THE LORETTE SYSTEM OF PRUNING. 
265 
form an index. The shoot should have become distinctly woody, 
and still be distinctly juicy at the site of the cut, at any rate in the 
case of the Pear ; in the Apple, the shoots are of a drier quality. 
At some time between the later days of May and the middle of 
June the shoots will be ready for pruning ; some writers tend to fix 
June 15 as the date for commencement. Naturally the position of the 
trees will make a considerable effect on their progress ; thus if they 
are " en espalier " — that is, trained against a wall or paling — they will 
be ready earlier than those grown in the open. 
The upper half or third of the tree should be dealt with first, the 
lower parts perhaps a week or so later ; this instruction is based upon 
the physiological ground of favouring the lower parts and sheltering 
them from denudation ; it is most important when conversion to the 
method is being adopted. 
It may be noted here that a considerable number of varieties have 
been tried and found to respond satisfactorily, so that the system is 
apparently applicable to any kind. 
The treatment which is to be meted out to each shoot will depend 
upon its anatomical constitution. In order to explain this I must 
digress for a moment to consider the organs involved, and particularly 
their names ; unfortunately we have not so good a vocabulary as the 
French for these things. 
The ordinary " eye " or bud on the course of a shoot is a small 
blunt body, sometimes somewhat flattened and situate in the angle 
of attachment or axil of the leaf-stalk. The eye may break to form 
a wood shoot, of which several sorts are to be distinguished, or to form 
a fruiting organ (blossom or fruit-bud, " bouton a fruit "), or lastly it 
may remain dormant either permanently or until some stimulus is 
given to bring its vitality into an active phase. In the development 
of the fruit-bud, the first stage is known in France as a" dard " (pro- 
nounced dar, meaning a lance or dart from its sharp-pointed terminal 
bud when dormant) ; then the eye which produces it, instead of 
bursting into a shoot, may only grow out perhaps a quarter of an inch 
or less with a terminal conical bud, and generally three small leaves ; 
next season, without much wood growth, the leaves increase to four or 
five, whilst the stem may begin to show grooving of the bark ("rides "); 
it may also make rather longe r growth, when it is known as a long ' ' dard ' ' 
of 2, 3, or even 4 inches in length ; beyond which it passes to the " brin- 
dille couronnee" or end- fruiting twig- In further growth it acquires 
five, six, or more leaves, clustered around its short stem, which is 
surmounted by a more rounded, fatter terminal bud — the fully formed 
fruit-bud ; when it has arrived at this stage it is safely fixed in character, 
but in the earlier " dard " stage, if too much sap is directed thither 
it may grow out and become merely a wood shoot. The art of the 
fruit-grower is invoked to cause a sufficient run of sap to it for its 
sturdy and rapid development into a fruiting organ, and to avoid 
losing it from putting on too much pressure. 
On each side of the principal eye, which is readily seen, there exist 
