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Pruning Fruit Trees. 



and the routine pruning may be identical ; that is, the fruiting 

 shoots may be cut out after the crop has been gathered and 

 young shoots tied-in in their places. Those who do not object 

 to the somewhat straggly and untidy appearance of naturally 

 grown trees may leave them unpruned altogether. They look 

 very pretty when in flower, and they bear heavy crops of fruit. 



Cobnuts and Filberts. — Growers of nuts learn that there 

 are two distinct forms of inflorescence on the same tree — the 

 catkin or male flower, and the fruiter or female. Both are 

 borne on the wood made the previous year. The same lesson 

 may be learned by an examination, in spring, of a hedgerow 

 hazel. The nut is therefore a young-wood bearer ; but a 

 framework is necessary to carry the fruiting wood, and this 

 may take the form of a basin-shaped bush with an open centre. 

 It is easily secured by early shortening and selection. The 

 raiser must guard against crowding the centre of his trees. 

 So long as he is careful in this respect the rest will come. 



Nuts are best pruned last of the various fruits, especially by 

 those who are not thoroughly familiar with them, otherwise 

 the fruiting wood may be cut away. There is no difficulty in 

 identifying the different flowers. The catkin is long, 

 tapering, and brownish-yellow in colour. The female is pink, 

 and breaks like a little rosette from the tops of the plump 

 fruit buds. The side shoots on the older wood should be 

 examined in turn. Some may be natural spurs, with a wood 

 bud at the tip and a fruit bud at the base ; these may be 

 left unshortened. Others (and these the majority) will be 

 shoots several inches long, with fruit buds and catkins. These 

 shoots may be pruned to a catkin a few inches from the base. 

 Old fruited wood, may be cut out. 



Pears. — The pear is a spur-bearer pure and simple. It is 

 true that cases are met with of fruit forming on young wood, 

 and the writer has seen a shoot of the current year's growth 

 so well set with flower buds that it bore a heavy crop the 

 following season ; but such events are entirely exceptional 

 and may be left quite out of account in cultural routine. An 

 established pear tree, growing in good soil, with its main 

 branches standing well clear of each other, is very easy to prune, 

 because its fruiting system is well defined. It will form spurs 

 on the matured wood and a considerable amount of breast- 



