114 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Aagtl«t  S)  18S7. 
Having  now  advanced  some  reasons  why  the  work  under  notice 
should  be  performed,  I  will  proceed  to  deal  with  the  practical  part 
of  the  matter,  and  leave  to  those  who  choose  to  take  up  their  pens 
the  simple  task  of  demolishing  the  arguments  I  have  set  up. 
In  one  direction  we  seem  to  have  gradually  altered  our  practice 
with  advantage,  for  the  work  of  summer  pruning  is  now  usually 
performed  at  a  somewhat  later  date  than  formerly,  and  the  extra 
amount  of  freedom  given  to  growth  in  its  active  season  is  to  my 
mind  beneficial  to  the  trees,  which  seem  to  require  some  channel 
for  the  overflow  of  their  exuberant  energies.  When  the  shoots 
are  pinched  in  a  very  young  state  a  good  deal  of  secondary  growth 
is  made,  which  necessitates  the  expenditure  of  extra  time  in  its 
removal,  and  there  is  also  some  danger  of  the  baial  buds  starting  ; 
whereas,  when  the  work  is  deferred  till  July,  or  early  August, 
those  who  watch  trees  closely  will  have  noticed  that  growth  is 
almost,  if  not  quite,  completed.  The  shortening  of  the  shoots 
then  has  the  effect  of  helping  to  plump  up  the  basal  buds,  while  at 
the  same  time  but  few  young  growths  are  started. 
In  carrying  out  work  of  this  description  the  right  course  to 
pursue  is  to  go  over  the  upper  parts  of  the  trees  first,  shortening 
back  the  remainder  of  the  shoots  about  ten  days  afterwards. 
Trees  so  treated  do  not  receive  such  a  serious  check  as  when  the 
whole  of  the  growths  are  removed  at  once,  and,  moreover,  the 
practice  of  annually  pruning  the  uppermost  portions  of  trees 
first  has  the  efEect  of  forcing  the  sap  into  the  lower  branches, 
thus  preventing  their  becoming  unduly  weak.  This  is  an  im¬ 
portant  point  to  bear  in  mind,  for  it  is  the  principle  upon  which 
well-balanced  trees  are  produced. 
Apfdes,  Pears,  and  Plums  require  little  difference  in  their 
treatment.  The  shoots  of  each  should  be  shortened  back  to  three 
or  four  leaves,  not  counting  the  pair  of  small  ones  at  the  base. 
On  well  managed  trees  numbers  of  sturdy  shoots  having  four  or 
five  leaves  will  be  formed.  These  should  not  be  shortened,  as  they 
form  fruitful  spurs  from  which  some  of  the  finest  fruit  is  obtained. 
The  extremities  of  all  branches,  where  there  is  room  for  extension, 
ought  not  to  be  shortened,  but  when  they  have  covered  their  allotted 
space  shortening  rather  severely  must,  of  course,  be  resorted  to. 
In  the  treatment  of  young  trees,  well  placed  shoots  must  be 
selected  and  laid  in  full  length  to  form  the  necessary  number  of 
branches.  In  old  ones  gaps  sometimes  occur  through  reason  of 
branches  dying.  Strong  shoots  should  in  such  cases  be,  if  possible, 
originated  and  allowed  to  grow  without  being  stopped  or  shortened 
for  filling  the  vacancies.  In  some  old  trees  the  spurs  are  much  too 
close  together,  which  causes  them  to  produce  a  thicket  of  shoots, 
not  strong  ones,  but  mere  breastwood.  The  best  way  to  deal 
with  such  is  to  cut  out  half  the  spurs  at  once  instead  of  waiting 
till  the  autumn  ;  thin  the  shoots  on  those  left,  and  allow  the  others 
to  go  unshortened  till  September.  The  wood  then  becomes  hard  and 
ripe,  and  in  the  course  of  another  season  develops  fine  fruit  buds. 
