300 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 17, 1858. 
| portions of foliage, we would in time so neutralise 
, the vigour of the tree, that it would produce hardly 
any fresh growth at all,—but might ultimately be 
destroyed by the process, just as we get rid of un¬ 
welcome root weeds by continually cutting their tops 
j off. To insure moderate vigour, combined with fer- 
j tility, a middle course is necessary. 
Thus, in the case of an extra production of young 
‘ shoots on an espalier, wall tree, or dwarf bush, or 
pyramidal standard, we would, if we could get at 
them, nip out the half of these, with the finger and 
thumb, in May or June; stop the points of another 
half a fortnight later, and shorten or remove the rest 
a fortnight later still. Those that had their points 
nipped out would thus have more vigour and light 
thrown into, and upon, their lowest buds ; fresh shoots 
| would break from their points ; and these could be 
removed, and the shoot itself shortened, still farther 
back in August, to form a spur; or left, if a standard, 
to be studded the following year, or, at farthest, in 
the second year, with buds of a fruitful character. 
This fertility will be brought about by the greater 
i amount of sunlight admitted to the foliage left; 
whilst the diminished surface of foliage will also gra¬ 
dually lessen the extreme vigour of the roots; and 
thus, other things being favourable, a period will be 
arrived at in a young tree, which naturally takes place 
in an old one, when almost the whole vigour of the 
tree is thrown into the production of fruit-buds, and 
but little additions in the shape of mere growth of 
shoots are made. 
It is only, however, as implied above, under favour¬ 
able circumstances, that such results can be expected 
from any system of pruning. Under these circum¬ 
stances, disbudding and stopping will do much to 
insure fertility. There are other circumstances, how¬ 
ever, in which patience herself would come down in 
chagrin from her monument, before a desirable fertility 
would be promoted by such means. It is a grave error 
to suppose that any stopping, or lopping, or disbudding 
of summer shoots, will at once make a tree fertile. 
The lengthened details, and the minute drawings as to 
pruning, in books, have, in this respect, done much 
unintentional harm. The reader was led to depend 
upon stopping and pruning, and to think little of what 
chiefly supplied shoots and spurs. Making trees in every 
case fertile, by such detailed processes of pruning, 
was about as wise a process as keeping men alive by 
placing them up to their necks in a nourishing fluid, 
which, Tantalus-like, they were not by any means to 
taste. Nature intended that the animal should receive 
its chief nourishment through the mouth and the 
stomach, just as she intended that fruit trees should 
receive their primary elements of growth and fertility 
through the medium of the roots. While shoots and 
spurs were in everybody’s head, and placed, in draw- 
j ings innumerable, before the eyes of all who choosed 
to look at them; roots, the mainspring of the whole 
j beautiful machinery, were left underground to take 
! care of themselves. My first preceptor, the late Mr. 
| Beattie, of Scone, was among the first, so far as 1 am 
aware, to direct attention to the condition and the 
position of the roots of fruit trees. Some of his 
pupils, such as Mr. Duncan, have not forgotten to 
embody his principles in practice. Of all living men, I 
presume Mr. Errington has done most to inculcate 
sound views in this respect. Get the roots all right, 
and all and every mode of summer or other pruning 
becomes of very secondary importance, just because 
the vigour will be thrown more into fruit-buds than 
wood-buds. 
Without keeping such a fact prominently in view, 
I consider that mere directions as to summer pruning 
would only mislead the inexperienced, and pavo the 
way to continued disappointment. The most inex¬ 
perienced fruit grower may soon rival and outshine 
the most successful of old practitioners, if he will 
only give himself the trouble to thoroughly under¬ 
stand and execute two facts well ascertained and 
fully established. First, that extreme luxuriance in 
growth, and extreme fertility in fruit, are entirely 
antagonistic to each other. The second, which is only 
a repetition or modification of the first, is, that the 
rapid luxuriant production of timber, and the early 
production of well-flavoured fruit, are most easily and 
thoroughly secured, by the roots being placed in cir¬ 
cumstances entirely different; depth of soil, moisture, 
and richness, being not more necessary in the one 
case, than comparative shallowness, dryness, and soil 
unstuffed with rank manure, in the other. 
For instance, here are two nice Oak trees, some 
eight or nine feet in height, carefully taken up and 
stored with good roots,'—even the tap root almost 
untouched. Of one of these it is desirable to make a 
fine timber tree as soon as possible, I therefore trench 
the ground as deeply as I can, and even pick up 
and loosen the subsoil, whatever it may be, incorpo¬ 
rating also a fair portion of manure. I plant the tree 
with the tap root entire, and give every encourage¬ 
ment for the roots to go downwards, as well as laterally, 
and expect vigorous growth. In the case of the other, 
it is desirable to get acorns as soon as can be. I there¬ 
fore cut the tap root, and do not loosen the soil to any 
great depth, or, if I do, I place the roots near thes ur- 
face; and thus the plant is kept alive, but has a stunted 
growth in comparison with its neighbour. That growth 
is more thoroughly matured, because more fully ex¬ 
posed to solar influence, and, therefore, I get the acorns 
sooner. Were the plants both very young when given 
me, I might treat them both alike for a few years, 
until I got some size, and then I would lift one, and, 
treat it as mentioned above for the production of 
acorns. We must act in a similar manner with our 
fruit trees. In order to get them some size, without 
making them extra luxuriant, we may resort to several 
modes: plant in rich soil at first, and, when of some size, 
relift and transplant, or lessen the number and length 
of roots ; or, what I would generally prefer, trench the 
ground, without adding any manure ; plant the trees 
in little hillocks, with the roots spread out within a 
few inches of the surface of the soil; water when 
necessary, so as to reach only a little beyond the 
roots; and get the necessary vigour by rich surface 
dressings, as long as they are found necessary. 
Here I may add a third fact, for the consideration 
of the fruit grower, which I believe to be pretty well 
established;—namely, that when the roots of trees 
come in contact with nitrogenous and carbonaceous 
substances, in the shape of manure, at a considerable 
depth, and especially when in connection with abundant 
moisture, there is always a tendency to the produc¬ 
tion of rank, luxuriant, and unripened wood, and con¬ 
sequent opposition to fruitfulness ; whilst, when such 
manure is spread on the surface, and the roots are at 
no great distance below it, these roots will be kept 
moist by its influence, and not enticed downwards so 
much in search of moisture: the sun and air acting 
upon, ameliorating, and oxygenating it, whatever 
moisture trickles through it, whether supplied by 
rains or the water-can, will not ouly give the neces¬ 
sary vigour, but promote the swelling of fine, promi¬ 
nent fruit-buds. For instance, here is a vigorous 
Pear tree, the bulk of the roots are from two to three 
feet or more from the surface, where they are revel¬ 
ling—if roots can do so—in rank, moist, manure, on 
which even the air never operates, and you have 
shoots in abundance every summer, like huge Willow 
rods. Pinch, stop, and thin these as you will, but it 
I 
I 
I 
i 
i 
i 
i 
i 
i 
i 
! 
j 
I 
I 
