245 



For the renovation of old orchards, peach or apple, these 

 manures act like a charm, and no farmer who has old dilapi- 

 dated trees can aiford to neglect their culture, pruning, and 

 painting the wounds 



renewing and nourishin 



and the application of some of these life- 

 g stimulants. The result in subse- 



quent crops would hardly be credited. 



TRAINING AND PRUNING. 



The pruning and training of the peach tree at the South, 

 especially at the far South, is practiced for a different pur- 

 pose from that practiced when we approach the limits of peach 

 culture at the North. The peach tree at the South, if allowed 

 to take its natural shape and grow^th, bears fruit in the third 

 or fourth year from planting, and usually has a well-shaped, 

 rather spreading, round head; full of small bearing branches 

 and twigs well furnished with leaves and buds — the fruit 

 always produced on the last year's growth. The only prun- 

 ino' here should be to shorten-in from one half to one third of 

 the last year's growth to prevent over-bearing — and allowing 

 the trees to branch as low as is sufficient to protect their stems 

 from the scorching rays of the sun, aided by the compact 

 heads that this manner of pruning produces — the heat and 

 exposure to the sun still being sufficient here to give color and 

 flavor to the fruit. Trees grown at the North, if left to take 

 the sltape that is fo7^ced upon them, shoot up their branches in 



the air, and stretch them irregularly around to an extent out 

 of all proportion. This is on accoimt of climate. The small 

 limbs, shoots and twigs being always killed out during their 



