THE FRUIT-TREE AND SHRUB PRUNER. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 2 is the Peach with one year's laterals. "When 

 No. 1 begins to break bud some little care will 

 probably be required in watching how the buds are 

 likely to break. Some may be too weak and some too 

 strong, and there will probably be too many. In such 

 cases thin them out by disbudding, rubbing off those 



which are too bold, or else 

 they will get the advantage 

 of the weaker ones, and pre- 

 vent them breaking at all, 

 so that a defective tree will 

 be the result. 



It is of the utmost im- 

 portance to attend to the 

 forming of a Peach-tree at 

 the very outset ; the founda- 

 tion of the future tree must 

 be well attended to in the 

 maiden plant. Some very popular writers tell me that 

 it will require seven years to produce a perfect Peach- 

 tree. This to me is monstrous ; and I think it will 

 not appear at all unreasonable if I can show, by the 



method here adopted, that a 

 full - developed Peach - tree 

 can be fairly obtained within 

 four successive years from 

 the planting of the maiden 

 tree, and this is applicable 

 to both the old fan-shaped 

 and the cordon tree. 



As soon as Fig. 1 has well 

 broken bud and made three 

 or four inches of young 

 growth, stop each lateral; 

 then there will succeed two other laterals, which will 

 make equal progress, ripen, and no doubt will be well 

 furnished with fruit buds by the following autumn. 

 But as the young tree is not sufficiently established 

 to bear fruit on all these laterals, cut one of them back 

 to a bud as seen in Fig. 5, and shorten the remainder 



Fig. 3. 



