VI.] TRAINING AND PRUNING. 1 77 



In short, the tree must be supported by something like carpenter- 

 ing work ; or it is sure to lean on one side ; and every reader must 

 know that a rarer sight is hardly to be seen in England than an 

 apple tree with an upright stem. Indeed, more than one half of 

 such trees totally fail, and those that do not are so crippled in 

 their roots that they become poor weakly things, and, if not un- 

 productive altogether, bear very mean fruit. The true way to have 

 a fine orchard would be to plant the trees when young, having 

 been previously moved, as directed under the head of Planting 

 in this Chapter. After planting, the trees should be cut down 

 just before the buds begin to burst, to one bud, or two, at rnost, 

 for fear of accidents. If to two buds, only one should be suffered 

 to send up its shoot. All things having been done rightly, this 

 shoot would be strong, and fed by a root which would have fairly 

 started in the progress with itself. To insure stoutness of trunk, 

 take care that no side-shoots be suffered to remain for any lengtk 

 of time, even the first summer. The second spring after planting, 

 cut the new shoot down to within three buds of its bottom : it will 

 send out three shoots, rub oif the two lower ones, and suffer the top 

 one to go on ; and this shoot will now, in good ground, attain the 

 height of a man's head. The next spring, shorten down to four or 

 five or six shoots, according to the strength of the trunk, and, dar- 

 ing the summer, take off the side-shoots ; and you will have in the 

 fall a trunk seven or eight feet high. That is the tree. Nature 

 will teach it, after that, how to form its head ; and your business 

 will be to keep the inside of the head clear by cutting off the 

 shoots that there cross or interfere with each other. Apple-trees, 

 and the same may be said of all other fruit-trees, would have as 

 straight trunks as the oaks in the weald of Surrey, if this method of 

 planting orchards were pursued. But it will be objected, how are 

 these trees to be protected from cattle during their growth ? Why 

 if you must have the pasture, and still wish to have straight- 

 trunked, wide-spreading, healthy and durable trees, you must sur- 

 round each of them with an effectual fence to prevent the possibi- 

 lity of cattle reaching either trunk or branches. It is a great ob- 

 ject to have a good orchard, or it is not : if it be, then this expense 

 is not a thing to be thought of ; and, if it be not, why plant any 

 trees at all ? The truth is, however, that, if you reckon the ex- 

 pense of great trees, the stakes and the bandages, the loss of many 

 of the trees, and the bushes or other miserable protections, which 



N 



