PKUNINO AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH TREE. i^ 



tlie coiitrarv, wr pniin' when (lio s;i|i is actively (■iiculatiiii; in tlio U.>|'S <»f the slioots, 

 tla-ir poivs, oi>oin'd by the cuts, allow a pditiou of it to evanorato. AN'Iicih'*.' the foii- 

 c'lusion, that it is proper to prune old trees wlion tlie saj) is down, liecausi.- tliey have 

 none to spare; and that, on the contrary, it may prove beneficial to j)rune yonng or 

 very vigorous trees after the sap has risen. The loss of a part of tliis fluid can not be 

 disadvantageous to them ; for, by moderating tlieir vigor, it insures the ])roduction of 

 fruit. We must not forget that finctification weakens tlie trees. One of the objects 

 vf pruning is to diminish tlie superabundant strength of a tree ; and wlien once it has 

 put it in a state for fruit-bearing, pruning maintains a due balance between the })ro- 

 duction of wood, and that of fruit, so as to economise the strength of tlie tree, and 

 insure its prolonged existence. Since I have been a cultivator, I have had numerous 

 opportunities of convincing myself, by experience, of the correctness of this observation, 



G3. To render the operations of pruning more intelligible, I shall consider it in two 

 points of view : 1st, the pruning ot wood-branches ; 2d, the pruning of fruit-branches. 



G4. 1st, Pruning of the Wood-branches. Its principle is a consequence of their 

 natural organization. I have explained (19 — 2G) what is a shoot, and what is a 

 branch. The first, which ultimately becomes the second, is furnished throughout its 

 length with wood-buds, or with shoots of large or small size ; and is always, itself, 

 terminated with a bud which is designated by the name of terminal bud, or eije, or 

 ffrowing-jioint. The sap, which tends to rise in all trees with great force, but more 

 especially in the Peach, gives a greater development to the terminal bud than to the 

 others, which become gradually weaker in proportion to their distance from the top 

 of the shoot, and as they come nearer to their origin at the place of the last pruning. 

 The result of this constant natural tendency is, that we can direct the sap to whatever 

 lateral bud we please on that shoot, by cutting the latter at a very shori distance 

 above, to make a new terminal bud, or eye, which takes the name of ail terminal 

 combine, to distinguish it from the natural terminal eye, and because the eft'ects of 

 pruning are combined in its development. It is a bud, or eye, rendered terminal by 

 pruning. 



Go. Thus the shortening of branches has not the eflect of stopping their growth, 

 but that of giving a great vigor to the eye above which the cut is made ; and to the 

 lower buds a strength which varies according to their distance from the bud to which 

 the shoot was cut back. This bud, in growing, forms a shoot which constitutes a new 

 prolongation, terminated by a growing-point; and is furnished, in turn, with lateral 

 wood-buds. 



We now perfectly understand that, as we can make any lateral bud a terminal one, 

 by pruning above and near it, we can choose it according to our requirements and 

 the end we have in view. 



GG. This is the fundamental principle of pruning the wood-branches. They should 

 be pruned long or short, according to the strength of the tree. In those that are vig- 

 orous it is not uncommon to see branches make shoots of from four and a half to six 

 half feet long in one season, and sometimes even of greater length. In such 

 it is well not to prune them short, because, by leaving them at considerable 



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