Abstract
THE scientific work carried on at the Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm, the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Spencer LI. Pickering, F.R.S., is of great value to horticulturists, who usually follow rule-of-thumb methods in much the same way as the British farmer cultivates his crops. The fifth report of the Woburn Fruit Farm, noticed in NATURE of September 7, 1905 (vol. lxxii., p. 461), showed that several cherished ideas as to the proper treatment of fruit trees need modification, and that operations which are generally supposed to be beneficial to growth and fruit-bearing ai-e really prejudicial to both. Measurements of leaves, trees and fruits, and weighings of the fruit, led to the conclusions that heavy thinning of the fruit is of no advantage; hard pruning is unprofitable; summer pruning is undesirable; and root pruning injurious. An explanation was also found of the fact that carelessly planted trees, though weak at first, ultimately make more growth than trees carefully planted.
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Effects of Pruning on Fruit Trees . Nature 75, 569–570 (1907). https://doi.org/10.1038/075569b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/075569b0