496 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of plant physiology, and much good should arise from the wedding of 

 the scientific inquiry with the experiences of the practical man. He 

 thought that a considerable amount of the difference of opinion expressed 

 upon the subject by growers arose from the fact that the expression 

 "summer pruning" was often misconstrued, and many had insisted 

 upon the term "summer pinching" as being the more accurate one. 

 He considered, however, that the process was properly called pruning, 

 and that all such operations as this, and thinning of shoots, should be 

 included under the same term. He insisted upon the fact that no 

 general rule could be laid down for the treatment of all trees, but that 

 several things should be taken into consideration. The nature of the 

 stock should be considered, the variety of fruit grown should also be 

 considered. For instance, certain varieties behave very differently on the 

 Crab and on the Paradise stocks. ' Early Victoria,' ' Stirling Castle,' 

 and 1 Beauty of Bath ' on the Paradise stock were inclined to fruit 

 very freely in quite a young state, and to make too little wood, so that 

 they appeared stunted. In such cases no summer pruning was necessary ; 

 on the contrary, every encouragement had to be given the trees to make 

 as free growth as possible. On the Crab stock these varieties grow much 

 more vigorously, and summer pruning had often to be resorted to. On 

 the other hand, ' Bismarck ' and ' Blenheim Orange ' grow freely on both 

 stocks, and summer pruning was beneficial to the trees, whether on the 

 Crab stock or the Paradise stock. The question of soil had also to be 

 considered. On a light dry soil pruning might be unnecessary in many 

 cases, whereas on a deep, cool soil careful summer pruning often gained 

 a year in the formation of fruit spurs. He spoke in eulogistic terms of 

 the Belgian system of pruning, and advocated the open bush as the best 

 form of tree for giving the greatest amount of first-class fruit from the 

 smallest space. He thought that judicious summer pruning would go a 

 long way to avoid the necessity of heavy winter pruning. 



Mr. Smith, of Loddington, was the next speaker. He said he could 

 add very little to the remarks that had been made by the previous 

 speakers, but he would like to emphasize the advice that had been given 

 to thin the trees out well and to shorten the lateral shoots back to three 

 buds in the summer. He thought, too, that each variety should be con- 

 sidered separately, and that each required different pruning from the others, 

 giving as instances of this the fact that ' Bismarck ' should be severely 

 pruned while ' Worcester Pearmain ' should only be thinned out. He 

 pointed out the necessity for admitting all the light and air possible into 

 the tree, and said that the pruning should be done from all round the 

 tree, not from one side only. 



Mr. F. J. Baker, A.R.C.S., thought that there was need to investigate 

 the conditions under which the bud may be made to form a fruit instead 

 of a shoot, and suggested that the presence of a considerable amount of 

 nitrogenous manure in the soil would tend rather to the formation of 

 shoot buds than to that of fruit buds. He considered that many of the 

 previous speakers had suggested the carrying-out of the operation under 

 discussion at a period too late in the year, and thought that twisting the 

 shoot some little distance above its point of origin was a better practice 

 than actually removing the whole of the portion of the shoot that was 



