110 THE FLORIST. 



granted it will be), well ripened, no harm will follow : on the 

 contrary, the wood will become hardened and of a dark red colour, and 

 the buds, in the spring, will open strong, and will be but little likely to 

 fall off, or fail in setting their fruit. 



The beginning or middle of March will be quite time enough to cut 

 back the wood and tie in to the wall. The great object just now 

 is to keep them from blooming too early, and the longer, therefore, they 

 remain free from the wall, the less liable will they be to get into bloom. 

 In shortening the shoots back, some regard must be had to the age of 

 the tree. Young trees will require all the leading shoots left nearly 

 their whole length — say, shortened back one-third — while the 

 secondary and subordinate shoots must be cut back, some one-half, 

 and others two-thirds of their length. With older trees, the whole will 

 require closer cutting in ; more especially when the trees are fully 

 developed, when it will perhayis be necessary to cut back most of the 

 shoots to one-third of their length, and even, in places, closer than that. 

 In cutting back, select what is called a triple eye, or bud ; that is, 

 where there are two fruit-buds with a leaf-bud in the middle, as these 

 generally break stronger than when cut to a single wood bud. Great 

 care must be taken to secure a wood bud to cut back to ; as, should 

 this not be the case, and only blooms produced, you will lose perhaps 

 the best part of the shoot, and what fruit forms above the growing 

 shoot will be worthless. There are some Peaches — as the Bellegarde, 

 Chancellor, and others — which, when in a full bearing state, produce 

 wood-buds very scantily, except as terminal ones, and a few at the 

 base of each shoot. In this case, the shoots must not be shortened 

 back at all, but left their entire length, and when they break they must 

 be gone over, and cut back, or not, according to the position and number 

 of buds. 



After tying in the wood, remove the covering from the border, to 

 allow it the benefit of rains, and a surfacing of fresh loam may be laid 

 over and very slightly forked in, but further than this the border 

 should not be disturbed. In the course of time, however, as the 

 borders may become exhausted, a good mulching of cow or sheep dung 

 will assist it ; or, what amounts to nearly the same thing, two or three 

 soakings of manure water from a cow-yard. 



A Gardener in the Country. 



LIGHT— ITS INFLUENCE ON VEGETATION. 



( Continued from page 41.) 

 Whether the principles contained in the sun's rays influence 

 vegetation, as some writers affirm, according to the season when their 

 different properties are most active — or whether, as I have previously 

 suggested, plants themselves possess the power of calling into action 

 these properties, according to their stage of growth, under circum- 

 stances different from those which occur when vegetating at their 

 natural season, I leave for the present, as not materially affecting our 



