342 VILLA GARDENING paet iv 



have a good wash with the garden engine, applied forcibly ; and 

 afterwards all the air possible should be given night and day, and 

 water applied to the borders if they need it. It may also be stated 

 as a general fact that absolute dryness for any length of time is 

 good for nothing which has to sustain life. When the leaves are 

 all down the trees may be unloosed from the trellis to allow the 

 ail- to play freely among the branches, and the motion of the young 

 wood wliich exposure will give has a beneficial tendency. It is not 

 a natural state of things to brace up for a longer period than is 

 necessary the branches of a tree from which so much is expected. 

 From the time the fruit is gathered, or at least from the time the 

 leaves fall till January, the branches may have freedom. 



Pruning and Training. — A pruning knife in the hands of a 

 careless or inexperienced man may soon do a good deal of harm. 

 The principal pruning season is in the spring — then the foundation 

 for the next year is laid ; and in autvunn the chief work is to clear 

 the way, to remove those branches no longer required, and to lay 

 in those which have been in preparation during summer. The 

 winter pruning may be regarded more as a selecting or regulating 

 period, and such work always requires judgment and care. When 

 the pruning is completed no two branches should be laearer each 

 other than 6 inches, and the process should be so managed that 

 no part of the tree will be destitute of bearing wood ; this, in fact, 

 is the great aim and business of the pruner. Occasionally a branch 

 dies at the bottom ; in that case the next branch above must be 

 dropped down to take its place, and the others opened out to let 

 up a young shoot to fill up the trellis. With Peaches under glass, 

 the wood, unless the borders contain too much manure, seldom 

 fails to ripen ; and therefore, so long as there is trellis room un- 

 occupied, there need not be much shortening. Long shoots, with 

 weak points, will require to be shortened back, and should in all 

 cases be cut to a wood bud, which is easily distinguishable from a 

 blossom ; the latter being round and plump, the former more elon- 

 gated and sharp at the point. Very often the Peach has its buds 

 in triplets — a wood bud between two flower buds — and it is always 

 safe to shorten back to such buds as these. A leader to every 

 fruit-bearing branch is a necessity, for if there are no leaves to 

 draw up the sap and keep up a constant circulation, the branch 

 dies, and the fruit withers and drops. For training trees on a wire 

 trellis there is nothing better than rofiia. It is soft for the trees, 

 and yet strong enough to last one season ; it works easily, just as 

 well dry as wet. Young hands are very apt to tie the branches 

 too tight. This should always be guarded against, as it has an 

 injurious effect upon the trees. 



