188 PRUNING AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH TPvEE. 



was first formed ; whilst the three upper secondary branches are 

 marked e, e, e, they being formed the last, and all three at one 

 time. 



176. The management of these three last-named branches is 

 similar. They should always be nailed the first ; and should be 

 several times disbudded, and their shoots likewise pinched when- 

 ever it is necessary to do so. The essential point is to leave 

 sufficient outlets for the sap, so that it may not open fresh ones 

 by producing over-luxuriant shoots and laterals, which would 

 monopolise an undue share of nourishment, and impoverish the 

 lower branches of the tree. The suppressions on the upper 

 branches are made with the intention of checking the sap, so that 

 it may nourish the lower parts of the branches, which, notwith- 

 standing, sometimes remain inactive. We should, however, 

 recollect, that the vegetation of the Peach-tree being incessant 

 till the end of October, in ordinary years, it is always possible to 

 remedy disorder by adopting proper means when it appears. 



177. Eighth Pruning. — Ninth year of planting. Conducted 

 during eight years in the way explained, and no accident happen- 

 ing to it, the Peach-tree acquires at this pruning the form of a 

 long and regular parallelogram. Fig. 11 represents the principal 

 branches of a tree planted twelve years. The marks show the 

 number of prunings which each branch has received ; and the 

 figures indicate the years in which the respective cuts opposite to 

 them were made, reckoning from the second year of planting. 

 Thus, the first cut on the branch e is marked 6, denoting that it 

 was made in the year corresponding with that in which the main 

 branch, a, received its sixth winter-pruning. 



The tree covers a surface of about twenty-six feet in length and 

 eight feet in height, and the extremities of the four branches, 

 a, b, c, d, touch the same perpendicular line, whilst those of the 

 three upper secondaries touch the same horizontal line as the 

 extremity of the main branch, a. In other respects, the eighth 

 pruning is the same as the seventh. The fourth upper secondary 

 branch, being formed at a later period, does not exist at the eighth 

 pruning. 



178. The main branches are everywhere regularly furnished 

 with fruit- branches. The tree, complete, as figured in my work, 

 exists in my grounds ; and it may be seen there, together with 

 other thriving specimens which present the same regularity. 

 Those Peach-trees which were fully formed in 1841 are still as 

 regular and vigorous as ever, proving by their results that my 



