method may be pursued as 

 directed under that head ; but as the former of these are more generally 

 raised from buds than from grafts, they wiU at first require a different 

 treatment, namely, that of heading them down the first year. Oa this 

 account they ought never to he planted later than the end of October, or 

 the middle of November : this early planting will enable the trees to make 

 fresh roots previously to the spring, when, in April, as soon as the buds 

 begin to break out, they should be headed down to within three or four 

 inches of the place where they had been budded. If the trees be good, 

 there will be a sufficient number of eyes to produce as many shoots as will 

 be required to furnish the head : should more than four be produced, they 

 should be reduced to this number, of such as are the best placed. These 

 must be allowed to extend at length without beiug shortened, nothing 

 further being required than to cut out superfluous shoots, so as to keep the 

 head uniform and handsome. If the heads of young trees be carefully 

 attended to the first three or four years, they wiU rarely get into confusion 

 afterwards. 



' ' Espalier Cherries, and those trained against the wall, require precisely 

 the same management, both as to pruning and training. For this purpose, 

 trees which have been grafted are always to be preferred to those which 

 have been raised from buds : they must be cut back at the commencement, 

 as directed for Apricots ; but the branches, except in MoreUos, must he 

 trained horizontally instead of obliquely, and always continued at their 

 fuU length. In Dukes and Hearts the branches should be eight or nine 

 inches apart, beginning at the bottom of the tree, and contiauing each 

 additional shoot in a parallel direction, till the number of series the wall 

 will permit be completed." 



