HABDY FBUIT GABDEN 



1033 



How to prune. — An examination of 

 the branch of any fruit tree will show 

 that the buds upon it are not all upon 

 one side, or opposite each other. They 

 are usually arranged alternately and 

 spirally round the branch, with a greater 

 or less amount of wood intervening 

 between them. The buds also do not 

 point in one particular direction but in 

 many — varying according to the species. 

 All Apples, all Pears, all Plums, Cherries 

 &c. have their buds arranged in the same 

 order upon the branches, and it will be 

 observed that a certain number intervene 

 before one bud comes directly over 

 another in a straight line. The buds 

 being arranged thus, it is an easy matter 

 to make a branch develop in any particu- 

 lar direction by means of intelligent 

 pruning. If, for example, it is required 

 to have a new branch pointing outwards — 

 away from the centre of the tree — the old 

 branch is cut off just above a bud or 'eye' 

 that is pointuig in that direction. When 

 growth begins, the ' eye ' at that point 

 will produce a shoot in the direction 

 required. If the centre or any other 

 portion of the tree is empty, and a branch 

 is required to fill the gap, the cut is made 

 above a bud which will in due course 

 develop a branch for the purpose. 



As a rule, where trees are kept in 

 proper and regular order, the branches 

 are pruned to a bud which points out- 

 wards. In this way the centre of the 

 tree does not become crowded and filled 

 with Ifeafy twigs, and every branch and 

 leaf is properly spread to obtain as much 

 benefit as possible from the sun, air, and 

 rain. 



In making a cut there is really only 

 one right way of doing it, but several 

 wrong ones. The right and consequently 

 the best kind of cut is one made at an 

 angle of about 45° to the branch on the 

 side opposite the bud. The cut should 

 be made quite clean with a sharp knife, 

 and pass out just above the bud, as repre- 

 sented in fig. 137. Care must be taken 

 not to cut too close to the bud, as 

 shown in fig. 138, as it is apt to be rubbed 

 or broken off and leave behind a piece 

 of stubby wood. If the cut is made too 

 far above the bud, a stub or ' snag ' is also 

 left, as represented in fig. 139, and is 

 evidence that the pruner did not under- 

 stand his work or was not sufficiently 

 expert to make the clean cut recom- 

 mended. 



A very bad cut is shown in fig. 140, 

 where a blunt knife or an inexpert hand 

 has ' slivered ' the wood into a long 



FJG. 137.— 

 CLBAN CUT. 

 GOOD. 



PIG. 138.— 



CUT TOO CLOSE TO 



BUD. BAD. 



FIG. 139.— 



SNAG. BAD 



CUT. 



PIG. 140. — BAD CUT. PIG. 141. — CUT IN WRONG 



DIRECTION. 



drawn out stub. Fig. 141 shows a good 

 cut made from the wrong side of the 

 branch. It should have been cut the 

 opposite way, as shown in fig. 137. 



The great advantage of the clean cut at 

 an angle of 45° just above the bud is that 

 when the new branch develops it looks 

 almost part of the older branch below it. 

 The clean cut also exposes a comparatively 

 small wounded surface which soon heals 

 over, thus lessening the chances of fun- 

 goid diseases settling upon it. 



The extent and necessity of pruning 

 depend in a great degree upon the vigour 

 or weakness of the plant, and also upon 

 the style in which it is grown. As a 

 general rule, however, it may be stated 

 that weak trees may be pruned more 

 severely than vigorous ones. It is obvious 

 that a weak plant is unable to support 

 as many branches as a strong one — hence 

 the necessity of confining its efforts to the 



