476 On the advantages of Root Pruning in Pear Trees. 



in pear culture. I have not mentioned the necessity of pruning the 

 branches of pear trees thus brought into early fruitfulness ; all that 

 is necessary is the occasional removal of a crowded branch, the fact 

 being that root pruning almost does away with the necessity of branch 

 pruning. Sometimes however a root will escape the spade, and then 

 in the following summer a vigorous shoot or two will make their ap- 

 pearance ; these should be shortened in August to within four buds 

 of their base, and the following Autumn the feeding root must be 

 diligently searched for. 



I send a specimen (fig. D.) of shoots of this kind, the result of a 

 root being left unpruned. . 



To prune roots with a spade may be thought a rough and un- 

 gardenlike operation, but to use a knife would be tedious. In defence 

 of spade pruning I can only say that it seems to answer perfectly with 

 my trees, and experience is generally a tolerable guide. 



I have also practised root pruning on apple trees for two years, 

 and have reason to hope for perfect success. Some trees have been 

 arrested in a most extraordinary state of vigorous growth, making 

 shoots from four to five feet in one season, they having been planted 

 about five years. From plums and cherries I have reason to hope 

 for the same results. 



I have not mentioned the possibility of root pruning fruit trees 

 of twenty or thirty years growth with advantage. Irregular ampu- 

 tation of the roots of fruit trees, too vigorous, is I am aware, an old 

 practice, but the regular and annual or biennial pruning of them, so 

 as to keep a tree full of youth and vigour in a stationary and pro- 

 lific state, has not that 1 am aware of been recommended by any 

 known author, although it may have been practised. In urging its 

 applicability to trees of twenty or thirty years growth, I must 

 recommend caution ; the circular trench should not be nearer the 

 stem than three feet, and only two thirds of the roots should be 

 removed the first season, leaving one third as supports to the 

 tree, so that it is not blown on one side by the wind ; and these 



