276 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETV. 
close pruning is generally that the operator wishes to avoid 
having large, unsightly spurs, such as one frequently sees on old 
trees. But the reduction of spurs, necessary as it is, must be 
deferred until bloom buds are formed. As soon as one has a 
really developed bloom bud on the spur any growth extending 
beyond it may and should be removed, so as to give the tree a 
neat appearance, prevent the overcrowding of foliage, and have 
the fruit which one is expecting as close to the main feeding 
supply — viz. the leading branch— as possible. No buds beyond the 
fruit bud are necessary to draw up the sap, as the bloom bud is 
provided with its own foliage. Nor is there any danger of the 
bloom bud breaking into growth by close pruning ; the mistake 
is when people prune closely before the bloom buds are formed. 
It will be understood that the foregoing remarks refer to 
such fruits as are grown upon the spur system, including Apples, 
Pears, and Plums ; and, after all, these are our most important 
fruit trees, and those which are most usually under the care of 
the amateur. Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Morello Cherries, 
&c., are fruited on the shoots grown the previous year, and 
consequently the treatment consists in laying in fresh shoots 
every autumn and pruning away those that have borne fruit. 
Any shoots not likely to be required for nailing in should be 
pinched back during the early season, so as to allow those that 
arc left to become better ripened. I have not thought it neces- 
sary to say much upon this point, as such trees are generally 
under the care of a professional gardener, and, of course, in the 
limits of a paper like this it is impossible to touch upon every- 
thing connected with this subject. I would add, in conclusion, 
that all stone fruits hate the knife, and the more pinching one 
can do to save subsequent pruning the better will the trees like 
it, and the less shall we be troubled by gumming and other evils. 
It may be asked if a paper upon fruit-tree pruning is in any 
way complete without some remarks upon root pruning. Possibly 
not whilst our old gardens contain trees worked upon the 
strongest growing stocks, which the cultivator would fain keep 
to somo restricted form of growth ; possibly not whilst planters 
continue to crowd manure into the soil and about the roots of 
garden trees at the time of planting ; but when people have all 
learned to plant trees worked upon such stocks as are suitable 
