216 AMERICAN GARDENE&. 



shoots ; and, every winter cut out some of the 

 weak wood, that the tree may not be overbur- 

 dened with wood. If, in time, the tree be getting 

 thin of bearing wood towards the truuk, cut some 

 of the limbs back, and they will then send out 

 many shoots, and fill up the naked places. The 

 lowest limb of the tree, should come out of the 

 trunk at not more than 9 or 10 inches from the 

 ground. The greater part of the tree will be 

 within the reach of a man from the ground ; 

 and a short step-ladder reaches the rest. By 

 this management the tree is always in a state of 

 full bearing. Always young. To talk of a tree's 

 being worn out is nonsense. But, without prun- 

 ing it will soon wear out. It is the pruning that 

 makes it always young. In the " Ecloe du 

 ardin Potager" by Monsieur DE COMBLES, 

 there is an account of peach trees in full bearing 

 at fifty years old. And, little do people here 

 imagine to what a distance a peach tree will, if 

 properly managed, extend. Mr. de COMBLES 

 speaks of numerous peach trees extending to 

 more than fifty feet in length on the trelis, and 

 twelve feet in breadth, or heigh th, and in full bear- 

 ing in every part. Here is a space of six hun- 

 derd square feet, and, in case of a good crop, 

 four peaches at least in every square foot, mak- 

 ing, in the whole, 2,400 peaches, which would 

 fill little short of ten or twelve btishels. This is 

 to be seen any year at MONTREUIL in France. 

 To be sure, these trees are tied to trelises and 

 have walls at their back ; but this climate re- 

 quires neither ; and, surely, fine trees and hue 

 fruit and large crops may be had in a country 

 where blights are almost unknown, and where 



