THE PEACH IN THE NORTH. 



to the tree at the time of the shoots breaking, and if anything, it Trill require more yigilauee 



now; allow these soft young shoots to be now injured, and the 



S3''mmetry of the tree is irreti'ievably lost; on the other hand, lay 



in and tie these shoots with care and in good time, and we shall 



accomplish much towards the perfect shape of our future tree. 



It will be observed in the past year VA'e had but three branches, 



which had been headed down in spring to two eyes each; we .. , „ %', '? 



» ° •' ' No. 4 — HcTleil dawn in fpnng 



have, therefore, now six branches, which must be trained at of second year. 



full length with all the laterals, (or summer shoots;) for the reasons assigned last year, 

 insects must be guarded against, as well as anything that would injure the tree or its foli- 

 age; mulching the roots, with occasionally a good watering of liquid manure, will very 

 much assist it; by the end of this (second) summer it will have the appearance of No. 



No. 5 — Tlic appea''ance of the tree at the expiration of the second year. 



5. Here now we have a tree, healthy, strong, and thrifty, with abundance of roots, a clean 

 stem, well formed, well ripened branches, and capable of being moulded into a beautiful 

 tree in the coming year. Some will perhaps say, our tree is now too thrifty. But this 

 phrase " too thrifty," I do not well comprehend; if by this they mean long, thick, gory, 

 unripened shoots, they may call it '^ too thrifty" if they please, and thuey may consider 

 such wood on their trees anything but desirable, but if the system I am describing is pro- 

 perly carried out, the wood will be of a very different character. 



In place of spongy, soft unripened shoots, their tissues will be firm, well matured, and 

 as ripe as sun and heat can make them, and under conditions such as these, I say there 

 can be no such thing as " too thrifty." I can well understand in a climate such as Eng- 

 land, where the digestive and respiratory organs of plants perform their offices slowly, 

 and but too frequently imperfectly, over luxuriant growth is to be guarded against, and 

 wood more moderate in size is desirable, in order to meet the quantity of pure air and 

 elaborated sap. But in the original eastern home of the peach, this will not hold good, nor 

 in our own warm sunny climate, which so closely resembles the seasons of 

 and. Here revelling in the heat and bright sunshine, the foliage will digest and 



