138 PRUNING AND TRAINING, 
but which disposition is rendered powerless by circumstances. To be effectual, the 
practice should be commenced upon a subject as early as there is vegetation whereon 
to operate, and continually carried out; this done, in the case of hardy rare shrubs 
and trees, or any intended for ornamental effect, till the one or many individuals are 
placed in their final position, and afterwards until such have become completely 
established, would be doing the main part of what is required ; for, by that time, 
the general form would be developed, and a proper balance of vigour and regularity 
in its parts being once created, little after care would insure its maintenance. 
The summer season is the best for the practice of " pruning and training ; " the 
operation carried on then, though it is not alone the period when it should be 
attended to, is far more effectual than in the generally understood — as proper alone 
— period, the winter. The whole energy of any plant or tree is then in an acting, 
working condition, completely under control. As a proof of this fact, witness the 
proceedings of the Prize Gooseberry grower, and the result of his exertions in giant 
fruit. The manager of the Vine and Peach, and the fineness of the fruit, is 
another example. The principle of pruning and training is exactly the same when 
applied in reference to producing an ornamental tree, as in the case of the fruit. 
For instance, we can as easily direct its energy to increase the strength of a weakly 
branch here, or to produce a shoot there, as the Grape and Gooseberry grower 
directs that which goes to the increase of their fruit into channels for that purpose. 
By pruning and training we wish to effect something more than prevent, in the 
case of an ornamental subject, one portion — it may be a single branch of a tree — 
striking in a direct longitudinal manner from its side, or assuming the character of 
a second leader, or any other position, absorbing the whole energy of the plant to 
its own uncouth increase, presenting the unkind spectacle of the evident robbery of 
its junior, weakly associates, all members of one common parent. But as we have 
already stated, to be of service it must be practised in and through all the stages 
of the young plant's growth. We cannot render an aged, ill-formed tree, handsome, 
or very little, if any more ornamental, than it is as it has naturally grown. In 
descending to examine at what age or size the practice of " pruning and training " 
ceases to be effectual, or of any service, the kind, extent to which it requires doing, 
&c, must be taken into consideration. We may, however, state that, though in 
some instances it may be better to prune later than not at all, no amount of after 
care will compensate for its early neglect. 
Farther upon this, as regards the general subject, we have little to say, we may 
add, however, lest it should be argued that by so extensive a system of " pruning 
and training," a monotonous and too uniform effect would be produced ; which is a 
consequence that need not at all ensue, because, even with the same species, one 
unvarying form of object need not be set up as a standard and followed. And 
besides, the pruning and training we treat of is intended to remove obstacles in 
the way of a uniform development of vegetation, to establish a proper proportion 
between all its parts, and not to confine it to a certain outline of figure ; for 
