PHUNING THE PEACH TREE. 



Downing's "Fruit and Fniit Trees of America" was 

 the first American work treating of the culture of 

 fruit trees, that awoke any considerable degree 

 of attention to the pruning of the peach. The 

 shortening in system so long and so successfully 

 practiced in France, and indeed in all other European 

 countries where the peach is cidtivated well, was 

 explained and strongly commended to the attention 

 of American cultivators. Since that work first 

 made its appearance five years have elapsed, and no 

 doubt many have by its influence adopted or carried 

 into practice, to some extent, this system ; for every 

 now and again we see in the Horticultural journals, 

 accounts of its beneficial results. Still the culture 

 of the peach tree through the country generally is 

 exceedingly defective, and stands in greater need of 

 reform than does any other branch of tree culture. 

 15ut the active and penetrating spirit that now exists 

 can hardly fail to seize upon this neglected point, 

 and give it proper attention. Wo have now before 

 us several retjuests for information in regard to it, 

 and we take this occasion, (the pruning season being 

 at hand,) to present a few remarks on the subject. 

 Thomas' " American Fruit Culturist" being referred 

 to by some of our correspondents, we will quote the 

 article in that work as a text : 



■* No fruit trees need a more regular and constant pruning 

 thnn the pench, and none more frequently meets with tutul 

 neglect. Tlie young shoots, to live and nourish, need n 

 very full exposure to sun and air. But young peaoh trees, 

 if left to grow in their own way, become covered with a 

 dense profusion of leaves. These shade the interior, ami 

 as a neces.sary eonsp(]uenre, the central shoots gradually 

 perish, and leave the bare limbs. ,\s the tree advances in 

 growth, these 

 become long, 

 naked branches 

 —with tufts of 

 Ii^aves only at 

 their extreme 

 ends, (fig. 1.) — 

 These extrem- 

 ities are lo.ided 

 witn an over- 

 crop of fruit, 

 diminirihed in 

 flavor by crow- 

 ding, and often 

 breaking the 

 peach tree un- 

 der iheir lever- 

 like weight. — 

 Trees wholly 

 neglected in 

 pruning, usual- 

 ly become by this process, of little value, after the lapse of 

 some years- 



Tu avoid this unfavorable result, the shnrlening-in mode 

 of pruning has been very successfully adopted, which con- 

 sists in yearly cutting hack the eitremities, so as to counter- 

 act the spread of the limbs, and to lessen the weight of 

 foliage . 



The most easy, uniform, 

 and certain rule to follow, 

 in adopting tliis system of 

 pruning, i.s to cut ofl", early 

 in spring or in winter, one- 

 third to one-half of all the ii. 

 shoots of the previous sum- 

 mer's growth. This thins 

 the crop of fruit, and great- 

 ly reduces the amount of 

 leaves ; and while the 

 fruit is lessened in number, 

 the amount is not diminish 

 ed, and the flavor is im- 

 measurably improved. If 



this pruning is regularly and annually performed, the head 

 of the tree will be preserved in an even, handsome, and 

 compact shape, (lig. 2,) and in a healthyand vigorous cnndi 

 dition ; and it will become rarely necessary to shorten and 

 thin out the limbs by cutting back the larger sidc-branchos. 

 The pruning may be performed with a hedge or long- 

 handled shears, or with nearly equal convenience by means 

 of a light standing ladder and a common pruning knife. 



Any cultivator who may doubt the value of sliortcning-in 

 the peach, need only to try the experiment for a few suc- 

 cessive years, on a tree standing side by side with one 

 unpruned, to become fuliy convinced of its eminent advan- 

 tages." 



Now we consider it very important that cultivators 

 who prune their poach trees shoidd ha\e a correct 

 idea of the evil or defect, that their pruning is in- 

 tended to remedy. The inexperienced would be very 

 likely after reading the article we have quoted to 

 attribute it to " dense profusion of leaves," and as a 

 consequence, would endeavor to reduce their quantity; 

 but we consider this a misappreliension, for the 

 actual result of pruning or shorteninfr-in, is to main- 

 tain a profusion of leaves, by keeping all parts of the 

 tree furnished with young growing aud bearing 

 shoots. Without pruning, the trees become denu- 

 ded of young shoots aud foliage on all but the 

 extreme ends of the branches. 



We conceive the true cause to be the great ten- 

 dency of the sap in the peach tree, (a tendency to be 

 observed in all trees, but particularly so in the peach, ) 

 to ascend to the points of the last year's shoots. 

 Here the buds are most active, and the sap passes 

 by all the lower and less fully developed buds to them, 

 leaving the others to die oil' gradually for want of 

 support. Thus tlie tree goes on year after year, 

 when left to itself, the upper buds only, of tlie last 

 year's shoots, being developed into new shoot."^, until 

 all the leaves and fruit of the tree are confined to a 

 few inches of the ends of the branches. 



If any proof were wanted that a profusion of leaves 

 is not the cause, we need only refer to the case of 

 espalier peach trees, trained on a wall ortrelli.s, where 

 every portion of the tree is fully exposed to the light, 

 and where shading of leaves is entirely out of the 

 question. These, just as much as the common stand- 

 ard tree, become bare on the lower parts if not pruned, 

 although their confined situation does not offer such 

 great facilities for the flow of the sap. We have 

 seen neglected espalier peach trees, covering iO or 30 

 feet of a wall, and not over a foot on the end of each 

 branch bearing leaves or fruit. It was not the shade 

 of foliage but the uninterrupted flow of sap to the 

 points. But if we take a young peach tree 2 years old 

 and transplant it, leaving all its branches on, and 

 although these are so few that they cannot possibly 

 produce leaves enough to be any detriment to the 

 interior or lower branches, still we see the buds on 

 the extremities of the limbs alone grow and those 

 below them perish. 



Having thus considered the cause of the evil we 

 complain of, the remedy becomes quite obvious, and 

 with ordinary judgment may bo applied with correct- 

 ness and success. 



Every one who has planted a young peach tree, 

 say one year from the bud, must have observed that 

 if the top buds are sound and healthy, they will grow 

 while all the lower ones on the branches, if any, or 

 on the stem, will die out, but if the tree or the 

 branches are cut ofl", even to the lowest bud at the 

 base, it will grow. We see the same results when 

 the top buds are winter killed or the top is broken off: 

 the buds that would otherwise have remained dor- 



