Reviews and Extracts. 
21 
The produce in 18i!6 would have been still g-reater, but for a sharp frost which 
almost destroyed the whole of the promised crop. I believe that £300 out of 
£360 received for apples in 1827 was for Hawthorndeans, the remainder was 
received for g'ooseberries and currants, A piece of ground containing rather less 
than an acre, which was occupied exclusively by Hawthorndeans, produced £80, 
besides growing an excellent crop of potatoes, followed by turnips. The average 
price for which the apples were sold, was only 4s 6d. per bushel. The trees 
were rather weak in 1828, from over-bearing the preceding year :—in 1829, the 
weather was wet, cold, and stormy The ground has since been under-let to a te¬ 
nant who pays a rent amply remunerating the planter for his outlay, and at the same 
time, affording a means of respectable livelihood to a worthy and industrious man, 
who I hope will in some one year not far distant, receive £1000 for his fruit.” 
4.—Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 8vo. 
No. 13, FOR May, 1831,—contains an article, 
On Pruning Forest Trees. By Mb. Gavin Creb, Nurseryman, Biggin. 
After some preliminary observations on the evils consequent on bad pruning, and 
stating his views of the reaction of the sap and manner of vegetation in spring, 
Mr. C ree says, that “ to manage woods properly, young trees should be examined 
the third year after they are planted; and if more than one leading shoot is 
found to exist, the best one should be selected, and the others shortened to one half 
the length of the selected shoot. This practice of examining the trees should be 
continued every year, until they are about 15 feet high. These shortenings, 
however, should not be confined to superfluous leading shoots, but should include 
any branch which is gaining a disproportionate ascendancy over other branches 
of the same year’s growth; and as trees produce only one regular tier of branches 
in each year, any branch should be shortened which is of greater length than the 
majority of the branches of the same tier, or if the whole are too long they must 
all be shortened. In the case of trees intended for timber, after they are at and 
above 15 feet high, this rule of shortening the branches must also be applied to the 
undermost tiers of branches. After the trees are 15 feet high, the undermost tier 
of branches only should all be cut ofl’ close to the stem, in one year ; in the sub¬ 
sequent year, another tier should in like manner be cut off*, and so on every year 
afterwards, always cutting off* only a single tier in one year. The same process of 
shortening the branches is always to be continued as before directed, but must be 
left off* some years before the cutting off* the branches shall be discontinued, 
so as to give a more extended top to the tree ; for all trees that have naturally 
conical heads, such as the willow, poplar, larch, silver and spruce fir, require 
longer heads than those trees which are of a spreading nature, such as the oak, 
beech, and others. But no branch, wherever it be situated, is be to cut off*close to 
the stem, until such branch stands upon the undermost tier. In this mode of 
shortening the branches, it will be seen that the tree will at all times present a 
head of nearly a conical form; and advantage should always be taken of short¬ 
ening such branches as will balance the tree best, and produce the proper shape of 
the top.” 
Having stated the size the tree ought to be when the ‘'shortening and cutting 
off* the branches” should commence, Mr. Cree goes on to show, how long it ought 
to be continued, or in other words, what proportion the head of a tree ought to 
bear to the trunk ; he supposes the tree “ to have 12 tiers of branches, or be 13 
years old, it is evident,” he says, “that for a number of years to come, by only 
taking off* one tier in a year, the part of the tree covered with branches will be 
