bis 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Feb. 1, 1899. 
the activity of the sap's movement and the general 
vigour of the tree have passed their maximum, and 
a gradual decline of tlie life-energy has set in Yet 
it ia probably tbe better plan to undertake the 
summer pruning and training early on in the seasou, 
say in Maj or June, for the superabundance of green 
twigs being rpmoved and the branches trained as 
far as possible into their proper positions, the sun, 
air, and rain-showers will have freer access to the 
tree all through the summer, which will be a most 
important factor in the formation of good fruit the 
same year, and in the ripening of wood for the 
production of fruit the ensuing season. 
As it is a fact that no two branches of a tree 
are alike in character, but that some are more 
vigorous in growth or more fertile than others, it 
follows that each branch must receive its own pe- 
culiar treatment, and that the same treatment must 
not be applied to all alike, as if the tree were a 
mere machine, for in a tree, as in everything eli>e, 
true unity ia always cnnstitutsd by variety in its 
separate parts. If a branch is too rank as com- 
pared with the others about it, that is to say, if 
it tends to produce too much wood at the expense 
of fruit-spurs, its vigour mus; be diminished. This 
may be done either by leaving it entirely unshor- 
teued, so that the sap at lengtii exhausts its 
exuberance in the natural manner throughout the 
length of the branch, with the result that the sur- 
rounding branches again equal it in strength, or 
the effective measure may be adopted of bonding 
the tOT vigorous branch out of the perpendicular 
or obliquely-ascending plane into the horizontal, or, 
in the case of many wall or espalier trees, out of 
the horizontal into an obliquely-dsscending position, 
so as to induce the shoot to grow towards the 
ground. The more horizontally-inclined or decumbent 
is the direction of growth of a shoot or branch, 
the less vigorous will inevitably be its growth. In a 
horizontally-growing hranch, for instance, the leafy 
twiga, instead of being more or less radially disposed 
around a branch as in an upward-growing shoot, 
will appear on the upper side only, where the fullest 
amount of light is to be obtained and consequeulty 
the sap will be drawn principally to the upper side 
of the branch, resulting in a lop sided development 
of the latter (a transverse section of the branch 
ohowiag its upper side to possess a much thicker 
layer of wood than the lower) ; this uneven distri- 
bution of the sap and consequent one-sided develop- 
ment of the branch must result in a retardation of 
the growth in length of the branch and of its general 
vigour. The natural course of the sap is upward, 
and when this course is in any way disturbed or 
thwarted, weakness of the organ concerned must 
ensue. Hence, wall and espalier-trees with horizjn- 
tally-trained bongha will be less vigorous in vege- 
tative growth, and therefore adopted to produce finer 
fruit, than pyramids and other forma with ascending 
boughs, and, to take an illustration from our forest 
trees, the "weeping" varieties will alwaya be found 
to be less vigorous than the type form. So that in 
Nature there are very few instances of plants with 
prefectly horizontal or " weeping" vegetative branches, 
for this is an unnatural and, as I have shown, a 
mode of growth unfavourable to the attainment of 
true vigour and the fulfilment of the proper life- 
functions. 
Another method of reducing the rankness and 
strength of a branch is that of making in the lower 
part thereof a deep transverse incision reaching as 
far as the inner and older layers of the wood ; in 
this way a considerable portion of the area of the 
pathway of the sap being interrupted (this pathway 
lying chiefly in the younger layers of wood), the 
nutrition and, consequently, the vigour of the branch 
will be very much lessened ; but the incision being 
only on one side of the branch the sap will con- 
tinue to flow, though in diminished quantity, through 
the branch, and after a time the wound will heal. 
If, in an unfruitful branch, it is desired to induce 
the formation of fruit-spurs from dormant eyes, 
thia may freijuently be done by making an incision 
in the stem immediately below tbe eye, reachiog 
as far as the wood but not penetrating the latter, 
or by entirely removing a circular area of the cortex 
all round the branch at that point ; this practice '\» 
founded on the well-known fact thnt the elaborated 
sap containing t'le organic food substances, such as 
the sugars and proteids, assumes a descending course 
through the cortical and bist-tissuea of the plant ; 
these tissues, therefore, being remowed below the 
eye which it is wished to force into a fruit-bearing 
twig, the Eubsttncea above-mentioned accumolate 
here in great quantity, and causea the sprouting of 
tbe eye. 
The same practice may be applied when it is 
wished to increase the size cr improve the flavour 
of fruit already in process of development, t^e in- 
cision being made below the fruit-spur on the mother- 
branch. It iM to be noted that in these ioBtances 
the ascending sap is quite nnafifected in its course, 
the wood being left quite undisturbed. 
Conversely, to those branches of the tree which 
are lacking in the necessary vigour, the process uf 
shortening must be applied, as also tbe nipping off 
of the fruit-forming buds, and in this way the pro- 
duction of more wocjdy growth will be induced, and 
a spur to greater vegetative vigtiur be given. Here 
again, the method may bs applied of muking a 
deep incision into tbe younger wood op one eide 
of the main stem of the tree, just above lha 
insertion of the branch which it is desired to 
strengthen; by so doing a portion of tbe ascending 
sap will be interrupted at that point and diverted 
into the branch, increasing thereby its nutrition and 
vigour. 
There is a natural tendency in all vertically-grow- 
ing stems for the upper appendages, as branches or 
flowers, to develop at tbe expense of the lower eues; 
this may be, in some measure, overcome by giving 
the branch at first a horizontal direction of growth 
prior to the natural ascending or vertical one. 
In order to secure a proper development of the 
fruit, careful attention must be paid to the tending 
of the fruit-buds as they form ; if tbe twig on which 
they appear requires shortening owing to its too 
woody Extension beyond the buds, this must never 
be done until the buds are considerably advanced 
in tbe formation of the floral organs, for if the 
twig be pruned too early the fruit-buds might be 
induced to change their mode of growth owing to 
the great accumulation of watery sap in their im- 
medinta neighbourhood, and develop into vegetative 
shoots instead of into flowers ; this, however, will 
not be possible when once the distinctive character 
of the organs enclosed in the bud are laid down, 
and the shortening of the twig will then act bene- 
ficially by increasing the quality and vigour of the 
individual flowers, and eventually of the fruit. I 
need hardly add that thinning of the buds or 
flowers will frequently have to be practised where 
the size of the fruit is a consideration. 
In certain forms and kinds of fruit-trees, and by 
certain cultivators, as in Belgium and France, a 
systematic rejuvenating process is forced upon the 
tree, whereby, as the old stem or branches become 
unfit for fruit-bearing, they are, at the proper time 
and place, replaced by younger shoots, which them- 
selves, at a future period, are in turn succeeded by 
others, and so on throughout a long period in the 
life of the treee. A young lateral shoot is care- 
fully trained exactly parallel with the old one in 
such a way that at the proper time, when the latter 
ia removed, the former may supply its place and 
function. By this method of perpetual rejuvenes- 
cence, as it were, of the tree, there is no doubt 
that a large quantity and a better quality of fruit 
will be produced in a given time, and superior fruit 
will be obtainable for a longer period. But the very 
severe wounding treatment involved in this process 
must in the long run iWeaken the vitality of the 
tree. On the whole, it seems advisable to adapt 
less slashing and wounding, and more natural 
methods. 
