Page:EB1911 - Volume 13.djvu/782

GARDEN OPERATIONS] of moderate age, and even of old trees if due care be exercised. In transplanting trees all the roots which may have become bruised or broken in the process of lifting should be cut clean away behind the broken part, as they then more readily strike out new roots from the cut parts. In all these cases the cut should be a clean sloping one, and made in an upward and outward direction.

The root-pruning of pot-plants is necessary in the case of many soft-wooded subjects which are grown on year after year—pelargoniums and fuchsias, for example. After the close pruning of the branches to which they are annually subjected, and when the young shoots have shot forth an inch or two in length, they are turned out of their pots and have the old soil shaken away from their roots, the longest of which, to the extent of about half the existing quantity, are then cut clean away, and the plants repotted into small pots. This permits the growing plant to be fed with rich fresh soil, without having been necessarily transferred to pots of unwieldy size by the time the flowering stage is reached.

Ringing.—One of the expedients for inducing a state of fruitfulness in trees is the ringing of the branches or stem, that is, removing a narrow annular portion of the bark, by which means, it is said, the trees are not only rendered productive, but the quality of the fruit is at the same time improved. The advantage depends on the obstruction given to the descent of the sap. The ring should be cut out in spring, and be of such a width that the bark may remain separated for the season. A tight ligature of twine or wire answers the same end. The advantages of the operation may generally be gained by judicious root pruning, and it is not at all adapted for the various stone fruits.

Training.—What is called training is the guiding of the branches of a tree or plant in certain positions which they would not naturally assume, the object being partly to secure their full exposure to light, and partly to regulate the flow and distribution of the sap. To secure the former object, the branches must be so fixed as to shade each other as little as possible; and to realize the second, the branches must have given to them an upward or downward direction, as they may require to be encouraged or repressed. Something of the same vegetative vigour which is given to a plant or tree by hard pruning is afforded by training in an upward direction so as to promote the flow of the sap; while the repression effected by summer pruning is supplemented by downward training, which acts as a check. One main object is the preservation of equilibrium in the growth of the several parts of the tree; and for this various minor details deserve attention. Thus a shoot will grow more vigorously whilst waving in the air than when nailed close to the wall; consequently a weak shoot should be left free, whilst its stronger antagonist should be restrained; and a luxuriant shoot may be retarded for some time by having its tender extremity pinched off to allow a weaker shoot to overtake it.

By the prudent use of the knife, fruit trees may be readily trained into the forms indicated below, which are amongst the best out of the many which have been devised.

The training of standard and bush trees in the open ground has been already referred to under the section Pruning. When the growth of pyramids is completed, the outline is something like that of fig. 39, and very pretty trees are thus formed. It is better, however, especially if the tendency to bear fruit is rather slack, to adopt what the French call en quenouille training (fig. 40), which consists in tying or weighting the tips of the branches so as to give them all a downward curve. Pear trees worked on the quince stock, and trained en quenouille, are generally very fertile.

Wall trees, it must be evident, are placed in a very unnatural and constrained position, and would in fact soon be reduced to a state of utter confusion if allowed to grow unrestricted; hence the following modes of training have been adopted.

Horizontal Training (fig. 41) has long been a favourite form in England. There is one principal ascending stem, from which the branches depart at right angles, at intervals of about a foot. Horizontal training is best adapted to the apple and the pear; and for the more twiggy growing slender varieties, the forms shown in fig. 42 have been recommended. In these the horizontal branches are placed wider, 18 to 20 in. apart, and the smaller shoots are trained between them, either on both sides, as at a, or deflexed from the lower side, as at b. The latter is an excellent method of reclaiming neglected trees. Every alternate branch should be taken away, and the spurs cut off, after which the young shoots are trained in, and soon produce good fruit.

In Fan Training (fig. 43) there is no leading stem, but the branches spring from the base and are arranged somewhat like the ribs of a fan. This mode of training is commonly adopted for the peach, nectarine, apricot and morello cherry, to which