116 
PRUNING. 
[ThAP. V. 
weak and crowded shoots; and to keeping 
both the sides of the tree well balanced, in 
order that the circulation of the sap may be 
equal throughout. This will preserve the 
general health of the tree, at the same time 
that it throws the sap into the proper chan¬ 
nels ; and the fruit will be produced in as 
much abundance as can be done without 
injuring the tree. It should never be for¬ 
gotten, that to effect permanent improve¬ 
ments, nature should be aided, not over¬ 
strained ; and that all extraordinary exertions 
are succeeded by a period of feebleness and 
languor; or, if the exertion be continued too 
long, by death. Thus, all cases of pruning 
and training to produce fruit, should never 
be pushed too far: as though, by occasioning 
an extraordinary deposit of the returning sap 
in some particular part, that part may be 
forced into fruit, the unnatural deposit can¬ 
not fail in the end to engender disease. 
Sometimes a tree, from being supplied 
with more food than it can digest, or from 
some other cause, has a tendency to produce 
what the English gardeners call water-shoots, 
and which the French call gourmands. 
