October 18. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
27 
approved ancient recipe, was scientifically spurred 
back, with the idea of generating fruit spurs. The 
obstinate trees, however, had been so much accus¬ 
tomed to run riot, that they became actually more 
unmanageable, and instead of yielding their contri¬ 
butions to the proprietor’s fruit room they continued 
year by year to augment the faggot pile. Still the 
worthy who managed them persisted in spurring back, 
with an amount of patience which really deserved a 
better fate. In this state, then, we found the trees 22 
years ago, when next March arrives. We had then 
been what may be termed dabbling in root-pruning 
somewhat secretly, for in those times we could not 
afford to be laughed at. Ringing also had been prac¬ 
tised, and in a year or so afterwards these huge Aston - 
town pears had a ring of bark removed, of some four 
or five inches diameter, all round the bole, removing 
alburnous matter as well entirely away.* “ Kill or 
cure” was the maxim. 
We will not go so far as to say that the trees made 
as much breast-wood as ever, but, truly, they still 
rambled aivay, laughing our puny efforts to scorn. 
Neither, as far as we remember, were any amount of 
blossom-buds produced worthy of notice; and, strange 
to say (old as the trees were, and possessing a huge 
excrescence of old bark nearly an inch in thickness), 
the wound made by ringing commenced healing with 
such rapidity, that in a couple of years we could 
barely discern the place from whence the bark had 
been removed. 
Finding that ringing would not reach the evil, re¬ 
course was next had to root pruning; and as the 
trees showed such an amount of hardihood, we deter¬ 
mined that this business should not be half done. 
An excavation was accordingly made in front of each 
tree opposite the bole, and at about half a yard dis¬ 
tance from it; and here we cut through every root 
which presented a barrier to such proceedings, feel¬ 
ing assured that some enormous tap roots had pene¬ 
trated the subsoil, which is what is termed by the 
country people a “ booty sand,” that is to say, an ad¬ 
hesive material, which appears to blend the marly 
with the sandstone principle. After passing through 
or between huge black roots, we indeed met with the 
tap-roots; and really one tree stood more like a three- 
legged stool than anything else. Three huge black 
roots had struck down almost perpendicularly. Here, 
then, lay the true secret of the enormous amount of 
breast-wood. These fangs were cut away, and a great 
sacrifice this appeared. We here found, too, the 
stratum of manure before alluded to, at about four 
feet in depth, or nearly so ; it had become, in time, a 
complete humus, or peaty-looking substance, and was 
crossed in all directions with roots. The soil was 
then filled in; and, it being the month of December, 
we waited with some anxiety to see how far this strong 
operation would affect the production of breast-wood 
the following spring. April and May arrived; but 
what a change had occurred! The trees could scarcely 
develop a shoot of six inches in length, all that sum¬ 
mer ; and we now found that cutting away the roots, 
or in other words l’estricting the supply of food, was 
a more powerful operation by far than merely arresting 
or clogging tire vital action for a time, by means of 
ringing. The trees now became short-jointed; spurs, 
real natural spurs, began to form, and thenceforward 
we began to eat Aston-town pears again. The trees 
have continued to bear tolerably good crops in most 
seasons since; but, strange to say, they are again 
inclined to become somewhat over-luxuriant. 
* Alburnous matter. The outer portion of the wood, in which arc 
most of the sap vessels carrying the sap from the roots. 
I ought to mention here that the cutting of the 
roots was so severe that the main trunk of the trees 
(which I before named as nearly a foot in diameter 
at bottom, and might be about six inches at the top) 
sunk, and became detached from the wall which it 
before joined; and at this time the main bole hangs 
six or eight inches from the wall at the top. 
We will commence our further remarks upon root- 
pruning by quoting the words of Dr. Lindley, in his 
“Theory of Horticulture.” At page 2(52 the doctor 
says: — “If performed at all, root-pruning should 
take place in the autumn; for at that time the 
roots, like the other parts of a plant, are com¬ 
paratively empty of fluid; but if deferred till the 
spring, then the roots are all distended with fluid, 
which has been collecting in them during winter, 
and every plant taken away carries with it a por¬ 
tion of that nurture which the plant has been lay¬ 
ing up as the store upon which to commence its re¬ 
newed growth.” “ Its effect is proportionately to cut 
oft' the supply of food, and thus to arrest the rapid 
growth of the branches; and the connexion between 
this an d the production of fruit has already been ex¬ 
plained.” Again: “It is by pushing the root-prun¬ 
ing to excess that the Chinese obtain the curious 
dwarf trees which excite so much curiosity in Eu¬ 
rope.” Admitting most fully these views of the mat¬ 
ter, we will proceed to offer remarks based on long 
practice and observation. 
Root-Pruning the Pear. —First in order, then, 
we would name the pear as the most eligible subject 
for this operation; this we think has become tole¬ 
rably manifest. Next to the pear we think the apple 
may be placed, then the plum, next the peach and 
nectarine, then the cherry and apricot. We speak 
now of the ordinary wall fruits, and the order in 
which they are here placed is intended to point both 
to their vital powers of endurance, as also to the fre¬ 
quency of the cases which may be expected to present 
themselves to fruit growers. The fig and the vine 
we have left out of the catalogue, as they are not 
every day fruits; we shall, however, have something 
to say about them in duo course. 
To begin with the pear : we must point to the fact 
that on the free stock this tree is peculiarly liable to 
tap-roots. On the quince it is quite another matter; 
here the roots are of the most fibrous character, so 
much so that we can barely conceive a case in which 
root-pruning becomes necessary. We, nevertheless, 
have no less an authority than Mr. Rivers against 
us, who, it would seem, root prunes even on this 
stock periodically. AVe must, however, remember 
his object, which is to produce trees so dwarf and 
compact in character that the holder of a score square 
yards may possess his miniature fruit-garden, and 
vegetables to boot. As to the free stock, then, if 
pears are growing luxuriantly on these without bear¬ 
ing, it is almost impossible to root prune too severely, 
at least the deeper roots. If in an orchard, and trees 
are of some size, they may be curtailed all round 
also; the amount of root removed bearing, of course, 
a direct ratio to the amount of luxuriance. In the 
espalier border we must be content to get at them 
how wo can, remembering what we before observed, 
that even the cutting of one side will assuredly 
affect the whole system of the tree, although perhaps 
not in an equal degree ; at least, we dare not in the 
present state of gardening science affirm it. 
Root Pruning the Apple. —This tree is found in 
such a variety of shapes and sizes that it is not very 
easy to generalise a system of root-pruning, at least 
so as to make ourselves generally understood by those 
