PEUNING. 



77 



biued with others in a group. Lawn trees should never 

 have the stems trimmed up to bare poles, but the branches 

 should proceed from near the ground, so that when covered 

 with foliage they will nearly sweep the ground, and be 

 one mass of green from the base to the top. So in all 

 kinds of fruit-trees the branches should be allowed to pro- 

 ceed from the trunk within a foot of the ground. Such 

 trunks are screened from our burning sun, and are much 

 more healthy and fruitful than those with naked stems 

 five or six feet high. Every tree growing naturally has 

 its trunk sheltered from the sun. If it grow in the open 

 ground, this is accomplished by its own branches, while in 

 the forest all the trunks are sheltered by the canopy of 

 fohage above. If one part of the tree is disposed to out^ 

 grow another, and thus destroy the balance, it may be 

 shortened in winter, and the shoots pinched off the next 

 summer, until the sap is thrown in the right direction 

 into weaker branches that were left entire, and the balance 

 is restored. "When it is desired that new shoots of a branch 

 should take an upright direction, prune to an inside bud. 

 If you wish an open spreading top, prune to an outside 

 bud of the branch. To make a stem grow straighter in 

 cutting back young trees, choose the leader on opposite 

 sides each year, and it will keep a straight line. 



When a tree has stopped growing, remaining stationary, 

 it often happens that if the tree is cut back in winter to a 

 few buds, the whole force of the sap being made to act on 

 these few buds, vigorous young shoots will be produced, 

 and these sending down new woody matter to the stem, 

 new roots are formed, and the whole tree is renewed. 



Prujiing to reduce or diminish fraitfulncss. — Every- 

 thing that is favorable to rapid, vigorous growth is gener- 

 ally unfavorable to the immediate production of fruit. 

 Hence, pruning to induce fruitfulness is performed after 



