i4e 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Fig. 2—A branch on which Summer Pinching has been per¬ 
formed so as to cause the last bud to start into a new shoot. 
Suggestions on Pruning — VI. 
BY A. O. MOORE, NEW-YORK. 
['Continued, from page 117.] 
It is a veiy common remark, made too by in¬ 
telligent men, when the results of a correct system 
of pruning are shown on a few well managed 
trees, that this minute attention to root pruning 
and top pruning, disbudding and pinching, is all 
very well on a limited scale, it is even admitted 
that the time and expense have been amply re¬ 
paid m the product of the trees, but they say “ it 
would never pay in general cultivation on a large 
scale. In the orchard, the less you have of your 
dwarfing and scientific pruning, the better. Na¬ 
ture takes care of herself.” If closely questioned, 
the doubter fails to give any satisfactory reason 
why, if six trees with a certain outlay of time and 
money, will in ten years yield a ceitain return, 
sixty trees with ten times the outlay, will not 
as easily yield a tenfold income. But he will 
very knowingly repeat, “ that’s very well for a few 
pets, but it wont work with a thousand trees 
and he grows quite merry at the idea of per¬ 
suading a farmer to stop his Spring plowing to 
fuss over his trees. “No! give them plenty of 
good manure when you set out your trees ; culti¬ 
vate them well, and Nature will take care of the 
pruning, only keep the top from getting too 
thick.” 
The innovator, out-talked—but not out-rea¬ 
soned—plies his “ secateur" none the less vigor¬ 
ously, resolved to show the old fogies a thing 
or two. If he is young in bis art, he will him¬ 
self learn something by his experience. Fairly 
stated rules, all very plain, will not work as they 
ought, and perhaps the half malicious “ I told 
you so,” will issue from under the old slouched 
hat just seen above the garden fence, as he is 
contemplating a fine crop of blossoms whitening 
the ground, but leaving no fruit upon the branches. 
But thanks to the perseveianee and intelligence 
of not a few good cultivators, we are in many 
parts of the country able to show thousands of 
both pear and apple trees, cultivated on a scale 
sufficiently extensive to refute the assertion 
that on a large scale, the highest cultivation 
and most strict attention to the various processes 
of pruning will not be practicable and profitable. 
It is not true that the proper attention to prun¬ 
ing occupies much more time than the half per¬ 
formed and tardily applied operations practiced 
by the farmers generally. A few minutes de¬ 
voted to each tree while it is young, two or three 
times each year, is sufficient to establish a good 
form; when they are older they require much 
less labor and produce much larger crops than 
if neglected during the first year of their growth, 
as is the usual custom. 
One of these labor saving operations is Sum¬ 
mer pinching, which, as its name indicates, is 
performed in the growing season by breaking 
off with the thumb and finger the shoots to be 
disciplined. 
The effect of Winter pruning, or that performed 
during the dormant season, is to stimulate in¬ 
to greater activity the buds remaining upon the 
tree; while the effect of Summer pinching is to 
deplete or debilitate tne part thus checked, al¬ 
though in certair ir.itances, the reverse of this 
would seem to be true. Summer pinching, the 
effect of which is to interrupt the flow of sap, is 
used to accomplish four objects. 
1st. To prevent the suppression or weakening 
of the buds occupying the lower part of the shoot, 
and the undue developement of the upper buds. 
Fig. 1 is drawn from a shoot that was pinched in 
June, at ju*st that point in its developement which 
prevented further growth. The buds below the 
break have become large and well formed. When 
the shoot is allowed to grow undisturbed throvgl. 
the whole season, the lower buds are weak, or be¬ 
come “ blind buds ;” and as the upper buds are 
cut off at the Winter pruning, none but 
the half developed lower buds would be left upon 
the branch. Very often, as in fig. 2, the first bud 
below the fracture will start to grow the same 
season, which is not an undesirable result, as 
this growth does not interfere with the develope¬ 
ment of the buds below. The pinching for this 
purpose is generally performed early in June The 
leader is generally allowed to remain unpinched 
for several weeks later. 
2nd. To change the rapidly growing shoot in¬ 
to a fruit spur. This tendency is indicated in 
both the above figures by an increased number of 
leaves surrounding the buds, occasioned by the 
sudden concentration of sap upon them. Pinch¬ 
ing for this purpose may be done as soon as six 
or eight leaves are formed, and if the buds start 
to grow, pinch again. 
3d. To check the growth of any over luxuriant 
shoots. Summer pinching is an indispensable aid 
in preserving the equilibrium, when the branches 
on one side of a tree are stronger than on the 
other, or when in a pyramidal tree, the upper 
branches are too vigorous, overshadowing and 
preventing the equal growth of the lower ones. 
The former must be rigorously disciplined in such 
cases by Summer pinching, commencing as soon 
as the fault is discovered, and if they again shoot 
up too strongly, a seconiTor even a third pinching 
may be resorted to. If, in a round-headed tree, a 
rampant shoot takes a perpendicular growth, and 
threatens to destroy the desired form of the tree, 
the same treatment must bring the straggler in¬ 
to subjection. 
4th. To arrest entirely the developement of a 
shoot, either when it is growing too near to others, 
or in a wrong direction, as toward the center of 
