68 



THE GARDENER. 



ing. In summer a number of shoots will be pro. 

 duced beyond that which will be required for training. 

 If these are allowed to grow without interruption dur- 

 ing a considerable part of the season, and then at once 

 cleared away, the tree is apt to receive a shock from 

 which it does not soon recover. If the shoots are 

 shortened too much or too early, the buds, which would 

 otherwise have proved blossom-buds in the following 

 spring, will immediately become excited (other chan- 

 nels for the flow of sap being cut off), and burst into 

 shoots. 



In order to avoid this, which is a case of frequent 

 occurrence, a portion of these superfluous shoots should 

 be first stopped at an early period, and afterwards 

 another portion; by the middle of June part of them 

 may be cut back to within two or three inches of their 

 bases, and thus by degrees the whole will be ulti- 

 mately reduced, without any great or sudden derange- 

 ment of the general flow of the sap. The winter prun- 

 ing is attended with less vital danger to the tree. It 

 consists chiefly in shortening spurs to the lowest fruit- 

 buds and judiciously thinning them. 



If borders are well made, there will be less occasion 

 for raising the trees after they have been once planted. 

 Still after four or five years, it will, under all circum- 

 stances, prove advantageous to remove the trees from 

 the wall, trench the border, and replant, spreading the 

 roots near the surface in a horizontal direction, or in- 

 clining slightly downwards. Cutting the roots, with- 

 out entirely removing the tree, is attended with the 

 disadvantages arising from the soil being only par* 

 tially loosened, and the difficulty of reaching the per* 

 pendicular portions of the root.* 



♦ Penny Cyclopaedia. 



