Pruning Peach Trees 215 



Renewal by top-budding. 



For various reasons it is sometimes desirable to change the 

 top of a peach tree from one variety to another. A grower 

 may find after his orchard begins to bear that he has a larger 

 number of trees of some variety than he wants ; a block of 

 trees may prove to be some other variety than the one 

 ordered ; or a variety is not well adapted to the needs of the 

 owner. In such cases the trees may be top-worked either 

 by budding or grafting to a desirable variety. 



The ordinary method of shield-budding described in 

 detail in the chapter on propagation is the one most com- 

 monly used for this purpose. If the tree to be top-worked 

 is not more than two or three years old, it is usually prac- 

 ticable to insert the buds directly into the main limbs well 

 dowTi toward the point where they leave the trunk. This 

 is illustrated in Plate XXIII {bottom) which shows a Triumph 

 peach tree that was budded to the Carman variety when it 

 w^as three years old, after its crop of fruit for the season 

 had been harvested. The points where the buds were in- 

 serted may be seen by reference to the figure. 



If the tree to be top-budded has reached an age when the 

 bark on the main limbs has become too thick and firm to be 

 manipulated readily for budding, it is necessary to head it 

 back heavily with a view to forcing the development of new 

 growth into which the buds of the desired variety can be 

 inserted. This heading back must of necessity be done 

 fairly early in the season, else the new shoots will not attain 

 sufficient size for budding the same season. In the latter 

 case a year might be lost in the top-working. When this 

 course is followed, the buds should be inserted in the new 

 growth as near the trunk or main limbs as is practicable, in 

 order to have as large a portion of the top as possible of the 



