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expofed to the Sun and Air, whereby 

 they receive a very great Check, and 

 are not only retarded in their 

 Growth, but often rendered ill- 

 tailed ; and have tough Skins. 



The Diltance which the Branches 

 of thefe Trees lhould be allow'd 

 againft the Wall, muft be propor- 

 tion'd to theSizeof theFruit, or the 

 Length of the Leaves : for if we 

 obierve how the Branches of Trees 

 are naturally difpofed to grow, we 

 fhall always find them placed at a 

 greater or !efs Diftance, as their 

 Leaves are larger or fmaller, as f 

 have already obferved under the Ar- 

 ticle of Leaves: and there is no furer 

 Guide to a curiousArtift chanNature, 

 from whence a Gardener mould al- 

 ways be directed in every Part of 

 his Profeffion.; fmce his Bufinefs is 

 to aid and afiilt Nature, where file is 

 not capable of bringing her Produc- 

 tions to Maturity ; or where there 

 is room, to make confiderable Im- 

 provements by Art j which cannot 

 be any otherwise effected, than by 

 gently afiilling her in her ownWay. 



But to return to Pruning of thefe 

 Trees : The Branches being care- 

 fully trained in, as before directed, 

 in the Spring and Summer-feafons, 

 ivecome now to treat of the Winter- 

 pruning, which is commonly per- 

 formed in F:bruary or March : but 

 the beil Seafon for this Work is in 

 p&ober, when their Leaves begin to 

 fall, which will be early enough for 

 their Wounds to heal, before the 

 Frofi: comes on ; fo that there will 

 ; be no Danger of their being hurt 

 thereby: and the Branches of the 

 Trees being proportion'd to the 

 Strength of the Roots at that Sea- 

 fon, all the afcending Sap in the 

 Spring will be employed to nourifh 

 only thofe ufeful Parts of the 

 Branches which are left ; whereas, 

 if they are left unpruned till Februa- 



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ry, the Sap in the Branches being 

 then in Motion, as may be obferved 

 by the fwelling of the Buds, the 

 greateil Part of it will be drawn up 

 to the extreme Parts of the Branch- 

 es, to nourifh fuch Bloflbms as muft 

 be afterwards cut off : and this may 

 be eafily known by obferving the 

 ftrongelt Shoots at that Seafon, when 

 you will find the extreme Buds to 

 fwell falter than molt of the lower 

 ones ; for there being no Leaves 

 then upon theBranches, to detain the 

 Sap to nourifh the lower Butis, the 

 upper ones will always draw from 

 thofe below. 



But it is a conflant Practice a- 

 mongft Gardeners, founded upon 

 long Experience, to prune weak 

 Trees early in the Winter, and 

 luxuriant Trees late in the Spring, 

 in order to check their Luxurian- 

 cy. Now it is evident, that this 

 Check does not proceed from any 

 confiderable Lofs of Sap a: the 

 Wounds of the pruned Tree (ex- 

 cepting a few of the bleeding Trees, 

 when cut at that Seafon) ; but muft 

 arife from fome other Caufe ; for by 

 feveral Experiments made by the 

 Rev. Dr. Hates % in fixing Mercurial 

 Gauges to the Stems of frefh cut 

 Trees, he found thofe Wounds were 

 contiantly in an imbibing State, ex- 

 cept theVine in the Bleeding-feafon. 



When a weak Tree is pruned 

 early in the Beginning of Winter, 

 the Orifices of the Sap-veffels are 

 clofed up long before the Spring ; 

 and confequendy, when, in the 

 Spring and Summer, the warm Wea- 

 ther advances, the attra&ing Force 

 or the perfpiring Leaves is not then 

 weakened by many Inlets from frefh 

 W T ounds ; b'ut is wholly exerted in 

 drawing Sap from the Root : where- 

 as, on the other rund, when a luxu- 

 riant Tree is pruned Late in the 

 Spring, the Force of its Leaves to 

 U u u + attract 



