PRUNING BEARING PEACH TREES 241 



of these buds to cut back one-half in the winter pruning, but by cutting back 

 about one-half the new growth in August, fruit buds are developed lower down, 

 and where they would not be developed without the summer pruning." 

 H. Culbertson, El Cajon, San Diego County. 



"Prune the peach every year, cutting back and thinning out the center, using 

 great care not to cut out too many of the little fruit shoots of new wood growing 

 on the main branches, but removing the slender branches of the old wood, 

 leaving as many branches of the new growth as the tree will support. In this 

 case judgment must be used as to what the tree will support. The soil may be 

 wet or dry, rich 1 or poor, the grower must be the judge. To grow small fruit, 

 prune lightly; to grow large fruit, prune with care and judgment. To get this 

 judgment you must have some practical experience. I prefer doing the work 

 when the sap begins moving in the) spring of the year. All cuts heal over better 

 then and the pruner can see how the buds are setting and use his own judgment 

 as to how much wood he wants cut out." R. C. Kells, Yuba City, Suiter County. 



"Cutting back the peach must be more severe, as the growth of the new wood 

 diminishes. Not more than five or six fruit buds should be left on a shoot, 

 and if the fruit all sets, it must be also thinned. The trees should be trained^ 

 low and their vigor encouraged by permitting a reasonable amount of young" 

 shoots to grow around the lower part of the main limbs. When this method 

 is continued systematically every season, the trees will bear large crops of fruit, 

 of good quality, for many years. When they are allowed to overbear for one 

 or two seasons' the fruit will decrease in size, and soon become almost worth- 

 less ; the trees will be enfeebled, and in consequence very liable to be attacked 

 by disease. The only thing to be done in this case is to cut off the whole top 

 of the tree, allowing it to form a new head. I have seen old peach orchards 

 thus renovated, and the results are often very flattering, but it is far better not 

 to allow them to get into a condition where this desperate remedy is necessary." 

 Leonard Coates, Morganhill. 



Cutting Back the Peach Is not Shearing. Some undertake the 

 annual pruning of the peach by a shearing process, treating a fruit 

 tree as one would a hedge cutting everything to a line. There has 

 been a good deal of this done in California, but it is wrong neverthe- 

 less. Shortening in the new growth of the peach each year is a proper 

 practice. It is the first step toward preventing over-bearing of small, 

 unmarketable fruit and saving the tree from profitless and injurious 

 effort. Thinning the shoots by removing all but one when two or 

 three start from the same point is also working toward large fruit and 

 regular bearing in the tree. This shortening and thinning of the new 

 wood must also be followed by thinning of the young fruit just after 

 the natural drop and it is seen that the tree carries too many. Proper 

 pruning can not be done by shearing because it is apt to shorten the 

 strong shoots too much and the weak shoots too little. Each shoot 

 must be cut by itself according to its growth and its ability to carry 

 more or less fruit. Shearing, too, does not thin out the shoots but con- 

 tinually multiplies them until the tree is full of brush as a hedge. 



THINNING PEACHES 



Thinning out fruit on the peach tree is not only the secret of ob- 

 taining good, marketable fruit, but joins hands with pruning in pre- 

 serving the health and future production of the tree. The importance 

 of thinning has been urged in a previous chapter, but the following is a 

 very strong statement, by Mr. Culbertson : 



