272 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The question of pruning newly planted trees has plunged us 
somewhat into the middle of our subject, and it would, perhaps, 
be as well to retrace our steps, and to ask, What are the objects to 
be attained by pruning fruit trees ? These should be, firstly, to 
obtain fruit, and, secondly, to form trees of a nice shape and to 
enable them to continue fruit-bearing. With many planters the 
first object* seems to be lost sight of altogether, whilst others 
equally neglect the second. I may say at once that, although 
the principles of pruning are simple in themselves, the appli- 
cation of them is a matter which requires a good deal of 
judgment ; the mode of pruning depends so very much upon the 
kind of tree to be operated upon, the stock upon which it is 
growing, and the form of tree which one desires to have as a 
result of one's cultivation. Possibly this is the reason why so 
many people fail to secure good results from their pruning, 
whilst others find this work the most interesting they have in 
connection with their garden. From what I have said it will be 
seen that it is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rules 
upon pruning ; each case must be taken upon its merits. Never- 
theless, there are two rules which can always be kept in view, 
and which seem to me to form the basis of nearly all pruning. 
They are, first, that all the branches must be so disposed as to 
admit the sunlight and air into the middle of the tree, for with- 
out this fertility is impossible ; secondly, that all leading 
shoots should be as strong as possible, in order that a free flow 
of sap may be maintained; and that the side shoots should 
be as weak as possible, in order to favour the formation of 
fruit spurs. Let me further state as an axiom that the more 
a branch is shortened bij pruning, the stronger loill he the groicth 
resulting from the remaining buds. 
Now let us take a few examples and bring common sense to 
bear upon them, for, after all, one's judgment is quite as useful 
in pruning as the knife. To begin with, we will suppose that wo 
hav(! purchased some standard trees of Apples, Pears, or Plums 
which have been well grown. If the trees are young, say three 
or four years old, the slioots should be cut back to one-third of 
their length, taking care to prune to an outside bud, so as to 
produce a tree with an open head. The reason we thus prune 
back tliese shoots iB that our first care, with standard trees, 