Peach  trees  will,  of  course,  already  have  received  much  atten¬ 
tion  in  the  way  of  disbudding  and  nailing.  All  that  needs  doing 
now  is  to  pinch  a  few  of  the  strong  shoots,  and  where  there  is 
room  lay  in  laterals  from  them.  This  will  help  as  quickly  as 
anything  to  bring  them  into  a  fruitful  condition. 
Morello  Cherries  ought  to  have  young  shoots  laid  in  full  length 
about  4  inches  apart,  the  remainder  being  cut  clean  away.  It 
will  be  safe  to  say  that  all  kinds  of  fruit  trees  and  bushes  which 
are  crowded  with  growths  now,  forming  something  like  a  thicketi 
may  be  greatly  improved  by  a  free,  yet  Judicious,  thinning  of  the 
branches,  removing  the  more  weakly  or  least  promising,  and  those 
retained  will  be  materially  benefited  by  the  greater  amount  of  sun 
and  air  thus  having  access  to  the  foliage.  As  a  rule,  and  broadly 
speaking,  too  little  thinning  and  too  much  shortening  of  the 
branches  of  fruit  trees  may  be  noticed,  a  practice  that  is  certainly 
not  conducive  to  bountiful  crops  of  any  kind  of  fruit. 
The  above  are  a  few  simple  hints  for  the  guidance  of  those 
who  need  them,  and  by  acting  in  accordance  therewith  no  one 
should  have  the  slightest  difficulty  in  practising  usefully  the  art 
of  summer  pruning. — H.  D. 
PRECEPT  AND  PRACTICE. 
Parting  Words. 
{Concluded  from  page  70.) 
Looking  back  over  many  years,  “remembering  a  thousand 
things  that  passed  me  on  those  golden  wings  which  Tinm  has 
fettered  now,”  in  order  to  conclude  these  remarks  to  those  who  are 
looking  forward,  one  is  impressed  by  the  fact  that  there  are  some 
truths  which  need  experience  more  than  reason  to  confirm  them. 
Young  gardeners  of  a  past  generation  never  had  the  opportunities 
now  presented  to  their  successors  for  self -tuition  and  advancement 
Visible  as  this  is,  it  is,  perhaps,  less  easy  to  perceive  the  ban  which 
lurks  near  every  blessing,  and  is  ever  ready  to  neutralise  it.  But, 
really,  in  one  sense,  young  gardeners  of  to-day  are  neither  better 
nor  worse  off  than  their  predecessors,  unless  they  feel  the  corre¬ 
sponding  responsibility  attached  to  the  great  gifts  within  their 
reach.  it. 
Within  their  reach  ?  Ancient  history  tells  of  an  old  Greek  who 
cut  the  wings  of  his  bees  and  placed  before  them  the  finest  flowers 
he  could  gather  in  order  to  save  them  the  journey  to  Hymettus,  yet 
found  they  made  no  honey.  So  simple  is  the  inoral  conveyed,  that 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  it  does  not  apply  directly  to  our  expert 
pupils,  but,  rather,  to  younger  students  whose  untried  wings  oft 
weary  in  the  first  flight  to  our  Hymettus  ;  hence  the  highest  teach¬ 
ing,  the  best  exemplified  practice,  scarcely  including  these  miiior 
efforts,  can  avail  but  little  without  unceasirig  labour  to  acquire 
knowledge,  or  personal  practice  to  attain  individual  perfection.  W^e 
may,  in  the  main,  agree  with  Lord  Chesterfield,  that  “  There  never 
were,  since  the  beginning  of  the  world,  two  cases  exactly  parallel  5 
and  in  doing  so,  may  add  that,  practically,  there  never  will  be.  In 
this  consists  one  of  the  chief  charms  of  life,  particularly  our  lives, 
to  feel  and  to  know  that  in  assimilating  the  precepts  and  the 
practice  contained  in  those  rich  stores,  garnered  by  great  gatherers, 
such  will  eventually  be  stamped  by  the  impress  of  our  individual 
character,  and  moulded  to  each  particular  use. 
