PRUNING THE APPLE. 



543 



fruitful buds. This renewal of spurs may be practised for a great many 

 times, and thus those long injurious straggling spurs which are so generally 

 seen on wall trees and espaliers may be avoided. (G. M. iii. p. 2 — 9.) 



1151. Pruning^ ivith reference to the evtire tree^ should have for 

 its object to admit the light and air among the branches, to preserve 

 the symmetry of the head by causing it to spread equally, and in the same 

 form and manner on every side, and to eradicate branches which are diseased 

 or decaymg. In the case of espalier and wall trees it may frequently be- 

 come necessary to shorten a portion of the roots in order to lessen the vigour 

 of the branches, and throw them, into a fruit-bearing state ; and the same 

 treatment may occasionally be required for dwarfs, and conical trees (794 

 and 798) on dwarfing stocks ; but it can seldom or never be either necessary or 

 desirable for standards, which require the aid of long ramose roots to enable 

 them to resist high winds ; and their roots as well as their heads having 

 abundant space for extension, a due equilibrium is preserved between them. 

 (6r. ikT. /or 1842, jt>. 809.) Most trees and shrubs, whether fruit-bearing, 

 ornamental, or merely useful, require a certain degree of pruning in sum- 

 mer, as well as in autumn or spring. The object of summer-pruning, 

 in all standards and bushes, ought to be to stop or to thin out shoots 

 of the current year, in order the better to admit the sun and air to mature, 

 by means of the leaves, the shoots which remain. The shoots, so stopped 

 or removed, may either be cut or stopped to one or two buds with a view 

 to forming spurs, or cut close off, according as there may or may not be room 

 for the spurs to be developed. In the case of trees on walls, espaliers, or 

 trained as dwarfs, or cones, it is not desirable to add much strength to the 

 root, and therefore most of the summer shoots should be shortened early in 

 the season by pinching out their points with the finger and thumb, when 

 they are only a few inches in length, repeating this operation when the 

 shoot, thus shortened, has again developed its last or farthest bud, as in the 

 case of summer pruning the vine (9G1). At the same time, wherever shoots 

 are wanted to complete the form o r dimensions of the tree, or when it is 

 desirable to add strength to the stem or the root, there the branches should 

 be left at their full length to be laid in, shortened, or cut out, at the au- 

 tumnal or winter's pruning, as may be found most desirable. The apple 

 against a wall or espalier is almost always trained in the horizontal manner, 

 already described in detail (806) : it is better adapted for dwarfs than 

 any other fruit-tree, and the mode of training these, as well as of forming 

 cones, has been given (792 to 799). Espalier-training has been exemplified 

 (896), and also apple -training against walls (806). Apple-trees, when 

 grown old and unfruitful, may frequently be headed in (762) with advantage, 

 more especially if the surface of the soil is stirred and enriched with fresh 

 soil and manure. They may also be regrafted (653). 



1152. Gathering and keeping. — All apples, intended to be kept for some 

 weeks or months, should be gathered by hand and carried to the fruit-room 

 in baskets ; but as it is difficult to prevent a number of fruit from dropping, 

 or in exposed situations from behig blown down by the wind, all that are 

 bruised should be kept by themselves, in order to be used first. Table apples 

 should be spread out singly on shelves, or packed in sand, fern, or kiln-dried 

 straw, or in jars with any of these materials (858) ; but kitchen sorts 

 may be laid in layers on shelves, or on a cool floor. The common mode of 

 keeping, by those who grow apples in large quantities for the market, is to 



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