"Well, this one has done its work, so I'm going to cut it out, and let
this young shoot take its place."
"But it has no fruit buds on it," I said quickly.
"No, Grant; but it will have next year; and that's one thing we
gardeners always have to do with stone-fruit trees--keep cutting out the
old wood and letting the young shoots take the old branches' place."
"Why, sir?" I asked.
"Because old branches bear small fruit, young branches bear large, and
large fruit is worth more than twice as much as small. Give me the
saw."
I handed him the thin-bladed saw, and he rapidly cut out the old hard
bough, close down to the place where it branched from the dumpy trunk,
and then, handing me the tool, he knelt down on a pad of carpet he
carried in his tremendous pocket.
"Now look here," he said; and taking his sharp pruning-knife he cut off
every mark of the saw, and trimmed the bark.