On the Management of Peach Trees. 211 



pruning reminds me of a maniac, that allowed his garden to 

 grow full of thistles, that he might have the pleasure of cut- 

 ting their heads off; and, upon the whole, there appears to 

 me to be as much wisdom in the one as the other. Summer 

 pruning should take the form of disbudding, and ought to 

 commence as soon as the shoots are tAvo or three inches long. 

 At that time, the elaborative powers of the leaves are weak, 

 and, if carried on gradually, as the buds elongate, the roots 

 will not feel the effects of it, while their energies will not 

 be expended in making superfluous shoots, but in swelhng 

 the fruit, and forming flower buds on the shoots that remain. 

 Every shoot that is misplaced, or not wanted for next year, 

 ought to be rubbed off" before it gains strength ; by this method 

 no more winter-pruning will be necessary than merely the 

 topping or shortening of the terminal shoots, and thus very 

 little of the stored-up sap will be taken away. 



It is probable that, notwithstanding root -pruning be prac- 

 tised, the trees will occasionally start into second growth. But 

 if the shoots are pinched within an inch or two of their base, 

 they will be converted into fruit spurs for the following sea- 

 son. They will rarely take a third start, at least if they are 

 not subjected to extraordinary excitement, and even then, 

 pinching is still the best recourse. Now this continual pinch- 

 ing may appear a very troublesome business. In reality, 

 however, it is quite the reverse. With regard to time, it is 

 by far the most profitable mode that can be adopted, and 

 when once the amateur and gardener are fully acquainted 

 with the system, they will find it less a business of labor, than 

 amusement. To those who take an interest in their own 

 trees, it affords a continual source of the most pleasurable 

 employment. In walking round their gardens, they will per- 

 ceive, at a single glance, those that require rubbing off. And 

 an hour or two in the evening — now and then — will be suffi- 

 cient to go over a considerable number of trees. 



I find, Mr. Editor, that I have extended this article to an 

 unpardonable length, much longer than I intended at the out- 

 set, but the importance of the subject must plead my apology. 

 Indeed, I could not, with any thing like justice, have com- 

 pressed it into less space. I do not pretend to have elicited 

 any thing strikingly new or novel, either in theory or in prac- 



