Identifier: gardenersassista04thom (find matches)
Title: The gardener's assistant; a practical and scientific exposition of the art of gardening in all its branches
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Thompson, Robert, 1798-1869 Watson, William, 1858-1925
Subjects: Gardening Horticulture
Publisher: London : The Gresham Publishing Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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after another similar interval thelowest two. In short, by commencing summerpruning at the upper part of the tree, andworking gradually downwards at intervals, soas not to deprive the tree of too many shoots ortoo much foliage at one time, the trees willform abundance of fruit-spurs, and bear regu-larly from the stem to the extremities of thebranches. The spurs will most likely be toonumerous, and will require to be thinned andshortened at the winter pruning. Pruning the Spurs.—A spur is a branch thebuds of which are either blossom-buds, whichdo not push into regular shoots, or imperfectly-formed blossom-buds, in which case they elon-gate, although but slowly as compared with thegrowths made by the proper shoots. Spurs are either simple, as represented at 1,fig. 922, or compound, as at 2. They require tobe pruned, otherwise they would extend too farfrom the wall, and would lose the benefit of itswarmth. It is therefore desirable to have asufficient number of fruit-spurs as near the
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Fig. 922.—Spur-pruning. branch as possible, and when that is obtainedthe spurs should be more or less cut back at thewinter pruning. The simple spur 1 requires no pruning. Such a oneis likely to bear fruit,and in that case itsterminal growth willbe arrested, and oneor two fruit-buds willmost probably formnear its base. Thespur 2 is an older pro-duction. It may becut off at a, or if thereare plenty of othersnear, it may be cutback a little above the bud b, which will forma fresh spur. All buds similar to b are blossom-buds; but spur-buds, like c, may retain theirslender form for years without assuming thatplumpness which indicates a fruiting state.It is frequently the case that nearly all thespur-buds on a tree are of this description, andare very numerous, abundance of foliage beingproduced, and every year more and more ofthese slender unfruitful spurs. The best wayof dealing with them is to cut back those on theupper part of the tree to the lowest bud or the lowest two buds, tothin

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