GARDENING FOR ALL. 
109 
Many trees have been killed through over-pruning, and some 
have been ruined because they were not pruned at all. 
Generally it is quite safe to 
prune to plump and _ living 
buds shortly after transplanting 
a tree, and the number of buds 
to be left, and subsequent 
leaves and shoots to be nourish- 
ed, will depend upon the num- 
ber and vitality of the roots 
belonging to the tree to be 
operated on. 
Branch pruning is one of 
the most misunderstood of all 
gardening operations. Many 
persons suppose that the mere 
act of pruning will make a 
tree fruitful. Pruning, rightly 
performed, can only be an aid 
to fruitfulness, and cannot, of 
itself, make a tree bear fruit. 
There are three chief 
reasons for pruning :—first, to 
give a tree a particular form or 
shape; second, to limit it in 
size; third, to prevent over- 
crowding of leaves and 
branches; the latter is the 
method that is the chief cause 
of fruit production. A fourth 
reason for pruning exists, 
viz:—to encourage the pro- 
duction of branches. 
In gardens, the system 
of pruning carried out is too 
frequently of the latter kind, 
Branch of an Apple-tree bear- 
ing flower-buds. A A A show 
pruning too severely and the 
encouragement of more shoots. 
B B shows more judicious 
pruning and the encouragement of 
more flower-buds. 
quite unintentionally. 
If a tree is in vigorous health it is imprudent to attempt 
to prevent that tree from extending itself in the natural way ; 
to do so will be productive of evil—more and inferior wood—- 
and not of good—abundance of fruit. 
