PRUNING AND TRAINING. 



403 



which such an incision should go should not ex- 

 ceed the thickness of the outer and inner bark. 

 Its effects are more obvious on the apple and 

 pear than upon other trees, some of which, such 

 as stone-fruits, seem to be scarcely affected 

 by it at all ; yet, curious enough, it affects the 

 gooseberry, while the currant is unaffected by 

 it, so far as our observation goes. It has a 

 marked effect on the setting of the fruit, if per- 

 formed just before the blossoms begin to ex- 

 pand. 



With root-pruning so thoroughly understood 

 as it appears now to be, we do not think that, 

 except in extreme cases, the mutilating practice 

 of ringing should be much resorted to. It is 

 rather a dangerous operation in unskilful hands, 

 and only answers the purpose of root-pruning 

 to the extent of the branch or branches it may 

 be applied to, while it is generally detrimental, 

 if not fatal, to the parts above where the opera- 

 tion is performed ; whereas, root-pruning acts 

 upon every part of the tree alike, and more or 

 less at the will of the operator, and at the same 

 time, instead of being hurtful in its consequences, 

 is extremely beneficial, as it prevents the roots 

 from penetrating too deep, and getting into a 

 bad subsoil, which is one of the principal causes 

 of unhealthiness and unproductiveness in them ; 

 it limits the supply of sap collected by them to 

 the just requirements of the tree ; it increases 

 the number of proper food-collecting fibres, 

 directs them to where the proper food is to be 

 obtained, and keeps them near the surface, so 

 that they may enjoy the influence of both 

 warmth and air, two essential elements, of 

 which they would be deprived if allowed to 

 penetrate deeply into the soil ; it admits also 

 of placing fresh soil for the roots to work in, 

 and of the renewal of that from which they have 

 extracted all that is useful to them. 



Close pruning is chiefly performed both on 

 forest and fruit trees when the shoot or branch 

 to be removed is in a ripened or mature state, 

 and when the part to be amputated is to be cut 

 out from the branch or stem from which it has 

 sprung. Although this is done in both cases, 

 and upon branches of considerable size, the in- 

 tention being chiefly directed to the removal 

 of ill-placed or superfluous growths, still one 

 object must in neither case be overlooked — 

 namely, to cut so that the surrounding bark 

 may cover, in the least possible time, the whole 

 of the wounded part ; in both cases, to pre- 

 vent decay taking place in the main stem or 

 larger branch ; and in fruit - bearing trees, to 

 leave no appearance of a wound or blemish 

 on the bark. The smaller the branch removed, 

 the sooner will the wound be healed over — 

 a circumstance which points directly to time- 

 ous pruning, and to the evil of allowing super- 

 fluous or ill-placed branches to continue on the 

 tree. This is particularly the case as regards 

 stone-fruits, whose wounds, if large, heal very 

 tardily, and often not at all. In cutting, the 

 wound should not be made larger than the 

 size of the section of the part removed, that the 

 process of healing by the bark's covering it over 

 again may speedily take place. Yet, at the 

 same time, the branch should be cut close in to 



the stem, to prevent the development of latent 

 buds, which are placed at the base of such 

 branches, and if not removed along with it, would 

 become excited in spring, and have to be re- 

 moved afterwards, besides preventing the ope- 

 ration of healing over from taking place, at least 

 in so complete a manner as could be desired. 

 There is, however, an evil, on the other hand, in 

 cutting too closely in — that is to say, when an 

 unnecessary portion of the bark of the stem or 

 branch, from which the other has been cut, is 

 displaced, because a much longer time will be 

 required before the healing process is accom- 

 plished. In pruning fruit trees, on the prin- 

 ciple of encouraging the production of natural 

 spurs or flower-buds, instead of that of creating 

 artificial ones, the removal of the young wood 

 at the winter's pruning demands attention in 

 this respect, in so far as, if the young wood be 

 not cut close in to the branch from which it 

 issues, the latent buds left at its base will de- 

 velop a mass of useless foliage, and in time 

 form crowded clusters of spurs, most of which 

 will be productive of small spray and leaves, 

 with few or no flower-buds ; while, if cut close 

 in, natural flower-buds will be protruded from 

 the edges of the wound, and along the smooth 

 clear branch, both below and above where the 

 young shoot was removed from. 



Spur pruning— The creation of artificial spurs 

 on fruit trees was the invariable rule of former 

 practitioners. The best cultivators now depend 

 upon the inducement of natural spurs. " It 

 must be confessed," says Loudon, "however, 

 that pruning has but little to do with the pro- 

 duction of spurs that are prolific in blossoms — 

 that depends far more on adjusting the nourish- 

 ment supplied by the root to the demands of 

 the fruit-bearing branches, to the mode of train- 

 ing, the kind of tree, and other particulars, 

 which, when attended to, spurs are produced 

 naturally." The means of producing these spurs 

 have been sufficiently explained in various parts 

 of this work. 



Pruning by stopping, or pinching bach. — This 

 is a species of pruning performed on trees dur- 

 ing the growing season of their young wood, 

 and is important in the case of many trees. 

 When a shoot is stopped or pinched back while 

 in a growing state, the sap which was impelled 

 towards the point of the shoot — as the sap 

 always is, in proportion to the vertical or hori- 

 zontal direction of the branches and young 

 shoots — is now taken up in adding to the 

 size or substance of the leaves or fruit which 

 may be upon it, or in developing the buds 

 at the axil of the leaves ; or, in other cases, 

 converting them from leaf-buds to flower-buds. 

 In the case of the vine, this has been known 

 since the days of Pliny ; and, according to a 

 paper in the "Ann. Hort. Soc. Paris," three 

 crops of grapes have been obtained in one sea- 

 son from the same vine by adopting this process 

 ■ — a process, however, no one expecting a large 

 crop the following year would, if wise, run the 

 risk of following. Mr T. A. Knight, in follow- 

 ing the stopping system in the case of the fig 

 (his plants being kept in excitement by means 

 of artificial temperature), obtained three crops 



