212 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



will gradually lose their valuable fibrous nature and strike 

 down for maintenance, and the trees will then be hardly 

 distinguishable from examples worked on free stocks. Deep 

 digging and heavy soils foster this pernicious habit and throw 

 the trees into a woody growth — when, should the roots strike 

 a cold or ungenial subsoil, canker will inevitably set in, and 

 the fruit will be spotted and mildewed. Both evils will disappear 

 under the treatment of lifting the roots and nourishing them 

 with fresh new soil. 



We will first take the case of large wall-trees— say Pears. 

 These in past times were only worked on the free stock, and 

 consequently it is dangerous to root-prune them entirely at one 

 operation, as they will probably be found to have coarse anchor- 

 roots far away from the parent stem ; we therefore take the 

 right half of the tree, at the end of October, when the leaf is still 

 on. First open a trench, and wheel away the soil, to give the 

 operator room to work, say 3 feet to 4 feet from the wall and the 

 stem, and carefully dig down with a fork, exposing all the roots 

 (a) which are met with to a depth of 18 inches or 2 feet ; if 

 these are but few. then work under the mass of top earth left 

 undisturbed between the trench and the wall, and seek for tap- 

 roots, which when found must be severed with a sharp knife, 

 saw, or long-handled chisel and mallet. The lower part of the 

 root should be got out if possible ; but if this cannot be done, 

 then as much of it as can be met with should be cut away, 

 and, before filling in the hole, a tile or slate should be placed 

 under the root already cut, to induce new roots to assume a 

 horizontal position. Follow out this under-search for tap-roots 

 for 6 feet on the right hand, and if no more are found in this 

 distance, there will be no necessity to excavate further. The 

 roots already alluded to (a) can now be shortened back with a 

 sharp knife, and some little judgment is required in doing this ; 

 for example, if only three or four are found, they must not be so 

 severely cut back as if double that number present themselves* 

 or it will be too great a check to the tree. In the following 

 October the left half of the tree can be operated on in the same 

 way, and by so doing growth will not be interfered with. It is 

 advisable to cut in the tree closely as soon as the root- pruning is 

 done, to prevent undue evaporation from the leaves ; and if the 

 remaining foliage can be syringed for a time in dry, hot weather 



