PRUNING AND TRAINING. 



397 



strength, and when it is desired that'they should 

 be in that respect equal. The branches of every 

 tree which are produced nearest the root be- 

 come weaker year after year, and are the first 

 to decay, because of the tendency of the sap to 

 rise rapidly towards the topmost, and hence 

 leave them without their due share. It is for 

 this reason that, in training all trees, it is recom- 

 mended to secure wood there for the after sup- 

 ply of the tree, which, if neglected, would soon 

 cause them to assume a naked and worn-out 

 appearance. Great care must, therefore, be 

 taken to keep up a supply of wood there, and 

 that can be readily effected by cutting the young 

 wood well in, by training the young shoots ver- 

 tically instead of horizontally, by not leaving 

 too many on, and by stopping them when they 

 have attained about a foot or so in length ; these 

 lower buds will thus be strengthened, and when 

 cut back to a healthy bud the following year, 

 wood of a proper strength will be produced. 

 The shoots produced on the upper side of all 

 branches, trained either horizontally or inclined, 

 will be the strongest. It follows, therefore, in 

 keeping up a proper equilibrium, that the weak- 

 est shoots of the former, and the stronger ones 

 of the latter, should at the proper pruning sea- 

 son be retained. The best wood-buds will be 

 placed at or near the base of the shoots, where 

 proper attention is paid to stopping during sum- 

 mer; therefore, in peach training, for example, a 

 due share of young wood should be secured from 

 these, and the more so if the tree is weak or 

 requires an increase of branches. 



Pruning to increase the vigour of the tree. — 

 This process applies to old fruit-trees whose 

 heads have become diseased and unproductive. 

 It is also practised upon young trees which are 

 in an unhealthy or weakly state, and consists 

 in cutting over the entire stem a few inches 

 above the graft, and at other times merely 

 cutting back the larger branches to near the 

 stem or trunk. This operation has the power 

 of increasing the vigour of the tree in two ways : 

 " 1st, If we assume that a certain amount of 

 nourishment is supplied by the roots to all the 

 branches and buds of a tree, by cutting off one- 

 half of the branches on it at the proper season, 

 we direct the whole supply of nourishment to the 

 remaining portion, which will consequently 

 grow with nearly double their former luxuri- 

 ance. 2d, Again, when a tree becomes stunted 

 or enfeebled in its growth, the thinness of its 

 inner bark, with its consequent small sap-vessels 

 (which, it must be remembered, are the principal 

 channels for the passage of the ascending supply 

 of food), renders the upward and downward 

 circulation tardy, and the growth is small. By 

 heading back or pruning judiciously, all the force 

 of the nourishing fluid is thrown into a smaller 

 number of buds, which make new and luxuriant 

 shoots with larger sap-vessels, and which afford 

 a ready passage to the fluids ; and the tree, with 

 these renewed energies, will continue in vigour 

 for a long time. This treatment is especially valu- 

 able in the case of small trees of feeble or stunted 

 growth, which are frequently cut back to a single 

 bud, and a new shoot or shoots full of vigour 

 gives a healthy habit to the tree."-— Downing. 

 VOL. II. 



Pruning newly transplanted trees. — Maiden 

 trees, when planted against walls or espaliers, 

 require pruning in order to furnish them with 

 a head. The received opinion is, that towards 

 the end of March or beginning of April, as the 

 wood-buds begin to swell, one of three courses 

 must be taken ; either shorten the shoots of the 

 previous year, or cut down the tree to two, 

 three, or four eyes, according to the strength of 

 the tree, cutting the weakest always most in. 

 This course is most frequently practised, parti- 

 cularly in the peach, nectarine, and apricot. If 

 the shoots be well placed for beginning the form 

 of the tree, instead of heading down the stem, 

 shorten these back to two, three, or four eyes, 

 according to the strength of the tree, and at tho 

 same time, for wall or espalier trees, rub off the 

 fore and back wood-buds. Downing on this 

 subject takes an opposite view : " Pruning the 

 heads of transplanted trees at the season of re- 

 moval," he thinks, "is generally an injurious prac- 

 tice. It is certainly needless and hurtful in tho 

 case of small trees, or those of such a size as 

 will allow the roots to be taken up nearly en- 

 tire ; for as the action of the branches and the 

 roots is precisely reciprocal, and as new roots 

 are rapidly formed just in proportion to the 

 healthy action of the leaves, it follows that by 

 needlessly cutting off branches we lessen the 

 vital action of the whole tree. At the same 

 time, where trees are transplanted of so large a 

 size that some of the roots are lost in removing 

 them, it is necessary to cut back or shorten a 

 few of the branches, as many as will restore the 

 balance of the system, otherwise the perspira- 

 tion of the leaves may be so great as to exhaust 

 the supply of sap faster than the roots can col- 

 lect it. A little judgment only is necessary to 

 see at a glance how much of the top must be 

 pruned away before planting the tree, to equal- 

 ise the loss between the branches and the roots." 

 Many of the best French cultivators do not 

 head back their trees at planting, more espe- 

 cially the peach, but lay in the two original or 

 principal branches at their full length, and only 

 disbud them late in autumn, by which the 

 vigour of the tree is greatly promoted. These 

 branches are trained to an angle of from 60° to 

 65°, and in autumn all the buds are neatly re- 

 moved by a penknife, excepting four on each 

 branch. Late in the autumn of the second year, 

 the four lateral shoots from the two principal 

 branches are cut back to one-third of their 

 length. In the following year, the lateral 

 branches are disbudded to the extent of one- 

 half ; and in the future winter management, dis- 

 budding takes the place of our usual custom of 

 pruning, a practice at one time strenuously re- 

 commended by Walter Nicol. 



The following reasons are given in " Theory 

 of Horticulture," p, 260, against this very gene- 

 ral practice : " With regard to pruning plants 

 when transplanted, there can be no doubt but it 

 is more frequently injurious than beneficial. It 

 is supposed, or seems to be, that when the 

 branches of a transplanted tree are headed back, 

 the remaining buds will break with more force 

 than if the pruning had not been performed ; 

 but it is to be remembered that a transplanted 



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