PRUNING AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH TREE. 191 



ditions not always to be met with. It will be understood that 

 the elongation of the lower branches is a secondary consideration 

 to that of their being maintained in good condition ; and that 

 they should always be well furnished with young wood ; for if 

 they were prolonged without care being taken, it might prove 

 injurious to the vigour of the lower part of the tree, and produce 

 ugly gaps. Therefore, the elongation of the four branches 

 a, b. c. D must be proportionate to their strength ; and when 

 they are weakly, they must be kept shorter, by every year cutting 

 back their extremities to a lower shoot, which, with proper nailing, 

 forms a new leader (184). This proceeding concentrates the 

 sap for the better nourishment of the lower parts, and for 

 the producing in them a more active state of growth. But if, on 

 the other hand, the growth of the tree is so vigorous that the 

 lower parts are healthy, and the principal branches there well 

 furnished with fruit-branches, there is no dauger in treating the 

 branches a, b, c, d as has been explained in the beginning of 

 this article, and thus we may even be able to give each wing an 

 extent of twenty feet — a proportion that cannot well be exceeded 

 on walls ten feet high ; and this does not prevent us from 

 keeping the tree in the form of a long parallelogram forty 

 feet in length by ten feet in height. But the second method, 

 which can be very seldom resorted to, requires that a greater 

 distance between the trees be provided for at the time of planting. 

 It will be easily understood that the equilibrium of strength and 

 growth is more difficult to maintain in a tree disposed in this way, 

 the lower principal branches being only three against four upper 

 ones ; and, therefore, I do not recommend the adoption of this 

 method. 



186. 3rd, — In carrying successively the depression of the main 

 branch, a, to its utmost limit, its length relatively to the extre- 

 mities of the three lower secondaries must, however, be main- 

 tained. This extreme lowering of the main branch, which thus 

 ceases to divide the wing into two equal parts, still more increases 

 the distance from each other of the upper branches, e, on each 

 wing ; and there would be a great space left between them if a 

 fourth upper secondary (f,) were not formed. 



It is obtained, as stated at 170, by the prolongation of a 

 fruit-branch chosen at the base of each of the two innermost 

 branches e. 



This method is preferable to the second (185), but it should 

 only be employed on trees that are very vigorous, especially in 



