34 
PRUNING. 
bearing shoots are produced instead of one. And the English 
practice of spurring-in, which consists in annually shortening 
the lateral shoots of trained Pears, Apples, and the like, in order 
to make them throw out short fruit branches, or spurs, is founded 
on the same principle. 
Bending doivn the limbs is an easy and simple means of throw- 
ing such branches directly into fruit. By this means the circu- 
lation is retarded, rapid growth ceases, organizable matter accu- 
mulates, and fruit-buds, as before stated, surely follow. The 
limbs are bent, while flexible, in June or July, and tied down 
below a horizontal line until they retain of themselves their new 
position. When this can be easily applied, it is a never-failing 
mode of rendering such branches fruitful. It is stated in Lou- 
don’s Gardener’s Magazine that “a very large crop of Pears was 
obtained by the Rev. Mr. Fisher, in Buckinghamshire, from trees 
which had not borne at all, by twisting and breaking down the 
} oung shoots, late in the autumn, when the wood had become 
tough; and the pendent branches afterwards continued per- 
fetly healthy.” 
Disbarking and Ringing are two modes that have been recom- 
mended by some authors, but of which, except as curious expe- 
riments, we entirely disapprove. Disbarking, that is, removing 
the outer bark of the trunk in February, May, or March, is and 
may be practised with good results on trees in very sheltered posi- 
tions, and under glass, but must always be a somewhat danger- 
ous practice in open orchards, and in a variable climate like 
oars ; while its good effects may in a great measure be attained 
by keeping the bark in a healthy state by a wash of soft soap. 
Rifiging, which is nothing more than stopping the descending sap 
in a branch, and forcing it to organize blossom buds, by taking 
off a ring of bark, say a fourth or half an inch, near midsummer, 
is a mode always more or less injurious to the health of the 
branch, and if carried to any extent, finally destroys the tree. 
It is gradually falling into disuse, since root pruning, and other 
and better modes, are becoming known. A ligature or bandage 
tightly applied to the limb, will have temporarily the same effect 
as ringing, without so much injury to the branch. 
Inducing fruitfulness by other means . 
The influence of certain soils on the productiveness of fruit 
trees is a subject of every day observation, but the particular 
ingredients of the soil, which insure this abundant bearing, is not 
so well known. Limestone soils are almost invariably produc- 
tive of all sorts of fruit ; and certain strong loams in this coun- 
try seem to be equally well adapted to this end. 
In a curious work called the “ Rejuvenescence of Plants, ’’etc. 
by Dr. Schultz, of Berlin, the author, who has devoted consider- 
