398 H O R T I C 
year on the little {hoots from wood of the preceding, and 
that towards the ends of the branches; which circum- 
ftances di&ate the rules for pruning. Two-years oid 
wood will bear fome, but older wood never.—See the ar¬ 
ticle Ficus, vol. vii. p. 350-356 ; and the correfpondent 
Engraving. 
Pears, when judicioufly felecled, conftitute a good wall- 
fruit. A young pear-tree, if planted againft a wall in au¬ 
tumn, fhould not be cut down till fpring, when the head 
is to be reduced according to the goodnefs of the root, 
and fo as to lay a proper foundation for covering the 'wail. 
If it has a bad root, ail the fhoots fhould come oft', and 
only the ftem be left, with a few eyes to form new fhoots. 
But generally fome of the {hoots are to be left, with due 
Ihortening, only taking it as a rule, that it is not proper 
to leave much wood on; but to prune down freely, in or¬ 
der to the putting out ftrong ihoots for parent branches. 
The time for general or winter-pruning of pear-trees 
ought to be November, as the biofl'oms are then very 
difcernible ; and at fpring-pruning they get fo turgid and 
tender, that almoft the lealt touch knocks them off, or 
even the jarring of the tree. When the bundles of fpurs 
get too thick and projecting, fome muft occafionally be 
removed, and a thin (harp chiffei and mallet will do the 
work well, where the wood is too ftrong for the knife. 
When a tree gets to the extent of its bounds, it is to be 
fhortened down to a well-placed young {boot, which may 
fcrve for a leader ; which leader fhould be provided by a 
provident fele’Ction in the fummer. See the article Pyp.us. 
Cherries produce the largeft fruit againft walls. A 
new-planted cherry-tree is belt to have but one ftrong 
{hoot from the bud, and then cut down at fpring, fo as 
to have two or three eyes on each fide, to lay in well to 
the wall; but, if older and fuller of wood, head it down 
as in efpalier pruning. Cherry-trees fhould be trained at 
length, four or five inches afunder. The fruit comes 
from fpurs all along the Jhoots, on one and two-years old 
wood, which will continue to bear. Some cut all fuper- 
fluous fhoots entirely away, and others leave a fprinkling 
of fliort flubs, which may be allowed ; but let them not 
advance too forward. The morel-la, however, has a dif¬ 
ferent mode of bearing from others, the fruit proceeding 
moftly from eyes along the branches of new or year-old 
wood; the pruner, confequently, is to lay in a proper 
{apply of young wood every year, always removing the 
older wood to make room. The morella-cherry is com¬ 
monly planted againft north walls, where they grow large, 
and hang long, as they are commonly not wanted till late 
in the feafon to preferve; but, if planted upon warmer 
walls, their fruit is finer, and, when thoroughly ripe, ex¬ 
cellent for table in September, or October, according to 
the afpect of their growth. 
Plums of the finer forts well deferve to be planted 
againft walls. The pruning of them is much the fame as 
given in the directions for cherries; only that the branches 
fhould be laid fome what .wider according to the fort, whe¬ 
ther free, or lefs free, in their growth. 
The work of pruning espalier-trees is much the 
fame as for wall-trees. The only difference is, that, in- 
ftead of being fpread upon walls, the branches are faftened 
to Itakes, or frames, as trellifes. The faftenings are com¬ 
monly ties of ozier twigs, bark of withy, bafs, yarn, or 
foft pack-thread, inftead of nails, which however may be 
ufed to frame-work, if they are frr.all and {harp-pointed. 
As trees plauted for elpalier-training fhould be young, 
let great care be taken to let them oft’ right at firft, by 
regular fhoots, well furnifhed immediately from the ftem; 
which is effected by proper heading down. Apples, pears, 
plums, cherries, &c. need not be lo much freed of their 
Branches at planting, as peaches, nectarines, and apricots.. 
Heading down is advifeable to be deferred till fpring, not 
only on account of frofts injuring the top eye of the frefh- 
cut {boots; but becaufe the head of a tree helps to pulh 
out roots. The propereft time to'prune the headsjof new- 
planted efpaiiers, is when new roots are formed; and then 
U L T U R E. 
a head difproportioned to the roets fhould by no means 
be buffered, as the new {hoots in fuch cafe would be too 
weak to be healthy or fruitful. 
