PKUNENG AJTD MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH TPvEE. 



I need not describe tliese instruments, wliicli are sufficiently known ; I will only 

 comment on tlie secateur. This instrument is now used by nearly all the growers at 

 Montreuil. It can be used more expeditiously than the tnife, and is perfectly fitted 

 for all amputations necessary for small branches. Still, when some of the stronger 

 branches require to be cut back closely to their origin on the main branch, the pruning 

 knife is employed in order to make the amputation as near as possible to that branch, 

 and also to make a very clean cut. Again, the pruning-knife is made use of for 

 heading back young trees when planted, and for pruning the ends of the wood- 

 branches. In fact, when the branch is too strong, the pressure which the secateur 

 occasions in cutting it across often produces gum or canker, which may cause the loss 

 of the branch. This objection to the secateur exists even in the case of small branches, 

 above all, when badly adjusted ; but when this instrument is well made, nothing 

 injurious results from its use, only the wound is slower in healing. The first trials of 

 the secateur at Montreuil were not favorable to it, because the instruments we then 

 had were far from being perfect. Their use, in fact, was on the point of being aban- 

 doned, when M. Lemaignan, locksmith at Montreuil, applied himself to make some 

 of great superiority ; and it is to this circumstance that the almost universal use of 

 the secateur in our country is due. Messrs. Arxheiter and Bernard, working lock- 

 smiths at Paris, also make very good ones.* 



61. When a large branch is to be cut off, a hand-saw with a narrow and very long 

 blade is made use of. But as the teeth of the saw tear the bark and wood, the cut 

 must be immediately smoothed with the pruning-knife, and then immediately covered 

 Avith grafting-wax, or with grafting-clay. These precautions are essential for the pres- 

 ervation of the tree. Whatever instrument be used for pruning, it must be very sharp, 

 so that the cut may be smooth and clean. The cut should be a little oblique, the 

 knife being inserted at the side of the shoot or branch opposite the bud, and slanting 

 through, so that the point of the slant may be one-twelfth to one-sixth of an inch 

 above the point of the bud, according to the strength of the branch and the season of 

 pruning. The greatest length should be given in winter. 



II. Of Pruning^ properly so called. 



02. The name of winter-pruning is given to the principal pruning, because it is 

 generally performed at that season. As for us cultivators, who have a large num- 

 ber of trees to manage, we have no fixed time of pruning. I have occasionally 

 pruned some of my trees in December, with the same result as those that were 

 pruned later. It may therefore be concluded that it can be done from January 

 till April : but I recommend it to be done soon rather than too late ; for when 

 vegetation is active, pruning causes a more sensible reaction on the trees. There 

 are, however, cases where late pruning may be of use. When a tree not yet grow- 

 ing is pruned, it loses no sap ; for on the latter beginning to circulate, it flows 

 to the buds, wdiich, by expanding, aftbrd it an outlet; at the same time the cuts 

 so far dried up as to offfer a suflicient resistance to the escape of the sap 



* Arnheitek, place de I'Abbaye, 9 ; Bekxakd, rue Saint-Jacques, 21S. 



