4 THE FRUIT- TREE AND SHRUB PRUNER. 



let them go unstopped, and then cut them back as seen 

 in Fig. 3. The consequence of this will be two laterals 

 the following season from each spur, as seen in Fig. 4. 

 In order to maintain the perpetual character and con- 

 stitution of the tree for many successive years, one of 

 these two fruit-bearing laterals must be cut back every 

 season, as shown in Fig. 5, and one to succeed it must 

 be provided from the spur a all through the tree each 

 succeeding year ; and if the tree at this or any earlier 

 stage should prove of too strong growth, and produce 

 wood deficient in fruit buds, which may be easily seen 

 by the end of the growing season, then dig round it 

 carefully, and lift it, afterwards filling up as before ; but, 

 as I have observed already, when trees are too strong in 

 growth, allow them to bear more fruit, and I can vouch for 

 a more congenial and quiet growth as the consequence. 



If the laterals in Fig. 2 are allowed to remain at 

 nearly full length, as they may if of a good medium 

 character, then every alternate bud giving a sublateral 

 may be nipped in as soon as it has made three or four 

 leaflets. This will have the effect of furnishing the 

 first primary laterals with abundant fruit spurs, and 

 thus a cordon tree will be formed which will be a com- 

 plete bouquet of flowers, and capable of bearing any 

 amount of fruit. This is a good way of possessing a 

 command over a Peach-tree at pleasure, for if the tree 

 gets too weak do not let it bear so much, and vice versa. 

 By either of these three methods of forming cordon 

 Peach-trees it will be seen at once that a good per- 

 manent fruit-bearing plant can be obtained within four 

 successive seasons from the planting of the maiden tree, 

 Fig.l. 



Fig. 6 is an example of a fan-trained Peach-tree four 

 years old from the planting of the maiden tree, which 

 has been well pruned and trained each successive season. 

 Now why some popular writers on the Peach require 

 seven years to do this I am at a loss to understand. I 

 am prepared to prove that this is three years' loss ; 

 not only so, but much valuable wall space is also lost 

 by the miserably slow process of obtaining a well- 



