492 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



throughout the season in a good, healthy condition ; the other half of the 

 trees flowered so profusely, and the fruit set so well, that the trees have 

 been quite exhausted and almost killed ; and, in spite of the most ruthless 

 thinning, the apples never swelled and the crop was worthless. In fact, 

 with many varieties it is a reduction, and not an increase, of the blossom- 

 buds which is required to assure a paying crop ; and this is recognised in 

 the case of trained trees, where persistent summer pruning often multiplies 

 the fruit buds to such an extent that disbudding has to be resorted to. 



Mr. A. H. Pearson, of Lowdham, Notts, wrote : 



In accepting your invitation to write a short paper upon " summer 

 pruning of fruit trees " I fear I have done wrong, for science, it would 

 seem, asks for a large number of data which the ordinary practical 

 primer has not made himself familiar with ; and the facts accepted by 

 science have frequently to be demonstrated by a long and wide series of 

 experiments, which many of us have not the leisure to undertake. How- 

 ever, if any remarks of mine are likely to be of the least service, I shall 

 only be too pleased to give them. 



At the onset I would say that summer pruning, as it is often under- 

 stood, is, I think, perhaps the most mischievous practice which fruit 

 growers undertake, and the cause of more dismal failures than any other 

 operation in the fruit garden. What I advocate is summer pinching, 

 which is done by taking off the points of growing shoots when they have 

 made some five or six leaves, or, say, from four to six inches of wood. 

 When the shoots break again from the top bud, pinch back to two more 

 leaves, which will be all that is necessary in an ordinary season ; but in a 

 wet summer a third pinching may be required. 



The shoots treated in this way are, of course, side shoots ; the leading 

 shoots will in many cases need no stopping in the summer. The object 

 of this pinching is to keep the side growths from becoming too strong 

 and to cause the basal buds to plump up, and subsequently develop into 

 fruit buds. The word "subsequently" applies to such fruits as pears, 

 apples, &c. ; for in the case of small fruits, gooseberries, and currants the 

 buds will develop the first season. The winter pruning of these side 

 shoots depends much upon the age and condition of the tree ; but 

 on all young and vigorous trees every side shoot should be left from 

 four to five buds in length, according to the habit of the tree and whether 

 the variety has buds placed far apart or more closely together. If pruned 

 in this way the top bud, and probably the second, will make growth, thus 

 providing an outlet for the vigorous sap of the tree, whilst the lower buds 

 will remain almost dormant and will make the little rosette of leaves 

 which plainly foretells a bloom bud next season. When bloom buds are 

 formed and fully developed at the lower part of the shoot, and not before, 

 the shoots may be shortened back to such bloom buds in order to keep 

 the spurs close to the leading branches, and so ensure a full supply of sap 

 and also to prevent overcrowding. 



Summer pruning as often practised consists in letting all side shoots 

 grow wild and then in cutting them back to within two or three buds of 

 the leading branch which carries them : by this method all the side 

 shoots get very strong, and the vast majority of the buds left after 

 pruning make vigorous growth either in the following spring, or, as is 



