106 THE HOME ACRE. 



the most delicious morsels of the year, but also a 

 very agreeable and light phase of labor. They 

 can be made pets which will amply repay all kind- 

 ness; and the attentions they most appreciate, 

 strange to say, are cutting and pinching. The 

 pruning-shears in March and early April can cut 

 away forming burdens which could not be borne, 

 and pinching back during the summer can main- 

 tain beauty and symmetry in growth. When the 

 proprietor of the Home Acre has learned from ex- 

 perience to do this work judiciously, his trees, like 

 the grape-vines, will afford many hours of agree- 

 able and healthful recreation. If he regards it as 

 labor, one great, melting, luscious peach will repay 

 him. A small apple, pear, or strawberry usually 

 has the flavor of a large one ; but a peach to be 

 had in perfection must be fully matured to its limit 

 of growth on a healthful tree. 



Let no one imagine that the shortening in of 

 shoots recommended consists of cutting the young 

 sprays evenly all round the tree as one would shear 

 a hedge. It more nearly resembles the pruning of 

 the vine ; for the peach, like the vine, bears its fruit 

 only on the young wood of the previous summer's 

 growth. The aim should be to have this young 

 bearing wood distributed evenly over the tree, as 

 should be true of a grape-vine. When the trees 

 are kept low, as dwarf standards, the fruit is more 



