PRUNING. 



37 



garden, as a few barrowfuls of rich mould will support a tree for a 

 lengthened period, thus placing bad soils nearly on a level with those the 

 most favorable. 



" 3. The capability of removing trees of fifteen or twenty years' 

 growth with as much facility as furniture." 



In conclusion, Mr. Rivers recommends caution; " enough of vigor 

 must be left in the tree to support its crop of fruit, and one, two, 

 or three seasons' cessation from root-pruning will often be found 

 necessary." 



Root-pruning in this country will, we think, be most valuable in its 

 application to common standard trees, which are thrifty but bear little 

 or no fruit. They will generally be found to require but a single prun- 

 ing to bring them into a permanently fruitful condition ; and some sorts 

 of Pears and Plums, which do not usually give a fair crop till they are 

 twelve or fourteen years old, may be brought into fruit by this means as 

 soon as they are of proper size. Several nearly full-grown peach, pear, 

 and plum trees, on a very rich soil on the Hudson, which were over-lux- 

 uriant but bore no fruit, were root-pruned by our advice, and yielded 

 most excellent and abundant crops afterwards. 



In the case of Apple orchards, where the permanent value depends 

 on the size, longevity, and continued productiveness of the trees, it 

 is better to wait patiently and not resort to pruning to bring them into 

 bearing, as it cannot be denied that all excessive pruning shortens 

 somewhat the life of a tree. Mr. Coxe, indeed, recommended that the 

 first fruit should never be allowed to ripen on a young apple orchard, as 

 it lessens very materially the vigor of the trees. 



Shortening-in the shoots of Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots, as we 

 shall hereafter point out, has a strong tendency to increase the fruitful- 

 ness of these trees, since by reducing the young wood the sap accumu- 

 lates in the remainder of the branch, and many bearing shoots are pro- 

 duced instead of one. And the English practice of spurring-in, which 

 consists in annually shortening the lateral shoots of trained Pears, Ap- 

 ples, and the like, in order to make them throw out short fruit branches 

 or spurs, is founded on the same principle. 



Bending down the limbs is an easy and simple means of throwing 

 such branches directly into fruit. By this means the circulation is retard- 

 ed, rapid growth ceases, organizable matter accumulates, and fruit-buds, as 

 before stated, surely follow. The limbs are bent while flexible, in June 

 or July, and tied down below a horizontal line until they retain of them- 

 selves their new position. When this can be easily applied, it is a never- 

 failing mode of rendering such branches fruitful. It is stated in Loudon's 

 " Gardener's Magazine " that " a very large crop of Pears was obtained 

 by the Rev. Mr. Fisher, in Buckinghamshire, from trees which had not 

 borne at all, by twisting and breaking down the young shoots late in the 

 autumn, when the wood had become tough ; and the pendent branches 

 afterwards continued perfectly healthy." 



Disbarking and Hinging are two modes that have been recommend- 

 ed by some authors, but of which, except as curious experiments, we 

 entirely disapprove. Disbarking, that is, removing the outer bark of 

 the trunk in February, May, or March, is and may be practised with 

 good results on trees in very sheltered positions, and under glass, but 

 must always be a somewhat dangerous practice in open orchards, and in 

 a variable climate like ours ; while its good effects may in a great meas- 



