4 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



fruit. T fruit upon wood with its terminal and axillary branch- 

 buds removed by pruning, would be at a disadvantage for it must 

 either elaborate food material itself — this it could do during its early 

 period of growth — or it must draw this food material from the limb 

 from which the twig arises. Not only this, but the wood with all its 

 branch-buds removed by pruning is destroyed. It has no means of 

 continuing its growth and must die at the close of its fruiting season. 

 Pruning employed as a means of thinning fruit must remove entire 

 and not parts of fruiting branches. 



The sour cherry is much like the sweet cherry in its fruiting habit. 

 It is more fruitful on the longer twigs, often all the lateral buds on 

 twigs a foot long being fruit-buds. In fact, the trees can be depended 

 upon to produce much fruit from these stronger new growths. Old 

 spurs are less desirable than in the case of the sweet cherry. 



It is well to remember that fruiting branches can be shortened in 

 only to branch-buds, for like the sweet cherry, the sour cherry fruit-bud 

 produces from one to five or more flowers, but no leaves of real value. 

 Contrary to the common impression that the sour cherry will not stand 

 pruning, the tree really thrives with severe pruning. In the neglected 

 tree all the axillary buds are fruit-buds. New fruiting wood can only 

 be developed from terminal buds and as a consequence, the tree is filled 

 with fine wood from one to three, four, or even five feet in length, 

 bearing a half dozen fruit-buds on a half inch of new growths of suf- 

 ficient length and vigor to bear axillary branch-buds as well as fruit- 

 buds. These branch-buds develop into strong young spurs bearing 

 well-developed fruit buds, which will the next season produce the 

 maximum number of well-developed flowers. 



THE PEACH. 



The fruit-buds of the peach are normally axillary and only very, 

 very rarely do we see one terminating a twig. These buds open and 

 produce a single flower, but no leaves. They are borne singly in the 

 axils of single leaves or in pairs, one on either side of a branch-bud, the 

 three buds being borne in the axils of as many leaves. The first type 

 of bearing is found in trees poorly pruned or on weak spurs in well 

 pruned trees. In most varieties shoots that do not make a growth of 

 over ten or twelve inches bear their fruit-buds singly. The triple buds 

 are found on the stronger one-year-old wood. The stronger type of 

 fruiting-wood with its triple buds is the most desirable. In the case of 

 single buds it is impossible to thin the fruit by heading-in the fruiting- 

 wood. To do this would remove all the foliage from the twig as in the 

 case of the cherry, and the fruit borne by this leafless twig would be 

 poorly nourished. Where the tree has made a poor growth and all the 

 fruiting-wood bears single buds, pruning can be employed as a means 

 of thinning fruit only so far as entire branches can be spared. Surplus 

 fruit on the remaining branches must be removed by hand thinning. 

 The buds at the base of these twigs are usually branch-buds and it is 

 well to remember that those to be removed may be made a source of 

 desirable new fruiting-wood if spurred back to one or two of these 

 branch-buds. The fruiting-wood with its fruit-l)uds in pairs with a 

 branch-bud between may be cut back even to its last pair of fruit-buds. 

 The branch-bud will continue the growth of the twig. With this type 



