163 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 14, 1853, 
beep no lack; altliougli tliat very plain mode of writing, 
Vvnieh has been the usage of the contributors, may 
have led some minds to suppose that they are mere men 
of rules. But it is with some writers, as with some 
men in their conversation,—they do not choose to parade 
all they know of nature’s secrets at once, for mere dis¬ 
play, but continue, almost unnoticed, to weave their 
highest amount of knowledge into plain, everyday facts 
of a practical character. He who would teach the un¬ 
knowing, or the yoitng, must not get on a pedestal, but 
rather descend to a level ivliere everybody may see and 
hear him without feeling offence. There does not, in¬ 
deed, seem much of pruning in all this, Unless pruning 
misconceptions ; but we will come to the knife itself. In 
pursuance, then, of my test, let me endeavour to throw 
the matter into shape, so as to render it more tangible. 
I may, at least, offer the six following points for con¬ 
sideration :— 
1st. Winter pruning is a practice well known to pro¬ 
mote the permanent welfare of the tree, and to add to 
the welfare of the fruit. 
2nd. It is used to facilitate the admission of those two 
Heedful elements, light and air. 
3rdi To prevent an undue appropriation of the sap. 
4th. To facilitate the development of spurs. 
5t'n. To relieve spurs of needless wood. 
6th. To excite to more rapid growth. 
A few remarks on these points consecutively, will, I 
hope, make the matter clearer. I will not repeat the 
points, for fear of tediousness. Those who feel interested 
in the matter can just refer to the numbers. 
First. We all know that when fruit trees are left to them¬ 
selves, Unpruned, in proportion as they are neglected, the 
fruit becomes of less value. And herein, together with 
other cultural arts, arises the great superiority of culti¬ 
vated fruits over those which are wild. It also promotes 
the gejiefal health of the trees, by a more equal distribu¬ 
tion of the sap, and by removing all decaying, or corrupt, 
portions, which, in all trees and. plants,.are apt to injure 
contiguous parts, or to have a tendency to corrupt the 
3ystem. Hence, it becomes necessary, even with the 
most common orchard trees, to look, over them, at least 
every second year, to remove decaying portions, and 
some of that unimportant wood which chokes the interior 
of the tree. 
Second. The course of practice suggested in Ho. 1, 
has, of course, a tendency to promote the admission of 
light and air in the common orchard tree ; but the fancy 
trained, and more tender fruits of our kitchen gardens, 
require something more. The condition under which they 
are placed requires that much of the mere annual spray, 
commonly termed breastwood, be removed, and that 
for various reasons. Without a free admission of light 
and air, the interior portions assume what is called a 
drawn character; and the fruit produced from such wood | 
is,' compared with those from the exterior, small, pale, 
and flavourless. 
Third. Judicious pruning prevents an undue appro¬ 
priation of sap by any given portion, or portions, of the 
trees. Thus, we may frequently find trees, which have 
been neglected, growing much to one side, and one or 
more branches producing fruits superior to the others. 
We may, also, find gross and rampant shoots produced 
here and there, some occasionally towards the low T er 
portion of the trees. These divert the sap to their own 
use, and rob the superior portions of the tree. The 
removal of these, and the pruning back occasionally of 
the prouder portious, promotes equality, and sustains a 
proper balance in the system. 
Fourth. Several of our fruits bear principally on spurs, 
and pruning, or rather shortening, is had recourse to, 
in order to cause those spurs to be produced with greater 
regularity. How often do we see Apple and Pear trees 
with long portions of the stem, at intervals, totally devoid 
of spurs, or, indeed, any development. And why is 
this ? Simply because they had been over-excited at 
the root during the first three or four years after plant-' 
ing, and produced young shoots of inordinate length ;■ 
and these not being sufficiently pruned back, the lower 
portion of every season’s growth became' Caked, a few 
of the more powerful side-shoots taking the lead and 
maintaining it. 
Fifth. The spurs of many of our fruits produce wood- 
shoots amongst, or near, the spurs. These have to be 
pruned away at the winter operations. 
Sixth. Pruning in the rest season, to excite to a more 
rapid growth, is a very common practice, and much 
resorted to by nurserymen. It chiefly consists in prun¬ 
ing back, to a very few eyes, shoots possessing some 
character as to growth. The true basis ol this proceed-' 
ing seems to be, to cause a great disparity, or dispro- 
tion, between the roots and the branches : the former, 
in such cases, sends up more fluids than can at once' 
be appropriated or employed. The necessary con¬ 
sequence of this is, that when once the new gfowths burst 
forth, they do so with extra power: more cap'acioils 
sap vessels is the result, and the probability is, that 
the tree will ultimately grow to a larger size than if 
left unassisted. Bnt this is not the aim of those who 
have a few pet trees, and, perhaps, a favourite or two 
in an unsatisfactory condition. The nurseryman thus 
excites to growth to make his tree look saleable. He 
wants orders. You want to see your pet in a condition 
to bear fruit, and to have a tolerably permanent con¬ 
stitution. Many of what are termed stunted and hide¬ 
bound fruit trees, may be thus relieved, especially if a 
couple of barrows of really good rotten manure be given 
them, and, if you like, a little liquid manure just before 
Midsummer. 
I have now done with my points, as assumed, and, m 
conclusion, beg to offer a little wholesome advice as 
corollary to the aforesaid. There can be no doubt, that 
many of the complaints we hear, of the premature decay 
of orchards, arises from the neglect of pruning, buch 
neglect not only progressively deteriorates the character 
and value of the fruit, but hastens the decay of the tred.- 
either in portions, or as affecting the whole system and 
constitution of the trees. As for the fruit, of what value 
is a full crop in appearance, when not above one-fourth 
are fit for the fruiterer’s stall ? To be sure, they may 
do for cider-crushers ; but w r e may not confine our views 
to this narrow ground. One great misfortune with such 
neglected trees is, that being half suffocated with wood, 
they occasionally set their fruit through the interior 
of the trees, as well as at the extremities of the branches. 
Such overcropping, although sometimes of _ service to 
young and gross trees, becomes a great evil in trees of 
age, and much exhausted by former crops. The fruits 
in the interior are worthless, and yet they draw heavily 
on the resources of the trees; and the evil does not end 
here,— such fruit will never keep well: they are the 
first to become spotted, and to shrivel, and no wonder,— 
they have not been well fed. 
Of course, our readers must learn to distinguish well 
between the rough pruning of orchard trees, and the 
dainty pruning ot espaliers and trained trees in kitchen 
gardens. The latter" is a proceeding distinct from the 
other, albeit they possess certain principles in common. 
Of course, this is not the place to go into the whole 
subject in detail,—that may follow after. Whilst on the 
I subject of orchard trees, let mo observe, that wherever 
wood of some thickness is cut, or sawed, it is most 
essential that the cuts be run over with the knife after¬ 
wards, and polished, so as to prevent the absorption of 
moisture. Indeed, it would be well, with trees worthy 
of consideration, to rub a little dressing on the wounds : 
clay, cowdung, and lime, well mixed, are very good for 
this purpose. It is of much importance to keep out both 
moisture and air. 
I trust that these remarks may tend to convince those 
