8 



THE MINIATURE ERUPT GARDEN. 



shoots ; no further pruning will be required till the 

 following summer. The spurs a, a, a, are the bases 

 of the shoots that have been pinched in June ; these 

 will the following season form fruit-bearing spurs. 

 The best instrument for summer and autumnal pru- 

 ning is a pair of hooked pruning scissors, called also 

 "rose nippers." 



SUMMER PINCHING-. 



As the summer pinching of pyramidal pears is the 

 most interesting feature in their culture, and perhaps 

 the most agreeable of all horticultural occupations, I 

 must endeavor to give plain instructions to carry it 

 out. 



The first season after the planting, about the mid- 

 dle or end of June, the side buds and branches will 

 put forth young shoots ; each will give from one to 

 three or four. Select that which is most horizontal 

 in its growth (it should be on the lower part of the 

 branch, as the tree will then be more inclined to 

 spread) for a leader to that branch, and pinch off all 

 the others to three leaves (see Fig. 2, a, a, a). If these 

 pinched shoots again push, suffer them to make three 

 leaves, and then pinch them to two leaves ; but if the 

 horizontal branch has a good leader, it will take off 

 all the superfluous sap, and prevent the pinched spurs 

 from breaking ; the buds will only swell, and the fol- 

 lowing season they will be fruit spurs. The upper 

 shoots of the tree, say to about two feet from its top, 

 should be pinched a week before the lower shoots : 

 this gives strength to those on the lower part of the 

 tree. 



