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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



was the custom to prune very hard indeed, and he thought it 

 was carried too far. He was of opinion that they might allow 

 Nature to have her own way more. A tree placed in the hands 

 of a thoroughly competent man might no doubt sometimes be 

 advantageously pruned the first year, but in a paper like this 

 one must speak generally, and he had often seen whole orchards 

 ruined by inconsiderate pruning. As a general rule no apples 

 should be touched with the knife the first year. Plums may be 

 pruned, but not apples and pears. Root pruning is a very 

 different matter, and he would always, when he had dug up a 

 tree, prune its roots but not its top. 



Mr. Roupell suggested that the moving of trees occasionally 

 throws them into bearing, and so obviates the need of pruning. 



Mr. Bunyaed replied that removing was practically the same 

 as root pruning, because you get a full view of all roots, and no 

 one would ever dream of replanting without a careful look over 

 » the roots and shortening the strong ones. 



Mr. Shirley Hibberd : I object in toto to removal being the 

 equivalent of root pruning. Lifting with care may bring trees 

 into bearing, but root pruning as it is generally practised is a 

 most cruel and barbarous proceeding. 



Mr. Pearson : I venture to take exception to Counsellor, 

 sometimes called New Northern Greening, and sometimes York- 

 shire Beauty, as a good market sort, as it is not, in my county at 

 least, to be depended on for a good crop. It often looks well, and 

 you think you are going to have a fine crop, but when you come 

 to gather it, you find that the under branches have died, and 

 the yield is thin. I should like to add Improved Northern 

 Greening as being one of the most profitable apples we have for 

 Nottinghamshire. In grafting on old worthless apple trees it is very 

 important to use grafts of very free-growing sorts, e.g., Duchess 

 of Oldenburg, otherwise the experiment will prove a failure. 

 Old pears will stand regrafting well, but apples are somewhat 

 impatient of the process. I thoroughly agree as to the import- 

 ance of storing. Many growers lose quite half their profit by not 

 storing. We find late apples will keep very well in any old 

 rooms, and even if they should get frozen, they recover if only 

 they be left alone till a thaw comes. 



Mr. J. Wood : I should like to support Counsellor as a 

 thoroughly good market apple. I grow seven acres of it in Kent, 

 and do not know anything better ; I would plant seven more if I 

 had the land. 



Mr. Bunyard : I used not to believe so highly in Counsellor, 

 but I soon found there was a large market demand for it ; the 

 planters would have it, and I fancy that is a pretty good proof 

 of an apple's market value. Improved Northern Greening is an 

 apple I entirely believe in as having a great future, but I felt 

 bound in my paper only to speak from my own experience, and 



