On Orcharding. 159 
could I detect the slightest appearance of neAvly developed rootlets. 
One fact I was enabled to ascertain, namely, that trees so removed 
and re-planted, pushed as early as those which were received from the 
nursery, in the spring, and planted with the least possible delay. 
The orchard recommended by Mr. Reid, is to be one of dwarfs and 
half-standards ; and he directs that the trees be cut down "about half 
the head." If the planting be done in the spring, the heading-down 
ought to be performed immediately, or as soon as the buds begin to 
swell ; but in autumn planting, it will be prudent to defer the opera- 
tion till the spring. 
And now, I would impress the fact, that as every bud and every leaf, 
is a vital organ, — as the leaves, in particular, are the laboratories of all 
the specific fluids and perfected juices, — the instruments by, and upon 
which, light acts, and effects most important electro-chemical changes, — it 
follows of necessity, that to prune or lop, is to do anything but strengthen 
the tree. On this point, not to enlarge, I beg to refer the reader to what 
has been said at paragraph 716, of the Gardener's Manual ; and by Mr. 
Withers of Holt, in his argumentative Letters to Sir Walter Scott, and 
to Sir Henry Steuart. I only would urge the planter, never wholly to 
remove a shoot, after it has first pushed in the spring; but, in the case 
of preparing for half-standards, to train upright, and to preserve entire 
the best leading shoot ; then, about the middle of June, to prune, just 
above a bud, the side shoots, to about half their length; and if those 
shoots push again, to pinch off" the secondary shoots to about one half 
their length, and so to leave the trees during the following winter. 
In the ensuing spring, just before the buds break, the tier of short- 
ened shoots, may be carefully cut down to the stem, but not so low as 
to injure its bark : it would be much better to cut them off with a very 
sharp knife close to the level of the bark, and then to gouge out the 
wood of the shoot to the depth nearly of the bark of the stem, — for by 
these means, the unsightly appearance of a projecting piece of dead wood 
is prevented, and the bark would speedily be observed rolling over the 
wound, and in a short time, to close it. 
If dwarf trees are to be formed, four diverging shoots may be selected, 
and the middle one, if such there be, curtailed in June, to one half, and 
subsequently treated according to the foregoing directions. As the rea- 
der might acquire some useful ideas by re-perusing the article, page 21 
of your first number, extracted from the "Quarterly Journal of Agricul- 
ture," I beg leave to refer him to it. 
I am, Gentlemen, 
Your obedient servant, 
July 28th, 1831. G. I. T. 
