206 Oil the Management of Peach Trees. 



then on tlic other, cutting through, till you meet the former 

 excavation, filling as before, with loam. Fill up the trench 

 with the same material; put a good strong stick, as a sup- 

 port to it, if necessary, and the work is done. 



I would recommend, however, that root-pruning be not too 

 rashly proceeded with. And I will here make a simple re- 

 mark, which, at a future time, I may advert to more in de- 

 tail ; and this is, that many persons, in attempting to carry 

 out a principle, bungle it in practice, and then fancy that they 

 have a right to give it a wholesale condemnation, merely be- 

 cause they have not been successful. As an instance of this, 

 I called upon a gardener, a few miles from New York, in the 

 month of September last ; his peach trees were almost barren ; 

 I asked him if he had tried root-pruning 1 He said he had 

 last spring, but he had killed some of his trees. The fact 

 was, he had lifted some strong growing trees, hacked their 

 roots nearly all off, with an axe, stuck them again in the 

 sand, and there they stood, till they exhausted their stored- 

 up sap. The sun dried them up, root and branch ; and they 

 died, of course. What else could they do? It was not surpris- 

 ing that they died, but it would have been surprising, if they 

 had lived. I do not bring this forward in defence of a prin- 

 ciple : common sense defends it, and, better still, it defends it- 

 self. This, however, will show the necessity of caution, for, 

 when intelligent gardeners fall into such blunders, what can 

 be expected from that numerous class, who usurp the name, 

 but know as little of gardening, as they do of the philosopher's 

 stone ? Trees of any size or age may, if done judiciously, be 

 root-pruned with advantage, yet, to enjoy the full benefits of 

 the system, they ought to be operated on, from the second or 

 third year of their growth, and continued at intervals of two 

 or three years, if found necessary. I have seen trees, forty 

 years of age, thrown into a bearing state, after many years 

 barrenness. If young trees are regularly root-pruned, it will 

 keep them in a healthy, fruit-bearing condition, and prevent 

 that over-luxuriance, which, no doubt, tends to their decay. 

 They ought to be mulched with some non-conducting mate- 

 rial, during summer, which prevents rapid evaporation, by 

 the sun's heat, and obviates considerably the necessity of con- 

 tinual waterings, which, indeed, frequently do more harm 

 than good. 



