BlJ Dr. Noehden. 



41 



and Nectarine trees. What regards the training, unless the 

 laying in of the wood, which has been adverted to, be com- 

 prehended under it, there is nothing particular in Mr. 

 Harrison's method. He follows the old plan of fan shape 

 training, and attaches no importance to the horizontal posi- 

 tion of the branches, which is, generally, considered as a 

 means of promoting fruitfulness. As he attains that end by 

 the other merits of his system, he can dispense with this ac- 

 cessary of art, though, if it were added to it, that system 

 might perhaps be esteemed still more complete. 



Before I proceed farther, I will notice the manner, in 

 which he treats those fruit trees, which bear their fruit on 

 spurs : such as the Plum, the Pear, and the Cherry. It is 

 well known, that what gardeners term spurring a tree, 

 gives rise, in time, to those knotty excrescences, which 

 not only disfigure the tree, but prove injurious to its fruit- 

 fulness. The trees, under Mr. Harrison's care, are totally 

 without them ; and, in lieu of them, are richly studded with 

 young and healthy single spurs, which are not improperly 

 denominated natural spurs, because they are naturally pro- 

 duced on the shoots, or branches, without the intervention of 

 the pruning knife. The growth of these young spurs he 

 encourages, not by topping, or pruning, an old spur, but by 

 cutting it entirely away. The embryos of the young spurs, 

 it seems, are scattered along the branches, under the bark, 

 very frequently near the old spurs ; and it requires only the 

 removal of the latter, to make the young ones come forth. 

 Mr. Harrison, accordingly, cuts the old ones away, after 

 they have once borne, and thus secures a constant and 

 plentiful supply of young spurs. Such a spur requires one 



VOL. III. G 



