January !0, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
65 
A lthough much of the pruningr which was formerly done in 
the winter is now performed during the summer and autumn 
months, still there is a considerable amount which must from 
necessity rather than choice be carried out in winter. The 
admirable instructions given in the Journal of Horticulture as to 
the importance of thinning out the branches of Apples, Pears, and 
Plums while the leaves were yet on them has no doubt been 
acted upon by large numbers of readers. Many others who would 
if possible have followed the same course were compelled to let 
the work stand over for a time on account of still more pressing 
matters. With labour kept down to a very low point, as it now is 
in many gardens, some things must perforce be put otf at certain 
seasons, so as to equalise the labour throughout the year as much 
as possible. This is especially the case where arrears of pruning 
have accumulated. Where numbers of large trees present a thicket 
of growth it is not always practicable to get the whole of the 
work of thinning done at one time. When, however, a proper 
system is once established and persevered in, there is some 
prospect of being able in the future to carry out the work at the 
most suitable time. Strenuous efforts should, however, be made 
to give young trees timely attention, so that they may not be 
permanently injured by early neglect. 
Those who have fruit trees of bush, standard, or pyramidal 
form should lose no time in giving them the necessary thinning, 
taking as much as possible advantage of comparatively mild 
weather, for not only is the work performed with greater expedi¬ 
tion then, but the cuts made heal much quicker than they do when 
sharp frosts prevail. Many old orchard trees to be dealt with pre¬ 
sent a perfect network of branches, and the pruning in such cases 
requires to be done with great care, otherwise the prospect for next 
year’s crop will not be promising. Trees which answer to the 
above description should not in one season be thinned too severely, 
for it must be borne in mind that when left to themselves such 
trees bear fruit only on the outside, and if the branches were at 
once thinned severely enough to leave them as far apart as those 
on trees well managed from the first, there would be an unnecessary 
waste of the good fruiting wood already made without a cor¬ 
responding advantage being obtained in the shape of young growth, 
which takes time to bring to a fruitful state. 
All dead branches, and those which show signs of being stunted, 
should first be cut out ; next remove such cross shoots as can readily 
be dispensed with, but as it often happens that some cross shoots 
have thoroughly good wood well studded with blossom buds care 
should be taken to leave such shoots, even though they are not 
altogether well placed, till younger and better placed examples have 
been obtained. Trees may in this way be gradually thinned and 
brought to a satisfactory condition without sacrificing the greater 
part of one season’s crop. I have seen trees the branches of which 
were so severely thinned at one time that there was no prospect of 
obtaining anything like a fair crop of fruit from them for a couple 
of seasons. Moderation seems to me to be the best in all things, and 
when Nature has been allowed to follow her own course for years 
Art should step in and gently guide her, instead of attempting to 
reverse at one stroke the order of her ways. 
Bush and pyramid Apples and Pears in gardens generally are, 
as far as my observations go, much more productive than they 
No. 657.— VoL. XXVI., Third Series. 
were when I began my gardening career. I can call to mind 
numbers which always presented a neat trim appearance, but never 
carried a good crop of fruit. The use of dwarfing stocks and the 
practice of root-pruning, where the space devoted to trees is 
limited, hare doubtless done much to bring about this change. But 
the practice of thinning the shoots freely and shortening but little, 
after the foundation of the tree has been laid, has, I think, produced 
the most marked change of all. Numerous instances have come 
under my notice in which trees, even large standards, had for 
years been spurred back on the espalier principle with very un¬ 
satisfactory results, have by allowing the growths to go un¬ 
shortened been changed from barren, useless stumps to vigorous 
fruitful trees. I think even now there is a general tendency to 
err on the side of crowding. Many who now practise the right 
system on the young trees which are growing into fruitfulness 
would do well to keep the branches still thinner. 
Apple and Pear trees trained as cordons, or fan-shaped, will 
require but little attention now if the summer pruning has been 
well attended to. Side shoots which were then stopped at five or 
six leaves should now be shortened back two or three eyes, the 
weaker ones being of course cut back the closest. Young trees 
which have still a considerable amount of room for extension, if 
they have already formed the requisite number of branches, 
should not be shortened back except in the case of unripened wood 
or weak shoots ; the latter should in moat instances be cut back to 
a good bud, and the former to where the wood is well ripened. If, 
however, the main branches are disposed 15 inches apart there is 
but little likelihood of unripe wood being produced. Plums show 
a great tendency to develop a number of short jointed shoots from 
3 to 6 inches in length. I make a practice of leaving some of 
the most promising of these their full length, and after they have 
fruited cut them back close to the main stem, this being done as 
soon as the fruit is gathered. 
Perhaps the most difficult type of wall trees to deal satis¬ 
factorily with are old examples of either Apples, Pears, or Plums, 
which, through having been constantly spurred back closely year 
after year, have become a mass of unsightly spurs. Quite half of these 
may, in the majority of instances, be cut clean away, and those left 
shortened back to healthy buds. Old Pear trees which have been 
confined within the same space for years may be greatly invigorated 
by shortening back the main branches 2 or 3 feet, and filling the 
space as soon as practicable with young shoots. 
In dealing with Apricots the aim should be to have the whole 
of the wall space covered with shoots and spurs 6 inches apart. 
After the space is once covered the winter pruning consists only of 
cutting out enfeebled spurs and shortening back summer-pinched 
shoots. I have formed the opinion that if Apricots were treated 
on lines similar to Peaches we should hear less of branches dying 
wholesale, and in the future I intend to act upon that belief by 
laying in young shoots all over the tree in summer time, and 
instead of cutting out these shoots each year, as in the case of 
Peaches, allow them to remain two years to form fruiting spurs ; 
then after the fruit is gathered remove a sufficient number to keep 
those left 6 inches apart. 
Morello Cherries should have the bearing wood left as near as 
possible 6 inches apart all over the tree. Any shoots which have 
grown to within a few inches of a branch above them ought to 
be shortened to the next break. There is generally a tendency 
to overcrowd the shoots of this useful fruit; the long, thin 
growths produced lend themselves so admirably to mathematical 
training that it is not easy to resist the temptation to leave an 
extra shoot here and there for the sake of present effect, when it 
can be clearly seen the summer growth must in consequence 
become crowded. 
Where bush fruits are not already pruned no time should be 
lost in doing them. Black Currants simply require the young 
shoots to be left from 6 to 9 inches apart all over the tree, giving 
No. 2313.—VoL. LXXXVIIL, Old Series. 
