MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TF.EES, &c. 171 



But if the weakness has been brought on by ill manage- 

 ment in the pruning, which is frequently the case, I would ad- 

 vise the method of pruning and training which is laid down in 

 this treatise to be adopted without loss of time. 



How common is it to see the young luxuriant branches 

 trained up to their full length every year, and so carried to the 

 top of the wall in a very short time ! By which the fruit-bearing 

 branches are robbed of a great part of their nourishment, which 

 weakens them so much that they have not strength to produce 

 fruit; but the blossoms fall off, andnot unfrequently the branches 

 decay, sometimes even the whole length, and this is ascribed 

 to a blast ! Luxuriant shoots should be stopped, and all super- 

 fluous wood should be cut out : Otherwise they will exhaust a 

 great part of the nourishment which should go to the support 

 of the fruit-bearing branches. 



There is another sort of blight that sometimes happens 

 pretty late in the spring, viz. in April and May, which is ver)^ 

 destructive to fruit-trees in orchards and open plantations, and 

 Jigainst which we know of no effectual remedy. This is what 

 is called a fire-blast, which in a few hours hath not only destroy- 

 ed the fruit and leaves, but often parts of trees, and sometimes 

 entire trees have been killed by it. 



This is generally thought to be occasioned by certain 

 transparent flying vapours, which may sometimes take such 

 forms as to converge the sun's rays in the manner of a burning- 

 glass, so as to schorch the plants they fall upon, and this in a 

 greater or less degree in proportion to their convergency. 

 As this generally happens in close plantations, where the va- 

 pours from the earth, and the perspirations from the trees, 

 are pent in for want of a free circulation of air to disperse 

 them, it points out to us the only way yet known of guarding 

 against this enemy to fruits ; namely, to make choice of a clear 

 healthy situation for kitchen gardens, orchards, &c. and to 

 plant the trees at such a distance as to give free admission to 

 the air, that it may dispel those vapours before they are form- 

 ed into such volumes as to occasion these blasts. 



But blasts may also be occasioned by the reflection of the 

 sun's rays from hollow clouds, which sometimes act as burn- 

 ing mirrors, and occasion excessive heat. Against this there 

 1 is no remedy. 



