MARCH. 
45 
canes long they are cut down to, say, the height of the front light, and the 
second year’s wood alone is looked for. Many amateurs in commencing a little 
house and a Vine or two bring about this result on their first attempt, and from 
the Vines going on shanking from year to year, give up what might otherwise 
have been a source of great pleasure. 
F. 
REMARKS ON FRUIT TREE CULTURE.—No. 7. 
It occurred to my mind the other day, in reference to my remark at page 
20, that in the culture of pyramid fruit trees the operator has both a greater 
scope and facility for so regulating his manipulations, as to induce the forma¬ 
tion of fruit-bearing spurs—that there are some guiding principles bearing 
upon the subject, which it may be useful to remember; and, therefore, before 
proceeding to remark upon the special treatment best adapted to each kind of 
tree, I must trouble those who are interested in the subject, to follow me a 
little more into those ruling principles, because it will smooth our future path, 
and enable the operator the better to understand the practical part. 
In training out a young tree from the commencement—say against a wall, 
in the first instance, the operator should set before himself the object he has in 
view. The primary one, no doubt, is to get the wall as speedily as possible 
covered with healthy fruit-bearing wood; not merely covered with wood of 
which the fruit-bearing parts are the extremities of the branches, but with 
fruitful w r ood distributed equally from the centre to the extreme branches. 
This is the legitimate object to be kept in view, although we cannot always 
attain it, even under the very best and most careful management. We can do so 
for a series of years ; but eventually the natural enlargement of the lower part 
of the branches springing from the central stem will become so great, that 
there is no room for fruit-bearing wood, and, therefore, a certain radius from 
the starting point will be devoid of fruit—more or less, according to the age of 
the tree. 
Now, I must confess that I like to see a tree brought into that state where 
there is plenty of room for development, because, being in full health and vigour, 
there is something substantial to work upon, and the operator is enabled to 
take more liberties with the organisation of such trees, in order to influence 
their future development, than he can with younger trees wdiich, having less 
development, have a weaker foundation to start from, and are more likely to 
resent interference w r ith their functions by the production of wood instead of 
fruit. We must remember that trees do not naturally bear fruit in a young 
state, but must arrive at a certain stage, under conditions w r hich I have already 
explained, before fruit-bearing commences. We can only, therefore, produce 
analogous circumstances in young trees by the process of checking, which 
of course weakens in the tree the power of development, and to us the power 
of influencing it; but, with care, this apparent evil cures itself in time, for as 
the development of parts increases, so also the strength to answer to treatment 
is increased. In fact, we cannot justly call upon a tree to do more than its 
strength is equal to without running the risk of materially injuring it; and, 
therefore, in placing the object in view before our mind’s eye, v r e have to re¬ 
member that the strength required to fill the wall must be husbanded, but not 
driven away, otherwise it will be expended at the extremities of the branches, 
And w r hy is this, but because the tree possesses the tendency, which is common 
to all trees, to push outwards, and to fill up from the centre—in other words, to 
extend itself vertically, or upwards from the centre on one hand, and laterally, 
by the side branches, on the other ? Now, the various manipulations to which 
