PRUNING AND MANAGE}kIENT OF THE PEACH TEEE. 



105. At Montreuil, woolen shreds and nails are used in training and nailing. These 

 shreds surround the part to be fastened without becoming so tight as to cause strangu- 

 lation. For this reason neither linen nor cotton rags are employed, as they contract 

 or expand according to the quantity of moisture they absorb ; and because, from their 

 not allowing the nails to pierce them readily, we can not well calculate the tension 

 which we wish to produce. 



106. When there is a trellis, we train the principal branches upon it, fastening 

 them with osiers. The fruit-branches and young shoots are tied with rushes. In 

 gentlemen's gardens, guides, of which I have before spoken (102), are fixed to the 

 trellis ; and also a rod at each side of every principal branch, and parallel to its direc- 

 tion. The above is a convenient way of training the fruit-branclies in their proper 

 place, which could not always be done if they happened to be opposite the openings 

 of the trellis. 



107. Latterly some walls have been covered with trellises of iron wire. I prefer 

 those made of wood ; but if the iron ones are used, guides must be employed for 

 training the principal branches ; and when they are fastened to such trellis, care must 

 be taken to wrap the wire several times round with osier, so that the branches may 

 rest on the latter, in order to prevent their bark from being bruised and rusted by 

 the iron. 



108. A, Winter-nailing. This is the first operation performed after the winter- 

 pruning, and the training of the principal branches. All the fruit-branches are 

 fastened in the place they should occuj^y, having due regard, at the same time, to 

 their form and strength. 



109. It has been shown (100) that the growth of a wood-branch, likely to become 

 too strong, is diminished by close training, and keeping it in a confined position ; and 

 that, on the contrary, it may be roused from a state of languor by giving it greater 

 liberty. Nailing acts in the same way on the fruit-branches. The restraint that can 

 be produced by nailing has beneficial eflects chiefly on the upper sides and near the 

 extremities, where vegetation is always more active, and which ought to be the more 

 restrained, as it tends to increase the distance of prominent eyes from the place where 

 the branch takes its rise. On the other hand, the branches on the lower side must 

 be so nailed as to be in the best position to allow of a free flow of sap. The fruit- 

 branches must be nailed near enough the principal branches to shade them with their 

 leaves from the sun, and so that no naked spaces may exist. In short, with a few 

 exceptions, among which are the fruit-branches that require to be constrained, all the 

 fruit-branches ought to form, with the branch that gives rise to them, a rectilinear 

 angle of greater or less extent. 



110. Whatever care or foresight maybe used in maintaining a supply of fruit- 

 branches, naked spaces may occur on principal branches, more especially on their 

 under sides. Such cases may be remedied in the following manner : 



At A, fig. 10, a naked space may be seen on the upper and under side of the branch, 

 der to fill it, the fruit-branches a, a, situated on each side, and immediate 

 the naked space, are left, when pruned longer than usual, and are allowed 



VOL. IV, c2 



