PRUNING AilD MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH TBEE. 



tree from the very commencement is insisted on ; "because it appears that when once 

 the sap begins to distribute itself equally through the different parts of the tree, it 

 continues to flow with greater regularity, and presents fewer difficulties to a fine 

 formation. 



153. There is another very simple mode, which, though not so efficacious, suffices 

 in the majority of cases. It consists in placing a shading of straw mats, or boards, at 

 eight to ten inches above the stronger wing. This privation of a certain amount of 

 light and air is often sufficient to enable the weakly wing, which is left uncovered, to 

 attain the same growth as the other. The influence that shading has on vegetation 

 may be employed for full-grown trees, to restrain the growth of the upper secondary 

 branches by retaining over their extremities the straw mats which are joined to the 

 copings till after the fruit has been formed. 



154. If these means fail, we must, at the following winter-pruning, leave the shoots 

 on the weak parts as long as possible, and even, in some cases, not prune them at all, 

 leaving both the terminal eye and all the young shoots, so that by their growth they 

 may draw the sap towards the part. At the same time, the shoots on the strong part 

 should be pruned short ; all superfluous shoots should be removed at the first disbud- 

 ding ; and the progress of those remaining must be carefully watched, in order to 

 allow them only a limited growth. This mode, which is very efficacious, is founded 

 on the principal of physiology that leaves are the respiratory organs of plants, toward 

 which the ascending sap is continually drawn, to be in them elaborated, after which 

 it descends towards the roots. The ascent of the sap-fiuid through the alburnum, and 

 its descent by the vessels of the bark, maintain a more active degree of life in these 

 parts, and thus their vigor is increased in proportion to the amount of the circulation 

 of that fluid. This means may be employed on trees of any age ; and it always suc- 

 ceeds well, provided the parts operated on be healthy, though of unequal strength ; but 

 it must not be used on badly-organized branches, or on those suftering from languor 

 resulting from disease. In the latter case, we must begin by curing the disease. 



155. There is another mode, which can only be employed on bearing-trees. It 

 consists in leaving a great many Peaches on the strong parts, because the nourish- 

 ment of the fruit being very exhausting, the vigor of the branches is diminished in 

 proportion to the quantity of fruit they bear. On the other hand, the vigor of a 

 feeble branch may be restored by limiting the number of its fruit. The latter pro- 

 ceeding is rarely used by the cultivators, because they must have Peaches, whatever 

 be the consequence. 



156. These means may be greatly assisted by disbudding, pinching, summer-prun- 

 ing, and even by defoliation ; and these operations may be employed separately or 

 combined, according to the age and growth of the tree. 



157. The results of the first year's growth are not always such as have been sup- 

 posed. Often the vegetation is languid, and the shoots are neither so long, nor so 

 thick, as to enable us to originate the first lower secondary branch. If such be the 

 case, its formation must be deferred till the following year ; and the two main 

 branches are pruned to eyes properly situated for their prolongation. At the second 



VOL. IV. E 2 



