THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



Another good method is to bore holes in opposite Hmbs, pass 

 eye bolts through, join these with a bar with hooks or preferably 

 eye bolts, draw them tight with large nuts which press against 

 large washers next to the trunk or branch. A chain instead of 

 the bar is better because it allows of more freedom of sway as the 

 tree is moved by the wind. Bands, wires, chains and other 

 things that go around the tree or the branches are worse than 

 useless, because in due time they will cause constrictions and con- 

 sequent breakage at these very points. 



Every species of fruit tree has its own charactristic method 

 of producing its flower buds. Upon a knowledge of this depends 

 successful pruning for fruit. The peach and the nectarine bear 

 their blossom buds normally in pairs with a branch bud between. 

 These are found in the winter upon shoots or twigs that grew the 

 previous summer. Most of these shoots are found on the out- 

 side of the trees. On the inside near the trunks and main limbs 

 are often wiry shoots that produce few branch buds but for a 

 year or two may have mostly blossom buds. They generally die 

 after growing only a few years. But always the blossom buds 

 are developed one year for fruiting the next and always on twigs 

 that are leafy while they are developing. Each bud grows in the 

 angle (or axil) of the leaf. 



Normally the peach and the nectarine (which is nothing but a 

 smooth-skinned instead of a downy-skinned peach) grow most 

 rapidly from the tips of the shoots. Thus they tend to become 

 broader every year. The result of this habit is that the fruiting 

 parts of the tree get farther and farther away from the roots 

 and the trunk and the leverage due to the weight of fruit or ice 

 becomes greater and greater until the branch breaks down and the 

 tree is ruined. To obviate these two defects (judging from the 

 human, not the peach tree's standpoint) growers cut the annual 

 growths at least fifty per cent., more often seventy-five per cent, 

 or more. Thus they keep the trees within bounds, secure the 

 fruit in far more restricted space and prevent breakage to a large 

 extent. 



The cherry and the plum bear their blossom buds mostly upon 

 little stubby twigs called spurs. In the cherry these spurs are 

 mostly rather straight, sometimes branched, and generally with a 



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