270 PRUNING. 



be renewed by heading down close to the stem. N"ew 

 and vigorous shoots are immediately produced that form 

 a new tree. This heading down should be done very 

 early in the spring, and the wounds be carefully covered 

 with grafting wax. 



It is one of the first of our fruit trees to blossom in the 

 spring, and therefore in some localities the flowers are 

 killed by the frost. Where this is apprehended it may be 

 well to plant on the north side of a wall, or something 

 that will rather retard the period of blooming, and sub- 

 ject it less to freezing and thawing. We have apricots 

 trained here on a south aspect, yet in seven years the 

 blossoms have not been killed, though in one or two in- 

 stances they have been slightly injured. The espalier 

 trees offer great facility for protection; and therefore, 

 where spring frosts prevail, the apricot should be so 

 trained. Mats or straw hurdles can be placed against 

 them, both in spring and winter if necessary, with the 

 same ease that a common frame is covered. We have 

 used e-ergreen boughs for this purpose with great success. 



Section 7. — Pruning the Nectarine. 



The Nectarine is but a smooth-skinned peach. The trees 

 are so similar in their mode of growth, buds, etc., that 

 they can not be distinguished from one another, and, there- 

 fore, whatever has been said respecting the pruning and 

 treatment of one, applies with equal force to the other. 

 This fruit is so infested with the curculio, that it is almost 

 impossible to obtain a crop that will pay for culture in 

 any part of the country in the open ground. Unless some 

 more effective remedy be discovered than any yet known, 

 it will soon have to retire from the garden, and take up 

 its residence with the foreign grape in glass-houses. 



It produces excellent crops trained in espaliers on % 

 back wall, or a center trellis of a cold-grapery. 



