1873] PEACH CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



265 



weak, they should be shortened back to where the wood is firm, and 

 always to a strong wood-bud. Peach-trees in a healthy condition 

 have their buds in clusters of three, a wood-bud in the centre, and a 

 fruit-bud on each side of it ; and to such a cluster of buds they should 

 always be cut when cut at all. 



Fig. 13. 



Well-established trees that have borne heavy crops regularly, and 

 especially those that have been forced early, generally make shorter 

 and stronger growths, well studded with strong clusters of buds. In 

 this case it is unadvisable to shorten them back at all. A watchful 

 eye must always be kept on the lower portions of the tree, so that 

 they are not allowed to get bare of young fruit-bearing growths. It 

 need scarcely be said that, from the fact that it is the young wood that 

 bears, the tendency is for it to be in greatest abundance at the top. 



The best guarantee against trees becoming bare of young bearing 

 wood at their lowest parts, is to annually cut back a few healthy 

 young growths to 2 or 3 eyes, and allow as many of these to bud and 

 grow as may be required to keep up the supply of young wood. This 

 is an indispensable necessity, from the fact that portions of old wood 



