_ 10 __ THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER, July 1, 1904 
LL ———— eee ee 
gjualities should be better known. Wher 
strong enough prick out the seedlings, put- 
iting three round a 3-in. pot. Place in a 
ielose frame for a few days, after which re 
move them to a warm spot in the open air. 
When the pots are full of roots, pot into 
Bh in., 6-in., or 8$-in. pots, as the case may 
be. They are then placed in a cold frame, 
and when the weather becomes too cald 
and damp pane to a greenhouse shelf, 
using every effort to keep them dwarf. 
Should a few be needed Bari? they are re- 
amoved into a house with a temperature of 
50 deg. by night. The plants should be 
pinched according to the size they are 
needed and time they are wanted in bloom. 
This Browallia is not particular as to soil 
Loam, old: mushroom manure, and sand, 
two parts of loam to one of manure, adding 
sand enough to keep it open, grow it well. 
° 
OPERATIONS FOR JULY. 
PRUNING FRUIT TREES, 
— 
Pruning 18 @ means to an end. Under 
natural conditions trees are b 
r S regards lizht ge 
nourishment, while dace less iS crauly 
situated becume starved aud drop off. The 
lower limbs uf trees and those within the 
crown become weakened and die-+from lack 
wt sunlight ; then the wind, nature’s 
pruning-knife, comes along and removes the 
dead branch. In this manner, trees are 
coustantly ridding themselves of useless 
branches, and the pruning su effeeted is un- 
doubtedly a benefit to the branches which 
Temalp, and to the general growth and im. 
provement of the treo. Orchard trees, by 
virtue of selection, hybridisation, and euiti- 
vation, are in a highly specialised condition, 
and to be muintained SO must receive special 
treatment. In a sense the fruit tree is a 
Bea for manufacturing fruit, and in- 
no pruning j ; 
ae an pie S one of the means. by 
"most fruit of the best quality in the shortest 
fime, and to keep up the output for the 
Jongest possible period. A ccrrect under- 
standing, thereforé of this Machine and all 
ats working parts is ‘necessary to its most 
successful manipulation. : 
It is as well to begin with the tree from 
the very start, which is at the time when it 
38 transplanted from ‘the nursery to the 
orchsrd, as a good beginning is half the 
battle. Assuming that a trec is about to be 
planted out, the first thing to do is to 
examine the roots carefully to ascertaia how 
they fared in their removal frum the nur- 
Sery, as it is often found that the roots have 
been badly mutilated, especially in this 
“ountry, where proper tree-lifters or diggers 
ade to manufacture the ~ 
are seldom used. Before planting all roots 
which have heen broken or damaged should 
be cut away, and all the young roots cut 
back to from within 6 to S inches of the tap 
root. All small roots may be removed, 
leaving only the larger ones, as by digging 
up 4 tree which has been planted for some 
time it will be found, except in very rare 
cases, that the very small roots never throw 
out any young rootlets, but wither away and 
die, becoming a hiding-place, perhaps, for 
the white ants, which often in time, through 
such medium, take possession of the tree 
and cause its ultimate death. The roots 
should be cut with a sharp knife, and in 
such manner that when the tree is planted 
the cut will face downward. By cutting 
this way, new roots, which will form or 
rather grow from the cut, will have a ten- 
dency to grow in tbe required direction 
—downward. The next step to consider is 
how the top of the tree shall be dealt with. 
This, of course, will depend largely on the 
age of the tree in question. If a two or 
three-year-old nursery tree, it may be ad- 
visable to leave either three or four short 
Hig. 1 Fig. 2 
arms (as shown in figs. 1 and 2), as it is 
found that if the head is cut away, and only 
a straight trunk left, the top of the tree 
may not shoot, but will die, and the tree 
shoot from the root. ‘This is often the case 
with the peach, but where a few shvots are 
left this danger is avoided. If a well- 
grown yearling tree I would prefer cutting 
it back to a single stem (Fig. 3). It must 
be borne in mind always that in moving a 
tree it loses the greater portion of its roots, 
and that in consequence the remaining roots 
are unable to sufficiently support or nourish 
the growth above ground, for which the 
whole root system was tntended. We must 
therefore shorten the top in such a way as 
to re-establish the lost equilibrium, and the 
planter must bear in mind that it is always 
better to cut a newly-planted tree back 
rather severely than to leave it with too 
much top, as by so doing it will recover 
more quickly, and in the end make a much 
better tree. It will be seen by a reference 
to the figures shown that although the 
‘ 
i. 
Fig. 7 
young trees may be about the same size> 
and shape when planted, yot, after the first 
pruning, they may present the shapes and. 
forms illustrated. 
After the first summer’s growth, and be-- 
fore the second pruning, they will present 
about the above appearance. (See Figs. 4, 
5, and 6.) 
By adopting a system of allowing only 
one leader or main branch to grow from. 
each of the shoots (Figs. 1 and 2), and 
three starting from different points around. 
the trunk of Fig. No. 3, the tree will pre-- 
sent a fairly good appearance at the time of 
the first winter’s pruning (that is, the- 
winter twelve months after the tree was 
planted in orchard form), which pruning: 
will consist in cutting back severely, leaving: 
each arm or branch about 15 inches in. 
length. When the tree represented by Fig. 
-6 is pruned it will have only four arnis left, 
as shown in Fig. 8; and Figs. 4 and 6 will: 
have only three arms each left, as shown in 
Figs. 7 and 9. It may be considered by 
many that this is a rather drastic treatment 
of young trees, but it must be remembered. 
Sorte 
¢- 
Fig, 8 
that while the tree is young our object is to. 
80 train it as to produce a well-balanced 
tree with good strong arms, and that in 
consequence, until the tree is three years 
old, our aim is to attain this, which is best 
accomplished by pruning for shape and: 
Fig. 9 
strength and not for fruit. In performing 
the work it is often necessary to prune so 
as to spread the tree, as many trees are of” 
very upright-growing habit, and therefore, 
it is usually best to cut to an outside bud,_ 
cutting the branch diagonally across, as in 
this way itis more easily severed, and the. 
risk of bruising the back is reduced to a. 
minimum. 
During the second summer’s growth the. 
tree will require as much labor, or even 
more, spent upon it in directing and guiding - 
its growth, as, by the removal of certain 
young shoots and the encouragement of: 
others, the secondary arms can be started 
from almost any point; and where the trees 
are given this summer attention the task left 
for the pruner in the winter is very light. 
The second winter the trees would present. 
