THE SUMMER PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES 



495 



Thirty years ago, when he had first begun to grow fruit, he read 

 all there was to be read in books upon the subject of pruning, 

 and found much diversity of statement ; a condition of things that 

 persisted to this day. As a result of his experience he had formed 

 the opinion that if first-class fruit was to be grown — and that was the 

 only kind for which there was a continual demand at remunerative 

 prices, and the only kind that was worth growing— severe pruning, both 

 in winter and summer, must be resorted to. Dwarfing stocks must be 

 used, and then fruit will be formed and grow well early in the life of the 

 tree, and the tree will keep on fruiting. He had been told that the 

 trees on dwarfing stocks would not last long, but he thought it better 

 to have twenty years' fruit to start with, even if after that time the trees 

 required to be renewed, rather than to wait fifteen years while the trees 

 were growing before he had any fruit at all. He had at one time tried 

 the method of breaking down the laterals, and had come to the con- 

 clusion that it was far better to remove them altogether, because if they 

 were left hanging they shaded the rest of the shoots, and a considerable 

 part of the benefit that was to be derived from summer pruning was 

 lost. Many people advocated summer pruning back to within six buds 

 of the base of the shoot, but he considered that not to be sufficiently far, 

 as the fruit buds that would develop on the shoot as the result of that 

 treatment would be too far from the branch. He found that the basal 

 buds were quite unaffected if the shoots were left as long as that. They 

 should be pruned back to three buds ; then usually the highest of these 

 would develop into a vegetative bud, the middle one would remain 

 dormant, and the basal one would either in the same season or in the 

 succeeding one become a fruit bud. If the tree was in too vigorous a 

 condition, the second bud might develop into a shoot bud ; then, he 

 thought, was the time to root-prune the trees. The subsequent develop- 

 ment of the shoot left after pruning gave a good indication of the state 

 of the root system, and showed well when root pruning was necessary. 

 Summer pruning should consist of cutting back all new wood to three 

 leaves, except the leader of the branch. This leader is shortened back 

 half-way in winter. The end of July and August is usually the best 

 time for summer pruning. Pinching out the points of lateral shoots 

 of wall plum trees, when they have attained to six leaves (generally in 

 June), will cause fruit buds to form along the entire shoot. He con- 

 sidered that the best form of tree for growing good fruit on this system, 

 apart from wall trees, was the open bush, or the single cordon when 

 space was a greater consideration. The late Dr. Bartrum had, during 

 the closing years of his life, resorted greatly to severe summer and 

 winter pruning, dealing even with his standard trees in this way ; but 

 Mr. Seabrook thought that would be probably carrying the application of 

 the method too far. In the first six or seven years of their life, however, 

 even standard trees would benefit greatly by the treatment. 



Mr. F. W. Moore, of Glasnevin, followed, and upheld most of what 

 had been said about summer pruning. He thought that this particular 

 subject was one that was peculiarly fitted to come up for discussion 

 before the Scientific Committee of the Society, as it was a subject that 

 was intimately connected with both the practical and scientific aspects 



