120 JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
pruning. This practice is mentioned in a French work of the sixteenth 
century, and " The New Orchard " contains proof that Lawson possessed 
a sense of the necessity of pruning roots as well as top-growth. At that 
early period, however, and long after, the common method of treating 
roots was by " ablaquation." This consisted in laying bare the main 
roots on the approach of winter, and leaving them exposed to weather oi 
all kinds till the spring following, when they were again covered with 
soil. Another practice of these early days consisted in splitting the 
larger roots at a point near their junction with the bole of the tree, and 
by means of wedges inserted in the cleavage the split portion was prevented 
from again closing. But although very little is said of root-pruning by 
the mass of the earlier writers, there is yet reason to conclude that it was 
practised more or less continuously. In this connection the " Diction- 
narium Rusticum," "printed in the year 1668," thus interprets : "To 
Prune — To trim trees by cutting off the superfluous branches or roots." 
The Rev. John Laurence, who was contemporary with Switzer, practised 
root-pruning, and recommends the practice in one of his little manuals. 
Its value as a factor to success in cultivation, though thus recognised, 
has nevertheless been fully realised only during our own times, when 
attention to the condition of the roots is considered as important as the 
care of the branches and shoots. 
^Yithout stopping to examine to what extent the early gardeners were 
right or wrong in their conceptions of what constitutes beneficial pruning, 
I shall at once proceed to the discussion of the first part of the subject: 
What pruning is for, or the reasons why we prune. 
Pruning as an important item in fruit culture is a means towards- 
obtaining an annual crop of fruit, limited to a quantity commensurate 
with proper size and fine quality in the individual fruits. Its immediate 
effect is to modify the habit of the tree's growth, and to bring it to the 
particular form desired by the operator, and, as a secondary effect, to 
produce in it a bias to grow in the future on the lines thus laid down for 
it in its infancy. The procedure is the same for all kinds of hardy fruii 
trees. If for a dwarf, for an espalier, or for training to a wall, it is im- 
perative that the growth of the first year be shortened to form a founda- 
tion. The older race of gardeners were, if anything, more particular in 
this matter than those of the present day, who, being more anxious to 
secure a few fine fruits at the earliest possible moment, devote less atten- 
tion to early pruning than they did of old. On the whole, it is by no- 
means improbable that were the three or four earliest years of the tree's 
existence set apart solely to the securing a regular set of branches upon 
which to build up the fruit-bearing portions, the loss of a few large fruits 
sacrificed in the process would in the future be amply compensated for. 
These remarks apply to robust young trees, but in the case of those that 
are less strong, and perhaps even weakly, the earliest pruning must be of 
a nature that shall produce a stronger tree, and this may generally be 
secured by cutting well back in order to provide one strong shoot, which 
in its turn will come to be manipulated in the same manner as those 
already referred to. In this instance, pruning is not performed directly 
either to produce fruit or to lay the foundation of a tree, but solely to 
produce a vigorous plant. This phase of pruning is of very wide appli- 
