192 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



as well as lie could himself, or stand over Ms jobbing gar- 

 dener while he did it, and to pay no attention to any remon- 

 strance on the part of the gardener. The consequence was an 

 abundant crop, requiring three-fourths to be thinned out; of 

 course this was going from one extreme to the other, but it 

 was a lesson even to an ignorant man, that he had to steer 

 a middle course, and not to cut away all the bearing wood. 

 The difference between the peach and nectarine, and pears and 

 cherries, is that the former bears upon the last year's wood, 

 and the latter upon spurs of two years standing. In those 

 trees which should be trained horizontally at bottom, and in- 

 deed may be so trained from bottom to top, the centre, or 

 main stem, must be only shortened at such places as will 

 enable us to keep the branches at proper distances from those 

 beneath. Pear-trees, for instance, require eight or nine inches 

 between them, to give room for the fruit ; therefore the first 

 two branches being laid down, the centre must be shortened 

 so as to give two branches to lay in at a proper distance 

 above them, and when we have seen which two are the best 

 for that purpose, we disbud all but the top leader, which 

 must go on for the next pair of branches ; so that we in fact 

 get one pair of branches each year, and no more. The 

 position of branches has a good deal of influence over their 

 growth. When they are once brought down to the horizontal, 

 they grow very slowly ; this induces some to keep them grow- 

 ing in a sloping direction till they are as long as they are 

 wanted, or nearly so ; but it should be recollected, that a 

 branch one year old is much more tractable than one of two 

 years old, so that we recommend them to be laid down at one 

 year old, or that, at least, they be constrained sufficiently to 

 enable ns to complete their proper position the second year, at 

 most. The three branches that are growing for the next pair 

 of branches, and the leader, may grow upright, if they will, 

 because they unquestionably progress most according to their 

 elevation. It was on this ground that we recommended the 

 shorter one always to be kept more upright than the longer 

 one, that they might at least be more uniform ; but we should 

 be content with the progress of the horizontal branches after 

 the first year, or, at the most, after the second, whether they 

 extended as far at first as we desired, or not ; for it is im- 

 possible to ensure any uniformity if the branches are allowed 

 to mature themselves into stubborn wood. By continuing 



