Pruning
The proper time for pruning trees is in December or January, for then the sap is down, and no injury can be done; and the art in pruning consists in cutting away the "water shoots," or non-bearing wood, "dead wood," and "superfluous wood." The water shoots, as they are called, appear to be strong growing branches, but generally produce neither flowers nor fruit; the superfluous wood are those shoots which grow in the way of each other, or cross each other, which should always be removed. The great principle in pruning a fruit tree is to leave all the tree free and open, so that the air and sunshine may pass through it, and to preserve the buds of the bearing wood. The shoots should be cut off as near to the stem or branch as possible, and all growths or suckers which appear below the crown of the tree should be taken off. The present practice of thumb-pruning is very excellent; by this means the superfluous shoots, &c., are removed by the thumb nail as soon as they appear, and thus the tree does not exhaust itself by the growth of useless wood. The young pruner should be very careful in cutting away, and recollect that what he cuts off be cannot put on again.