566 



[December. 1908. 



HORTICULTURE. 



ABOUT PRUNING. 



In reply to " Beginner, " who asks how 

 to prune fruit trees, the Expert of the 

 "Western Mail" says : -I must say that 

 it is absolutely impossible to explain how 

 to prune fruit trees by means of a writ- 

 ten article, and almost impossible even 

 with illustrations, because each tree re- 

 quires its own special treatment. Per- 

 haps the best thing I can do under the 

 circumstances is to try and give the gen- 

 eral principlss of pruning. "Beginner" 

 can study these and try and apply them 

 to each individual case. Last season I 

 published a long series of illustrated 

 articles, and then only touched on the 

 subject. 



First of all, why do we prune ? The 

 answer is to modify the form of the tree 

 to suit our particular fancies, or in ordei 

 to render the work of spraying and 

 gathering of the fruit more easy ; also in 

 order to open out the tree to admit of 

 light and air, without which the proper 

 development of the foliage and fruit is 

 not possible ; or, in other words, regulate 

 the fruit-bearing of the tree and to 

 stimulate the growth of wood if de- 

 sired. 



There are certain recognised principles 

 which govern the growth of fruit trees. 

 These are very cleai"ly stated by Professor 

 Bayley in his work on pruning, which is 

 worth careful study, though not alto- 

 gether suited to our condition. Mr. 

 Quinn, of South Australia, has adopted 

 Professor Bayley's laws with a slight al- 

 teration in the language, and it will save 

 me some trouble if I simply quote the 

 following eight rules from his little pam- 

 phlet on pruning ;— 



(1) The vigour of a plant or of a shoot 

 is in direct ratio to the leaf surface upon 

 it. 



Considering that the leaves are practi- 

 cally the lungs and stomach of a plant, 

 this statement is tantamount to saying 

 that the plant which has the largest 

 assimilating capacity must, when food is 

 unlimited, be the strongest grower. 

 This law has a particularly important 

 bearing upon all pruning operations 

 performed whilst the tree is in active 

 vegetation. 



(2) The nearer a shoot approaches a 

 vertical position the stronger will be its 

 growth. This is founded on an unvary- 



ing law of nature which causes the sap 

 in plants to Jflow to the highest point of 

 each shoot. 



(3) The nearer a shoot approaches to 

 a horizontal position, so its vigour dimin- 

 ishes. This is only a natural corollary 

 to the previous statement. These two 

 rules have a most important bearing 

 upon the selection of shoots required for 

 wood or fruit production. Vertical 

 shoots usually run to wood alone, while 

 those tending towards a horizontal 

 plane turn to fruitage. This goes to 

 show that fruit-bearing is an attribute 

 of moderate weakness rather than great 

 vigour. 



(4) The lesser the number of buds 

 upon a branch the stronger will be the 

 growth made by each individual shoot 

 arising thereform. This maybe put into 

 other words, indicating that heavy 

 pruning of the top tends to increase the 

 production of strong wood growth. 

 Under natural conditions of growth 

 there is a balance between root and top, 

 They mutually nourish one another, but 

 when suddenly the top is reduced, with- 

 out the interference of diseases, the 

 remaining buds make haste to utilise the 

 extra volume of sap sent up to them. 

 Partly for this reason, when pruning 

 newly-set trees, the number of buds 

 is reduced by pruning away the top 

 shoots. 



(5) If the root system be reduced the 

 extension of the top growth will be 

 checked in proportion. It is this fact 

 which causes gardeners to prune the 

 roots of rank-growing, unfruitful trees. 

 Again, when young trees are removed 

 from the nursery beds, many roots are 

 broken off, or damaged, so as to 

 necessitate their amputation. To effect 

 a balance the top must be curtailed, 

 otherwise stunted growth or decay will 

 result. 



(6) When a number of shoots are grow- 

 ing at different levels upon the same 

 plant, generally the topmost shoot 

 absorbs most sap and outgrows those 

 below. This is seen in every tree, and 

 gives rise to the practices of pinching 

 the growing points out of the highest 

 shoots to lessen this natural advantage. 



(7) The fruit production of any plant 

 is in inverse ratio of its activity of vege- 

 tation. In other words, when a tree is 

 making vigorous growth, its production 

 of fruit is lessened. This tends to show 



