JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



are past, for that Trees are apt to die after the knife down to the next 

 Bud, which is an eye-sore to the Tree, and is very prejudicial in its 

 consequences to the shape, beauty, and well doing of it." Switzer's 

 trees were maidens. 



Subsequent writers gave varying advice on the pruning of newly- 

 planted trees ; some followed De la Quintiney, some Switzer, while 

 others ignored the question, and some advised that pruning should be 

 done only in special cases. 



T. S. D. Bucknall * deprecated pruning in the season of planting, 

 preferring that it should be done in the nursery " the year before they 

 are to be planted " ; for, " from this forecast, the trees will not require 

 pruning for some time, and, having no wounds to heal the year they 

 are transplanted, will greatly accelerate their growth." 



T. Andrew Knight, as might be expected, advocated it.f He 

 writes : " The branches of the trees, when removed, whether grafted 

 or not, and wherever planted, should be much retrenched." But 

 only a few years afterwards Harrison J says, in dealing with planting : 

 " In respect to pruning the tops of young trees, I never do it at the 

 time of planting them (unless they are sickly), providing they are 

 planted in autumn, but if they be planted in spring, and that season 

 far advanced, it will then be necessary." 



This difference in practice has continued down to the present day,§ 

 and both pruning in the season of planting and the postponement of 

 the operation till after a season's growth find advocates, each of 

 whom gives reasons which have at least some backing in the facts 

 of plant physiology, and points with pride to instances of successful 

 results following the adoption of the plan he upholds. Theoretically 

 the balance appears to be in favour of reducing the top so as to reduce 

 the demand upon the curtailed roots for water, but when practice 

 is at variance and good results follow from both methods it is probable 

 that the circumstances under which these results were obtained were 

 not quite the same. The writer knew of no carefully carried out 

 comparative measurements of growth of trees pruned in the season 

 of planting with those left unpruned, and in planning a somewhat 

 extensive experiment on summer pruning the opportunity was made 

 to include trees enabling this comparison to be made. 



The Plan of the Experiment. — The experiment was designed to 

 ascertain (i) whether varieties of apple having different growth- 

 characters responded differently in respect to their treatment after 

 planting, and (2) whether the use of different stocks made any difference 

 in this respect. 



All the trees used in the experiment were budded from the trees 



* Bucknall, T. S. D., The Orchardist : or, a System of Close Pruning and 

 Medication (1797), p. 35. 



f Knight, T. A., A Treatise on the Culture of the Apple and Pear , Ed. 4 (1813), 

 P- 79- 



% Harrison, C, A Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees 

 (1823), p. 26. 



§ See for instance Lansdell, J., " On Pruning Trees after Planting," Journal 

 R.H.S. xxxv., p. 384 (1910). 



