17i PRUNING AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH Tit EH. 



balance of the tree is threatened, recourse must be had to pinching. 

 It is well, therefore, to watch the progressive indications of the 

 flow of sap ; for in consequence of strong shoots resulting else- 

 where from its check by the first pinching, the operation frequently 

 becomes necessary on them. Those young shoots, which, by their 

 appearance or position, promise to become very strong, should be 

 pinched before they reach the same length as the others that 

 are less favourably situated, and not so well established. The 

 former should be pinched when three or four inches long; the 

 others must be left untouched till they attain the length of 

 from twelve to sixteen inches. In every case we must bear 

 in mind the necessity of preventing the eyes that form on the 

 young shoots, and especially those on their bases, from becoming 

 blind, which might take place if the shoots were allowed to grow 

 too long. We must also avoid, as much as possible, the pinching 

 of them before they are of sufficient length, as it is likely to make 

 them produce laterals. I usually pinch the young shoots behind 

 a leaf, so that the tree does not appear to have undergone the 

 operation ; and many cultivators wonder at the regularity and 

 well-balanced strength of its shoots. 



128. Some laterals cannot be prevented from forming on the 

 young shoots that are retained, and particularly on those which 

 have been pinched. The laterals which push on the leading 

 shoots should, for the most part, be pinched when six to eight 

 inches in length, above the second, or from that to the sixth leaf, 

 according to their strength. On the leading shoots, pinching 

 should be preferred to dishudding, which entirely destroys the 

 origin of the lateral. Pinching, moreover, is favourable to 

 its good organisation, by encouraging the eyes that are formed 

 along its base, and which fit it for becoming a fruit-branch on the 

 prolonging shoot when the latter shall have become a wood- 

 branch. 



129. It is by no means uncommon for the terminal shoot of 

 fruit-branches, situated on the upper sides of the principal branches, 

 to grow to an extent likely to prove hurtful to the successional 

 shoot. The former must then be pinched, but leaving it so long 

 as not to make too much sap flow to the latter. If this pinching 

 cause some of the eyes to burst into laterals, it must be discon- 

 tinued, and the shoots must be cut down on the lowest lateral by 

 a summer-pruning. If, in its turn, the young successional shoot 

 acquire too much strength in consequence of these operations, we 

 must endeavour to moderate it by pinching. If, occasionally, 



