20 
THE ELOKIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
back until they have partially dried off, or they will bleed so as to injure the 
plant. Good drainage is required, and the soil used should be equal parts of 
light loam, peat, and leaf mould, well mixed with silver sand. 
REMARKS ON FRUIT TREE CULTURE.—No. 6. 
The proper way of putting into practice those operations upon the branches 
of fruit trees which may be called restrictive, and the object of which is to 
induce the production of a habit of fruitfulness in opposition to a vigorous and 
luxuriant growth of wood, is certainly not by a severe use of the knife in 
winter pruning ; but the operations referred to must be performed during the 
summer, when all the energies of the trees are in full activity, and, therefore, 
better able in a short time to repair any damage which a temporary interrup¬ 
tion of their development may occasion. In point of fact, however, these 
operations must commence with the earliest growth of the young shoots, by 
the entire removal of all that are superfluous. When I say superfluous shoots, 
I mean not only all such as will not absolutely be required to keep the trees 
furnished with a gradually increasing development of wood, but also such as 
will not be necessary for the maintenance of an equal proportion of bearing- 
spurs, or wood, as the case may be. This process is commonly called disbud¬ 
ding, and much of the future well-doing of the trees will depend upon its judicious 
performance. It is necessary that the operation should be performed gradually 
and at short intervals, at first by the removal of foreright and ill-placed shoots, 
and afterwards by the gradual removal of supernumeraries until the operation 
of disbudding becomes blended and carried on simultaneously with those of 
spurring and stopping, which will fyave to be practised more or less until a 
short time before the trees become comparatively dormant, and must be so 
modified in some cases and extended in others as to meet the peculiarities 
which different trees will develope in the course of growth. For example, we 
must consider that fruit trees subjected to artificial management are much more 
likely to be affected in their general constitution than such as are growing 
naturally and unchecked; and thus, with an equal amount of care in planting, 
the development of one will be strong, vigorous, and luxuriant, whilst that of 
another will be weakly and have a tendency to the precocious development 
of fruit; so that the latter will require encouragement and even stimulation, 
whilst the former must be very much checked. 
Herein lies my principal reason for desiring to caution the young practi¬ 
tioner against the too common practice of generalising the treatment of fruit 
trees ; on the contrary, their constitution and peculiarities should be studied. 
The trouble is no greater when the principle is understood, than is involved in 
an indiscriminate method of proceeding; and success, the result of a skilful 
application of principles, will be much more satisfactory to the operator than 
the results of chance. My experience on the subject has been mostly confined 
to trained wall fruit trees, and I have not had much among pyramids ; but what 
I know on that subject convinces me that the principles which regulate the early 
removal of superfluous wood and the subsequent operations are applicable in 
both cases, and produce corresponding results, but that pyramids have this 
advantage—that the system admits of a much greater latitude, and even affords 
facility for the production of fruit-bearing spurs. At the same time I must 
observe, that although in the culture of pyramids it may seem to be very 
desirable to be able to show evidences of skilful treatment in an excessive 
development of fruit-buds, and it may also seem quite natural that we should 
retain as great a number of them as possible in order to ensure a good propor- 