The pruning of ftandard-trees is the fame, whether full, 
half, or dwarf, ftandards; and the object is to form a com¬ 
pact handfome round and open head, rather fmall than 
large, equal on all ftdes, with tolerably erefl wood, capa¬ 
ble of fupporting the fruit without much bending. A 
little pruning of ftandards every year, and a general one 
every three or four years, to cut out what is decayed, and 
fome of the older wood, where a fucceffional fupply of 
young may be obtained to fucceed, is the way to keep 
them in vigour, and have the belt of fruit; for that which 
grows on old wood gets fmall and auftere. In the firft 
year of new-planted ftandards, they are to be cleared in 
the fpring, of all weak and improper ihoots, referring 
only a few of the ftrongeft. If there are four regularly- 
placed Ihoots oppofite to each other, it is fufficient to form 
a good head, ihortening them down to a few eyes each. 
What the head will be, may be forefeen, by conceiving 
two or three fhoots to come from each of the buds below 
the cut. The fecond year, in fpring, the head muft again 
be attended to, and the fuperfiuous wood cut out, or 
fhortened, fo as to provide for the future form and llrength 
of the tree; referving only fuch {hoots as recommend 
themfelves for their pofition and vigour. After this, the 
head will form itfelf, fo as to need only the cutting out a 
few fuperflulties; but no ftiortening is allowed, except’ 
fome of the loweft branches, or any one where wood is 
wanted to fill a vacancy; for which purpofe, a- weak- 
{hoot may do, cut down to one or two eyes. Let no 
{hoots remain on the Hems below the head, nor fuckers- 
above the roots. 
Such is the mode of pruning and training fruit-trees, 
now recommended by our beft practical gardeners. Mr. 
T. A. Knight, however, whole valuable hints for im¬ 
provements in horticulture we have already noticed, re¬ 
commends a new method, founded on the following prin¬ 
ciples, which we {hall ftate in his own words. 
“ From the relult of experiments I have made to afeer- 
tain tli.e influence of gravitation on the defeending fap of 
trees, and the caufe of the defeent of the radicle, and af—- 
cent of the expanding plumule of germinating feeds, I' 
have been induced to believe that none of the forms, in 
which fruit-trees are generally trained, are thofe beft cal¬ 
culated to promote an equal diftribution of the circulat¬ 
ing fluids; by which alone permanent health and vigour, 
and power to afford a fucceflion of abundant crops, can 
be given. I have therefore been led to try a method of 
training which is, I bolieve, different from any that has 
been p raft i fed : and, as the fuccefs of this method has 
fully anlvvered every expectation, a concife account of it 
cannot be unacceptable to the horticulturalift. This expe¬ 
riment was made on the peach. The trees, which were 
feedling plants of one-year old only, were headed down as- 
ufual, early in the fpring, and two fhoots only were train¬ 
ed from each ftem in oppofite directions, and in an eleva¬ 
tion of about five degrees; and, when the two fhoots did 
not grow with equal luxuriance, the ftrongeft was de- 
prefi'ed, and a greater elevation given to the weakeft, by 
which means both were made to acquire an equal degree 
of vigour. Thefe fhoots, receiving the whole lap of the- 
plants, grew with much luxuriance, and in the courfe of 
the fummer each attained about the length of four feet. 
Many lateral fhoots were of courfe emitted from the young 
luxuriant branches ; but thefe were pinched off at the firft 
or fecond leaf, and were in the fucceeding winter wholly 
deftroyed; then the plants, after being pruned, appeared 
as reprefented in the annexed Engraving, at fig. i. 
“ In the fucceeding feafon, as many branches were fuf¬ 
fered to fpring from each plant as could be trained con¬ 
veniently, without (hading each other; and by felefting 
the ftrongeft and earlieft buds towards the points of the' 
yearling branches, and the weakeft and lateft near their 
bales, Mf. Knight was enabled to give to each annual 
^ > Ihoot 
