1907.] Pruning of Newly-Planted Fruit Trees. 661 



The unsold trees are lifted and planted in rows in another place 

 so as to form a fresh block. The trees suffer no vicissitudes in 

 transit, as trees often do which are sent a considerable distance 

 by rail ; they are handled by skilled men, so that they sustain 

 n 3 serious loss of roots; they are planted in specially-chosen 

 and specially-prepared fruit soil ; and — most important of all — 

 they are planted late in the season. These trees will probably 

 not grow vigorously, but form fruit spurs, and be sold off the 

 following season as transplanted fruiting trees," and the nur- 

 seryman is consequently led to the conclusion that in the 

 ordinary course of things transplantation is advantageous, and 

 regards heading back after transplanting as a useless mutilation 

 of his handiwork. 



While it may fairly be conceded that in any matter concern- 

 ing fruit stocks and the early training of young trees the opinion 

 of experienced nurserymen should carry special weight, the ex- 

 perience of large market growers and of private cultivators on 

 a large scale is entitled to a preponderating influence as regards 

 the treatment of older trees. These classes plant for permanency, 

 and have particular trees under their observation for a great 

 many years, so that the progress of individual specimens, or sets 

 of trees, can be observed over a series of years with greater 

 accuracy than would be possible in the case of a number of 

 young trees which have been shifted from place to place in 

 a nursery. Moreover, as fruit trees are grown for fruit, the 

 ultimate test of the efficacy of any course of treatment must be 

 the quantity of good fruit -which a tree 3aelds over a series of 

 years, and it is with established trees in field and garden rather 

 than with young trees in the nursery that we find ourselves in 

 the best position to make appropriate comparisons. 



On the whole, the attitude of private and market growers as a 

 body towards the pruning of newly-planted fruit trees may be 

 said to be favourable, except in the case of trees planted, not in 

 autumn, but in spring. 



The question for consideration, then, is whether newly-planted 

 fruit trees should be pruned directly they are planted, or whether 

 they should be left uncut for a year. The point is an important 

 one, for it is on the manipulation of a tree in its early years that 

 its ultimate success depends. Early neglect is bad economy, in 



