206 PEACHES. 



"I have often topped the strong shoots twice in the 

 course of the summer, before they produced the fine 

 kind-bearing wood. These strong shoots exhaust the 

 tree, and never produce good wood, when neglected 

 to be topped. I would recommend to cut out such 

 shoots when the trees are pruned in the spring, and 

 to leave only the bearing wood, which may be known 

 by two small leaves, where the flower-buds will be in 

 the following year ; (the strong shoots having only 

 one leaf bud at each eye ;) and to pick off all side 

 shoots near the tops of the branches, as soon as they 

 can be laid hold of." 



In addition to the foregoing details, I must not omit 

 to recommend in strong terms, other means of pre- 

 serving the health and vigour of this very valuable 

 tree, the fruit of which, when in perfection is perhaps 

 equal, if not superiour to that most luscious of the 

 tropical fruits, the ananas. Since it is ascertained that 

 the fly deposits its eggs which produce the fatal worm, 

 in the bark, it is obvious that if the stem of the tree 

 could be enveloped with some harmless substance, it 

 might baffle the instinctive faculties of the fly, or from 

 its hardness, resist its powers of attack. For this 

 purpose, let the earth around the roots and stem be 

 removed, and its place supplied with some one of the 

 articles mentioned in page 107 ; after which, let the 

 whole trunk of the tree and large branches, from the 

 surface of the earth to the top, receive a good coating 

 of the composition of quick lime, cow dung and clay, 

 page 107. This would not be a very expensive expe- 

 dient even for an extensive orchard, and the preser- 

 vation of the trees would be an ample reward ; but 

 for a few favourite trees in*the garden no person need 

 hesitate to try the experiment, even upon young 

 trees, at the time of transplanting. Should it fail as 

 a preventive remedy against the fly and worm, (which 

 is scarcely possible) the application will have a ten- 



