310 THE GARDENER. [July 



gathered and whicli are not necessary for another year. This gives 

 more room to the young wood required for the ensuing crop, and con- 

 centrates the energies of the tree on their maturation. It is not easy 

 nor necessary thus to cut out all the wood that requires to be removed, 

 but the lessening of it leaves but little to do at the winter or early 

 spring pruning, as the case may be, and it lets more air and light at 

 the foliage and buds of the shoots that are left, and necessary to fur- 

 nish the next crop. 



THINNING THE FRUIT. 



All Peach-trees that are vigorous, and the wood of which has been 

 well ripened, generally set a great many more fruit than are needed, 

 and therefore they require to be thinned off. This operation should 

 not be completed all at once, but gradually, and not finally till the 

 fruit are stoned. As soon as the fruit have swollen sufficiently to 

 burst and throw off their flowers, the first thinning should take place. 

 Where the fruit have set in clusters of twos and threes, remove all 

 but the best-formed and largest fruit, those that are placed on the 

 under sides of the shoots and those that are very near to the wires, 

 and that would not get room to swell if left. When the fruit have 

 attained the size of marbles, a second thinning should take place, 

 removing all the smallest fruit and those that are nearest the top and 

 the bottom parts of the bearing shoot — leaving the largest about the 

 middle of them. Although I have never experienced very much 

 dropping of the fruit in the process of stoning, it is always best to 

 leave considerably more at the second thinning to be removed after 

 they have completed the formation of the stones; then the final 

 thinning should take place. The weight of crop must be regulated by 

 several considerations : if the trees are young, and show a tendency to 

 make too strong a growth, then it is best to crop rather heavily, say a 

 fruit to every G or 7 square inches of surface. The ratio of cropping 

 should be graduated according to the vigour of the trees. Those 

 which have covered a considerable allotted space, and that are in what 

 may be termed good bearing condition, should not be taxed so heavily. 

 If fine fruit are required, a fruit to every 10 or 12 square inches is 

 sufficient. Of course their distribution may be unequal, and it is de- 

 sirable that on the lower branches — stretching more at a right angle 

 with the stem — the fruit should not be so thick as on the central parts 

 of the trees, which have a tendency to become over-vigorous at the 

 expense of the lower ones. 



EOOT-PRUNING. 



I am averse to root-pruning the Peach and aSTectarine, or any stone 

 fruits, according to the fashion recommended by some, and have never 



