342 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 31, 1858. 
supplied with riders and dwarfs, when, in ordinary 
circumstances, the dwarfs would have wholly filled 
the w T all, or more, I was told by the gardeners, that 
this excessive cutting, so as from these small trees to 
command nearly fresh wood every season, was the 
only mode by which they could retain their trees in 
healthy fruitfulness. By such modes, fair crops are 
obtained; but then the walls have always a fresh- 
planted-like look, and many corners are generally un¬ 
filled. The vital forces acting on a much smaller space, 
it is but rare, that in such trees there is a tendency 
to limbs dying, even after a severe winter. Some 
friends have suspected that the evil was much to be 
attributed to over-cropping, and in this there may be 
something ; but I have found that a tree that bore 
only a moderate crop, and with wood well ripened, 
has thus suffered, while a tree that has borne a heavy 
crop has passed unscathed, though its young wood 
seemed no better ripened than its neighbours: yet 
both as to stopping and pruning the shoots were treated 
in a similar manner ; and there seemed to be nothing 
in the depth of the soil, its nature, nor the condition 
of the roots, to cause the evil. As a general rule, 
the finest looking, but not too luxuriant trees, were 
the most likely to suffer. As several correspondents 
have made similar complaints, and as when neither ex¬ 
treme over-cropping was allowed, nor extreme luxu¬ 
riance, with its attendant general want of maturation 
were permitted, I could offer no advice, farther than 
to shelter by means of foliage or a thin covering, the 
stem and main branches from extreme heat in summer, 
and extreme cold in winter, I have given the matter this 
prominence,in order that the subject may be ventilated, 
and the opinions, practice, and ideas of others known. 
Having lately alluded to young-trained, fresh-trans¬ 
planted trees, and expressed an opinion, that, when 
planted at a suitable time in autumn, there was neither 
reason nor philosophy in shortening back the shoots 
of such trees, farther than was necessary to secure 
complete maturation of the wood, and for obtaining 
other shoots to fill the wall, &c., with main branches ; 
keeping in view, that a great point in such training is to 
give a start to the sides of the tree, knowing that the 
centre will always take care of itself, and also that in all 
systems of fan training, the chief strength of the tree 
will be concentred there, if the side branches are not 
started first, and rather vertically, in order that the 
sap may flow freely ; I shall now consider that the tree 
has nearly, or wholly, filled its allotted space, and that 
the pruning and training it is to receive in summer 
are chiefly intended to keep it for years in a state of 
health and fertility. 
Keeping this in view, a few facts are worthy of 
notice. First, all such trees, in favourable circum¬ 
stances, produce their fruit chiefly on the wood of the 
previous season. In cold places, or, indeed, in any 
place deemed advisable, the fruit may also be pro¬ 
duced on short spurs ; but in general, the young wood 
system is the one that will be followed with most ad¬ 
vantage. Secondly, in all such healthy trees, a great 
deal more wood is produced than can by possibility 
find room against a wall, so as to be presented to the 
full influence of sun and air. Two errors are here 
generally committed by young beginners,—leaving 
too much wood, and giving a prominence and favour 
to strong shoots over weaker ones. With respect to 
the latter, let it ever be kept in mind, that the stronger 
the young shoot, and the larger the leaves produced, 
the more room do the latter require, and the more sun 
and heat are required, so to mature the shoot that the 
buds at the base of the leaves shall be well ripened. 
Much experience leads us to prefer wood between the 
size of a good crow pen and a goose quill, instead of 
larger girth. 
The production of so much young wood leads to the 
necessity of disbudding, as it is called, though not 
quite correctly so, as the process does not refer to re¬ 
moving buds, so much as to the cleanly cutting-out of 
most of the young shoots, when from an inch and up¬ 
wards in length. This is done almost at once by some 
practitioners, who leave little more than the young 
shoot at the base of the fruitful one, and another at 
the point, to keep up the circulation of the sap to the 
fruit placed upon it. It is always of importance to 
leave the lowest shoot, so as to form the bearing shoot 
for next year, and just as many more as room can be 
found for. I prefer doing this disbudding a number 
of times, instead of once or twice, and just for the 
purpose of not giving the growing processes of the 
tree any sudden check, taking care to remove the 
promiuent foreright shoots first,—that is, those on the 
front of the fruitful shoots, leaving the necessary ones 
to be at the sides of the shoot, and, if preference can 
here be given, choosing those on the upper side. In 
finally leaving no more than the requisite number to 
fill the allotted space, care should be taken that they 
are pretty equal as to strength. Any very strong 
luxuriant shoot that appears should be cut out at once, 
unless where fresh wood is wanted. But if there is 
an opening in the tree, and you wish fresh wood there, 
the stopping of such a shoot early, when about six 
inches in length, will enable you to get, from'what 
would have been a useless, luxuriant shoot, some five 
or six well-ripened, fruitful ones. If a regular system 
of training is adopted, as soon as the fruit is swelling 
freely, the young shoot at the point of the bearing 
shoot, if not wanted for wood next year, should be 
stopped back within a few inches of its base, just leav¬ 
ing a tuft of leaves, to keep the circulation of the sap 
in the bearing part beneath. This will give more 
room and light to the shoot coming from the base, 
which will be the bearing shoot next year. A bushel 
of these disbuddings and shoots, bruised between a 
mallet and stone, made into tea,—by pouring over 
them eight gallons of boiling water, and, when that 
has stood covered up for an hour, poured off, and 
made into thirty-six gallons of liquid,—will prove an 
excellent wash for the trees, and do much to keep fly 
and thrip at a distance. 
The third fact to which I would refer is, that even 
this limited quantity of young wood, if left its whole 
length, would, in general, produce more fruit than 
the tree could carry ; and, if unshortened, the buds 
near the base would not be so likely to start into 
shoots next season ; and, therefore, there would be 
spaces near the base of the main shoots apt to become 
bare of young w T ood. To remedy these drawbacks, it 
is very common to shorten such shoots, according to 
their strength, from a third to a fourth, at the spring 
pruning. When the work can be overtaken, I prefer 
doing almost the whole of such stopping in the 
autumn. After a certain period, the fresh wood 
formed at the points will n eed to be removed in spring, 
because, in general, it will not be sufficiently in¬ 
durated. 
But, besides that, after the middle of August the 
fresh leaves formed may rather be looked upon as ex¬ 
hausters, instead of caterers for the energies of the 
tree. When the fruit, then, is swelling freely, I 
would advise pinching out the points of most of 
these shoots, and cutting then a little farther back a 
fortnight or so afterwards, if you have not courage to 
do so at once. A few small, succulent shoots may 
come from the points ; but that is of no consequence, 
as they can be removed in spring, if not before; whilst 
the stopping now will concentre the vital energies of 
the tree in the shoots intended for bearing next year, 
and will cause even the lowest buds to be plump and 