But  la  ely,  in  discussing  a  matter  with  a  gentleman,  extraneons 
to  our  vocation,  and  upon  which  he  had  received  professional 
advice  from  an  expert,  he  said,  Mr. - not  only  explained  the 
pros  and  cons  in  a  clear,  practical  manner,  but  he  inspires  one  to 
action.  We  may  find  similar  cases  in  our  own  field  of  work— men 
who,  not  by  their  knowledge  alone,  but  by  their  energy  and  un¬ 
quenchable  enthusiasm,  inspire  those  of  confrenial  tastes  with 
kindred  feelings.  These  are  men  amongst  men,  and  we  cannot 
over-estimate  the  great  influence  they  wield  for  good,  or  question 
their  undoubted  position  as  leaders.  True,  a  direct  personal 
acquaintance  with  them  may  seldom  be  our  privilege,  but  we  find 
their  second  self  in  their  writings,  and  here  Lord  Lytton’s  aphorism 
admirably  expresses  what  a  whole  page  of  mine  could  less  ably 
convey— viz  ,  “  It  is  not  study  alone  that  produces  a  writer,  it  is 
intensity.”  Intensity  !  not  knowledge  alone,  but  that  fire  which 
warms  all  within  its  influence  into  vigorous  life  and  aotion. 
To  the  industriously  disposed  nothing  is  more  catching  than 
industry,  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  an  old  precept,  and  another 
tells  us  that,  “Who  conquers  indolence  conquers  all  the  rest.” 
As  a  rule  from  the  vitality  of  youth  springs  a  desire  for  action, 
which  requires  but  direction  and  confinement  to  its  proper  channel 
to  accomplish  the  best  possible  according  to  individual  calibre.  If 
youth  could  know  what  age  requires  in  the  matter  of  character¬ 
building  doubtless  the  foundations  would  be  more  carefully  laid, 
and  there  would  be  less  shoring  up  with  pillars  of  excuse  in  after 
life,  with  fewer  tumbles.  Man  was  born  to  rule— “  to  have 
dominion,”  but  to  rule  he  must  obey  infallible  laws  of  system, 
method,  harmonious  in  their  working,  inevitable  in  their  results. 
There  is  no  youth,  I  suppose,  who  can  realise  the  dynamic  force  of 
this  moral  in  its  entirety.  We  see  some  of  brilliant  intelligence 
taking  erratic  flights  in  their  course  of  study,  aiming  at  many 
marks,  but  hitting  none  decisively.  Clever,  and  wise,  and  witty  in 
their  way  j  each  and  all  by  turns  but  none  for  long.  Marvellously 
busy,  wonderfully  energetic  in  their  movements;  in  fact,  a  com¬ 
bination  of  good  qualities— of  atoms  in  violent  activity,  but 
wanting  cohesion — system — to  resolve  them  into  solid  bodies.  So 
is  this  energy  finally  dissipated  into  the  cosmic  dust  of  wasted 
opportunities.  .  ,  , 
Double  toil  and  trouble  have  those  who  ignore  Heaven  s  first  law 
of  order.  Let  no  busy  youth  ever  deceive  himself  into  assuming 
that  he  can  accomplish  more  than  one-tenth  of  what  he  is  capable 
of  without  mapping  out  his  course  of  self-tuition  intelligently  and 
judiciously,  according  to  the  circumstances  in  which  he  is  placed, 
and  persistently  carrying  it  out  to  the  end.  Our  youths  must 
soon  take  their  place  as  men— men  of  the  world,  not  quite  in  the 
sense,  perhaps,  in  which  that  term  is  usually  employed,  so  we  will 
change  it  to  men  in  the  world,  and  not  as  cyphers,  which  are  well 
enough  for  totting  up  a  census  paper.  What  preparation  is  now 
being  made  for  it  ?  As  a  free  man  with  the  passport  of  education, 
