March 21, 1682. ]' 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
229 
“ ATO Apple should be pruned the first year of planting.” Thus 
li spoke Mr. George Bunyard at Chiswick last October, and 
his paper in which that dictum was embodied was widely and 
■deservedly circulated by the horticultural press, for it was on the 
whole a very useful contribution to the Fruit Conference pro¬ 
ceedings. I ventured to comment on that precise statement, 
knowing that some of the most successful cultivators of hardy 
fruit did not wait till the second year before shortening the long 
growths of newly planted trees, and endeavoured to elicit from 
Mr. Bunyard his reasons for speaking so positively on the subject. 
His reply was to the following effect: “ The question was an 
important one and worth considering, but on the. whole he thought 
it was the best to let the shoots alone the first year and shorten 
-them the second,” further remarking that “ in nurseries sickly 
trees were taken up and planted in what was called the hospital, 
and it was not the practice to prune them till they had been 
■established a season.” 
Undoubtedly the question is important, and at the present 
moment numbers of persons are in doubt as to whether they should 
cut back the long thin shoots of Apple and other trees recently 
planted or not. A great number of such shoots have already been 
shortened, and in discussing the question with several able men, 
some of them being learned in the science as well as expert in the 
practice of gardening, I have observed that the majority of them 
were in favour of the method which Mr. Bunyard condemned. 
This does not prove him wrong, and possibly he may have many 
supporters. He had none at the meeting in question, nor had I. 
In that respect we were evenly balanced. I gave my reasons for 
pruning ; he replied, and there the matter ended. As the time has 
arrived when a decision must be taken on the point in gardens and 
■orchards, I think it is opportune to bring the matter forward for 
the consideration of those readers of the Journal of Horticulture 
who are interested in it ; and with the object of testing the point 
at issue, though I am in accord with Mr. Bunyard in most of what 
he says on fruit culture, on this particular item in it I place myself 
in direct opposition to him. Let me repeat his formula, _ “ No 
Apples should be pruned the first year of planting.” My proposi¬ 
tion is to leave out the word - ‘no.” The issue is then clear, for 
the sentence as amended reads, “ Apples should be pruned the first 
year of planting.” 
As I took occasion to say at the meeting, if Roses with shoots 
2 to 4 feet long are dug from the ground, planted again, and not 
pruned the first season they produce, as a rule, very weak growth 
and miserable flowers ; but if the long shoots are shortened free 
growth and very good blooms follow. That is the practice of 
rosarians, and it is correct. The roots of Roses are of necessity 
shortened in digging the plants up, and thus reduced, all the most 
active fibres being removed, they cannot imbibe sufficient nutri¬ 
ment to sustain full and free growth over such a great length of 
stems ; but by concentrating the weakened root force on compara¬ 
tively few buds these push freely, develope strong healthy growths, 
and a good foundation is laid for substantial permanent plants. 
That, in brief, is the rationale of the subject, and practice proves 
the theory sound. I have seen it fairly tested with four dozen 
plants, half of which were closely pruned, and the other half left 
unpruned the first season after planting. There was no room for 
No. 456.—You XVIII., Third Series. 
doubt as to which was the better plan, for every one of the pruned 
plants grew satisfactorily, while the others had a struggle for exist¬ 
ence, five of them dying. These were among the strongest with 
comparatively weak roots, and the few that made the best growth 
had the most roots and shortest stems. If those results follow on 
pruned and unpruned Roses, why should the issue be different 
with pruned and unpruned fruit trees ? 
When Apple trees are growing for sale in a nursery there is 
a due balance between the roots and branches of healthy tree’, 
but when the trees are dug up it is impossible to secure even half 
the fibrous roots. The equilibrium between root and branch is 
then at once destroyed. How can this be so quickly and certainly 
restored as by shortening the branches in proportion to the roots ? 
I have seen Apple trees arrive from nurseries with such fine tops 
and meagre roots that some of the trees died through not being 
shortened, others pushed growths an inch or so long from the 
numerous buds, while on some blossom buds formed the whole 
length of the shoots, and at the ends also. Trees that were so 
stunted at the beginning of their career never made sturdy fruitful 
specimens. If the branches had been shortened to half or one- 
third of their length, the probability is that, like those of the 
shortened Roses, they would have made free growth the first 
season. For the reasons stated, in planting trees I have felt it 
right to prune them the first season, and have had no cause to 
regret having done so, but I have often let a tree here and 
there remain unpruned ; with few exceptions the plan did not 
answer, and no doubt those of the trees that did thrive had ex¬ 
ceptionally good roots. If Mr. Bunyard had said well-rooted 
trees should not be pruned the first year, possibly I should not 
have dissented, but when he says “ no ” trees should have their 
branches shortened till the second season, he perhaps means none 
of his trees, though I know of some obtained from Maidstone last 
autumn that are now pruned, and I shall be very much surprised 
if they are found fault with at the end of the year. 
The best Apple trees of their age I have seen had their shoots 
cut back more than halt their length the first season, care having 
been taken to shorten them to buds pointing in the direction in 
which the branches were desired to grow. It is more necessary 
to cut back standard trees after planting, because the roots of the 
Crab are not nearly so bushy as those of Paradise stocks on which 
dwarf trees are established, yet even most of these are improved by 
a little pruning the first season, especially if the shoots are very 
long and slender. I not loDg since examined some standard trees 
planted in the autumn of 1886, and not pruned, that were so much 
exhausted during the hot summer of 1887 as to appear of little 
worth now. The only chance to render them useful is to prune 
them severely, but it is difficult to find any good wood buds to 
prune to. Last summer was more favourable to the growth of 
newly planted and unpruned standard trees, but we cannot always 
expect such seasons, nor do we covet them. 
Taking the seasons as they come, and the trees as we find 
them, my experience and observation lead me to advise shorten¬ 
ing the shoots of standard Apples the first season, as being a 
safer course and more certain to result in free growth from the 
outset than leaving the shoots unshortened till another year ; 
and the fewer the roots and longer and stronger the branches 
the more close should the pruning be. “ Sickly trees that 
are placed in “hospitals” have perhaps little branch growth to 
be removed. Other persons are free to say what they like on 
either side of the question. I am alluding to standard Apples 
particularly, as these have a greater extent of growth above 
ground in comparison with the extent of roots below, and the 
greater the disparity the greater in my opinion is the necessity for 
pruning ; this is also possibly more desirable in spring than in 
autumn planted trees. 
Pruning may be safely done where the buds are swelling; indeed 
I have often allowed those towards the tops of the branches to grow 
No. 2112.— Yon. LXXX., Old Series. 
