450 
COBBETT S NOTIONS OF PRUNING. 
of ordinary gardens falling into the same 
error. In market-gai'dens too it is of more con- 
sequence than in common orchai-ds, because 
where there is only grass, the consequence is 
not very great; but where every foot of ground 
has an under-crop smothered doubly by the 
denseness of the trees that might be profitably 
lightened and opened, it is the more to be 
regretted that men in business do not manage 
better. Upon the whole, then, we cannot im- 
press too strongly on the minds of those who 
possess even a solitary tree, the propriety of 
at once conforming to the rule to keep the 
inside of that tree moderately clear of Avood of 
any sort. 
2. " If the wood is considered too close or 
crowded in any other part of the tree, part 
of it must be cut away, so as to leave it more 
open." 
This is merely following out the principle 
to the ends of the branches. Besides the tree 
being crowded within, it may also be crowded 
throughout. The first thing to do, in this 
case, is to cut away all the small shoots ; that 
is, those shoots which are thinner than usual, 
all the small spindly wood that cannot bear ; 
this will sometimes thin it enough to give 
good daylight to the stronger and better 
branches. It is the crowding that causes 
weak shoots, and it is possible to neglect a 
tree till it is all weak together. We ought 
not to be deterred from very hard pruning by 
the notion that the tree will look naked and 
bare, because one year's growth will set that 
to rights, with much better wood. In a gene- 
ral way, when a tree has once been neglected 
until it is crowded, we may take out every 
other branch from the limbs, and every other 
shoot from the branches that are left. We 
must not expect from an old tree to be able 
to renovate it all at once, and form it into the 
shape we wish, but we may do something to- 
wards it, and every little helps. Every shoot 
we take off, gives the trunk and root less work 
to do ; and the new wood induced by cutting 
away the old will be healthy and strong. How 
careful is the good gardener with his wall 
trees! He wants all the strength in the wood 
he is going to keep, and he rubs off the buds 
when they come where they are not wanted, 
that he may not lose the vigour which would 
be distributed among branches that he would 
have to remove. We wish one-half the at- 
tention were given to standard trees, especially 
in their young state ; half an hour expended 
in rubbing off buds of young growing trees 
that are left to form, or rather deform, them- 
selves as they may, would make a wondQ.rful 
difference in the after-growth of the plant. 
When we consider that every bud rubbed off 
is the prevention of two or three feet of wood 
in a wrong place, and an encouragement to 
the increased growth of those in the right one, 
it is enough to make one wonder how young 
trees can be so neglected. At present, nobody 
seems to care how a tree grows until it has 
arrived at a considerable size ; whereas very 
little attention, during the first stages of their 
growth, would make all handsome alike, for 
nothing is more easy to control while young, 
though obstinate when old, than a tree. 
3. " All decayed or dead branches to be 
cut out." 
This, we apprehend, wants no confirmation; 
but though it applies forcibly to old trees, 
there are seldom either decayed or dead 
branches to young .ones. The first symptoms 
of injury or decay is the dying of the ends of 
the branches. It is manifest then that the 
supply of nutriment is insufficient, or that the 
roots have reached something they do not like. 
In a general pruning, the dead and decaying 
branches would naturally be the first we re- 
moved, but supposing the tree wanted, to all 
appearance, nothing more than the removal of 
decaying or dead branches, we ought, in all 
cases, to take the hint. When branches die 
for want of a proper supply of nourishment, 
we ought unquestionably to reduce the head, 
even if there were neither of the faults already 
anticipated ; that is to say, if the head were 
open and the tree in proper order, as far as 
pruning was concerned. The only chance of 
preserving that tree in health some time 
longer would be to reduce the head very con- 
siderably. Independently, therefore, of cut- 
ting away all decaying and dead branches, 
cut rather vigorously at those that can be best 
spared among the living ones, that by giving 
the root less to do, the remainder may be done 
better. 
4. " All branches that cross one another to 
be also cut out." 
Nothing but gross neglect while young can 
overlook branches that cross one another, yet, 
strange as it may appear, it is as common in 
an old orchard to see such branches in a majo- 
rity of the trees, as it is to see crowded heads. 
In following out this direction it is necessary 
to examine which of the branches can be 
spared best ; but it will often be found that 
we cannot spare either. After a number of 
years, the branches conform to the general 
head to such an extent that it would be found 
to destroy half the tree ; but Cobbett's rule 
must be taken to apply to pruning generally, 
and therefore he means that in their incipient 
or young state the offending branch must be 
removed, because it is a part and parcel of the 
management of young trees to train them 
from the first ; and this, be it remembered, 
not after the branches have been giving way 
to each other, and reconciling their growth to 
their awkward position, but while quite 
