BADLY-THAINED AND AGED TREES. 209 



there are young brandies so situated tliat they can be 

 used for forming the new wood, or in their absence 

 a bud or a small shoot at the base. In the former case 

 we only reserve the branches useful for forming the 

 new wood ; in the second case we cut off the stem en- 

 tirely above the leading or small shoot, and when this 

 is developed make it the base of a new tree. 



Renovation of Aged Trees. 



Whatever care be taken in the pruning of fruit trees, 

 it will not fail to happen in the course of time that there 

 will be found knots close to the fruit-branches, caused 

 by cutting, and the succ/Cssive removals of those 

 branches. These protuberances are serious obstacles to 

 the free circulation of the sap from the roots to the 

 bud, and from the shoots to the roots ; a state of disease 

 quickly sets in, and the tree soon perishes. 



If the tree is taken in hand before it falls into a state 

 of complete decrepitude, it is almost always possible to 

 rejuvenate it, and restore it to its original vigour, espe- 

 cially if it is an apple or pear. But success is far less 

 certain in stone fruits, most difficult of all in the case 

 of peaches, which scarcely ever send out new shoots 

 from the old wood. 



Trees of Pyramid Form. — The essential point in re- 

 novating trees is to concentrate all the little sap that 

 the tree has to dispose of upon a smaller extent of stem 

 and branches, to make it put forth new shoots, and by 

 the same means a new set of roots. It will be sufficient 

 for such a tree to cut the stem half-way up, and also to 



