PRUMNG. 



75 



leave a clean cut. The head of the stock, if not removed 

 before, is then cut away, and the plant is ready for removal. 



The advantages of grafting and budding are the rapidity 

 with which a valuable kind which will not grow from cut- 

 tings may be propagated : trees of worthless fruit may be 

 changed into more valuable varieties, seedlings can be 

 brought into early bearing, foreign tender fruits may be 

 rendered hardier on hardy native stocks, a kind of fruit 

 may be grown in a soil not congenial to it, as the pear by 

 grafting on the quince. Several varieties of fruit may be 

 grown upon the same tree ; and, finally, by grafting on 

 dwarf-growing stocks the trees may be so dwarfed as to 

 afford many varieties ripening in succession within the 

 limits of a small garden. 



Pruning. — This important operation is generally per- 

 formed more at random than any other in gardening. Not 

 even a twig should be removed from a tree without some 

 definite object This is a work above all others requiring 

 care, knowledge, and judgment, and should never be left 

 to ignorant operators. Either prune your trees and plants 

 yourself, or stand by and direct the manner in which it is to 

 be done. ** The time to prune," says an experienced culti- 

 vator, " is when your knife is sharp." Pruning may take 

 place at any time, but is most conveniently performed 

 while the leaves are off. Our frosts are not so severe as 

 to often injure the terminal bud. A good time for the 

 peach is when the buds begin to swell. Grapes may be 

 pruned any time during the winter months. If delayed 

 later they are apt to bleed excessively. Besides the gene- 

 ral winter pruning, shoots maybe removed at any time, if 

 the tree seem to be throwing its strength in a wrong direc- 

 tion. This is better accomplished by disbudding, that is, 

 removing those buds which would produce unnecessary 



