The Gardener's New Director. 25 



In nailing the fhoots to the wall, they ought to be 

 placed as equally diftant as poflible. Large Peaches and 

 Ne£larines ought to be fix inches afunder ; for the fmaller 

 forts, four inches will do; and be fure to lay them hori- 

 zontally, and never in an upright pofition. The {hoots 

 being thus regularly trained to the wall, the fruit will be 

 equally expofed to the fun and air, and will he kept ia 

 an uniform {late of growing. The confequence of de- 

 ferring this until July or Augujl, is, that the fruit (at that 

 time ccnfiderably advanced) muft be much {liaded,and 

 afterwards not too ha{lily expofed, lefl it become tough 

 {l.inned, ill tailed, and late in ripening. 



You muft not, upon any account, fliorten the fhoots 

 after May, or at furthefl: the 25th oi' June, as thofe pro- 

 duced after that time are weakly and good for nothing. 

 All fuch weak branches fhould be cut out at Michaelmas, 

 which is the befl: time for winter-pruning, by llriclly 

 obferving thefe rules, I have had better crops of Peaches 

 and Ne6larines, than my neighbours, who have had 

 warmer and more favourable fituations. I fiiall here re- 

 mind you of my former dire£tions, to give dung to your 

 borders in November once in two years, and fpade it 



one foot into the earth.- I planted the double-flovver- 



ing Peach upon walls, for the fake of its beautiful blof- 

 foms, rather than for its fruit, which is often late and ill- 

 ta{led. 



I found the fame m.anagement agreed perfeSly well 

 with late Peaches, to which however I applied fome ar- 

 tificial heat to bring them to perfe6tion. The only dif- 

 ference was, that thefe late Peaches, when they came to 

 be in a condition to be forced every year, were obliged 

 to be pruned fliorter in their branches than thofe planted 

 upon the common walls, as the branches of the forced 

 Peaches are more drawn. 



In order to perfect this article of pruning trees, fo ef- 

 fential to their prefervation and fruiting, we fhall liere 

 introduce what are given as eftablifhed maxims by Mcnf. 



Le Genre, parfon ot Tleiwilie. He ad\ ifes to prune 



fruit-trees from the end o{ February to the end oi March. 



His method was, to train his tree from the {Icm 

 placed perpendicular on the wall : this was to be left 



longer 



