THE VINEYARD AND ORCHARD. 105 



leaf-bud between them. If the fruit-buds have 

 been uninjured by the winter, they will nearly all 

 form peaches, far more than the slender spray can 

 support or mature. The sap will tend to give the 

 most support to all growth at the end of the spray 

 or branch. The probable result will be that you 

 will have a score, more or less, of peaches that are 

 little beyond skin and stones. By midsummer the 

 brittle sprays will break, or the limbs split down at 

 the crotches. You may have myriads of peaches, 

 but none fit for market or table. Thousands of 

 baskets are sent to New York annually that do 

 not pay the expenses of freight, commission, etc. ; 

 while the orchards from which they come are prac- 

 tically ruined. I had two small trees from which, 

 one autumn, I sold ten dollars' worth of fruit. 

 They yielded more profit than is often obtained 

 from a hundred trees. 



Now, in the light of these facts, realize the ad- 

 vantages secured by cutting back the shoots or 

 sprays so as to leave but three or four fruit-buds 

 on each. The tree can probably mature these 

 buds into large, beautiful peaches, and still main- 

 tain its vigor. By this shortening-in process you 

 have less tree, but more fruit. The growth is di- 

 rected and kept within proper limits, and the tree 

 preserved for future usefulness. Thus the peach- 

 trees of the garden will not only furnish some of 



