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Show . 1 u INDUCING FRUITFULNESS. Prof. Wendell Paddock. Horticulturists have for many years practiced various methods to induce fruitfulness and with some degree of success. All. these methods, as girdling gird-ling the trunk, root pruning, and summer sum-mer pruning of the branches tempo rarily check the growth of the tree, and the consequent slow growth induces in-duces the formation of fruit buds. It is well known that the buds which produce fruit in any particular season were formed the season before, and their formation is believed to begin early in the growing season. This being be-ing true, the time is now at hand for such work; if put off much later in the season, it will be too latc as the time for the formation of fruit buds for next year's crop will soon be passed. By root pruning is meant that a small portion of the roots arc cut off, and the operation may be pcrformc I with a spade or in any way which H best suited to individual needs. " Summer pruning takes the place of the annual whiter pruning, and is ths same in most respects, except that it j is done in June . Girdling or ringing consists in re I -movihg-a ring of bark from the trun'c or larger limbs. This ring is sometimes some-times two inches- or more in width; all jthe bark within this space is re moved, thus exposing the" wood. Tim method of checking growth, though often employed, is rather drastic, and should l:e us.cd with caution. A more rational method is to girdle the branch or trunk by cutting through to the wpd by making one continuous cut and not removing any of the bark. Some authorities state, that the proper time to check the cgrowth l a tree in order to induce the forma tion of fruit buds is at the time whe.i : ktjhs feark begins.' to., sot.' cm the new growth. As this is rather a. delicate feature to determine the average persons per-sons will make no mistake if he does this work any time in June, |