14$ Ol PRUNING. SECT.-XIIr 



day ^or fo, but if late cut in fpring, the oozing will 

 continue perhaps a week. 



At the principal pruning, the ftrongeft and the clofeii 

 jointed fhoots are to be preferred, and left about feven or 

 eight inches afunder, without fhortening. Let the fpare 

 {hoots be cut out clofe and frnooth, and as. much of the 

 eld wood as may be ; for the tree will increafe too faff , 

 and get too naked of bearing wood in the middle, if 

 this is not freely done ; and the effential point in the 

 management of fig tree is, (as indeed of all wall trees) 

 to have young wood all over it, and particularly in the 

 middle, and towards the bottom. Wood is" feldom 

 wanted in a fig tree, but where it is the fhortening of a 

 ffioot, properly fituated, (by taking off the leading bud, 

 or cutting lower, as the cafe requires) is fure to pro- 

 duce it: Do this in Aprils as the bell time. 



When hard frofis are expefted, ftrewfome afhes, and 

 fome litter, over the roots of fig trees. Mats fh on id 

 be nailed over their branches, (firil pulling off the figs) 

 as the fucculent nature of their wood makes them 

 tender. Thefe coverings are to remain till the frofis 

 are judged to be over, and then let them be covered up 

 at night, and not by day, for a week or two, to harden 

 them by degrees. 



But fig trees will moftly furvive hard winters, when 

 in ftandards, without covering; and though Ihoots 

 trained to a wall are tenderer, yet peafebaulm hung clofe 

 among the branches (at the approach of {harp frofis); 

 will preferve them. This fort of protection, as afford- 

 ing plenty of air, is by many good gardeners preferred 

 to the more common praftice of matting. But if mats 

 were contrived to roll up and down, or kept a little 

 diftance from the tree, fo as to give more or lefs air, as 

 the weather is, the health and iruitfulnefs of the tree 

 would be better infured, for too clofe (and as it com- 

 monly happens in confequence too long) covering is 

 injurious to both. Fig trees that have been clofe covered 



are- 



