192 PRUNING AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH TREE. 



their lower parts ; and in those in which a greater number of 

 outlets for the sap can be afforded. 



187. The pruning of the upper branches, e, e, e, consists in 

 cutting each of them back every year, at the winter-pruning, on 

 a fruit-branch, the shoot from the terminal bud of which replaces 

 the extremity of the branch. This shoot is nailed as closely to 

 the wall as possible, in order to restrain its growth. If this 

 branch be shortened to a wood-bud, care must be taken to nail it 

 as soon as it is sufficiently developed to admit of its being 

 fastened. The extremities of the three upper branches should, 

 after the winter-pruning, be at the distance of eight or ten inches 

 from the coping. 



188. Notwithstanding the constraint imposed on 'these upper 

 extremities, they soon begin to grow rapidly ; and we must take 

 care, first to pinch them, afterwards to cut them down on the 

 lowest lateral which the pinching produces ; and, lastly, whenever 

 one of them approaches too near the coping it is cut down at a 

 summer-pruning on a lower shoot, or on a very slender branch 

 of old wood, which is nailed in as soon as possible, and which 

 becomes a new terminal. Attention to these shortenings is 

 required during the time vegetation is going on ; nevertheless if 

 they prove ineffectual, and the branch gain the ascendant, it 

 must be cut down at the following winter-pruning to a small fruit- 

 branch, situated at its base (170), which is pruned and nailed as 

 there directed. It is of course understood that disbudding and 

 pinching are performed on the shoots of these upper branches, 

 and that they should all be nailed as soon as it is possible to lay 

 them in. They are pinched when necessary, and summer- 

 pruning is employed for dispensing with the crowd of laterals 

 which results from the pinching, cutting them off to the lowest 

 lateral. All these precautions are necessary for producing and 

 maintaining a supply of fruit-bearing branches on the three upper 

 secondaries, e, e, e, of each wing. 



The omission of these operations is often the cause of gaps 

 in Peach-trees. The treatment of the upper secondary branches 

 is the same throughout the life of the tree. Lastly, — As 

 repetitions must be made in order to draw the attention of the 

 reader to the fundamental principles of the pruning of the Peach- 

 tree, I will conclude by stating that its success depends on the 

 care of the cultivator : — 



189. 1st, — To form well -nourished main branches, a, a, each 

 tapering from its base to its top without inequalities even at the 



