PEUNING 



221 



when gathering the fruit. Short- 

 ening the new growth of these 

 trees induces the formation of 

 more fruit spurs. The peach fruits 

 on wood one year old ; that is, 

 branches produced one summer 

 should fruit the next. Since check- 

 ing the growth favors fruiting, cut- 

 ting back part of the new growth 

 late in summer influences the 

 formation of flower buds. The 

 peach is a luxuriant and rapid 

 grower, and, if allowed to go 

 unpruned, is likely to produce 

 more wood than fruit. Currants 

 produce fruit on both the old 

 and new wood, but wood more 

 than three years old is considered 

 unprofitable and may be removed. 

 The new growth tends to produce 

 more fruit buds if it is pinched 

 back to leave from two to six 

 buds on each twig. 



Thinning. Thinning, or the re- 

 moval of some of the fruit when 

 the tree is overloaded, is a form 

 of pruning. Several advantages 

 are gained by thinning. If all the 

 fruit is left on the tree, the load 

 may be so great as to break the 

 branches, while the effort to pro- 

 duce so great a crop results in a 

 quantity of undersized, flavorless 

 specimens. It is much better to 



FIG. 161. Two-year-old twig of 

 the peach showing three pedi- 

 cels, or stalks, that produced 

 fruit and will not bear again 



