154 FEUIT-GROWING 



Any sort of fruit tree should be carefully in- 

 spected before being planted and the roots of 

 the peach should be examined for the presence 

 of the peach borer. This insect lives just be- 

 low the bark of the tree, at or near the soil line. 

 Its presence is usually indicated by the exuda- 

 tion of gum around the wound that it produces. 



The roots should be pruned before planting, 

 though not so heavily as are those of the apple. 

 Usually about all that is needed is to take off 

 any injured rootlets, leaving the main portions 

 intact. The top should be pruned to a stub. No 

 matter what length of stub I should advise you 

 to leave there are peach-growers all over the 

 country who would take exception to the state- 

 ment, for it is another of those questions that 

 have helped to keep horticultural societies alive. 

 In our own orchards we usually leave the stubs 

 about eighteen inches high. If the tree has been 

 injured in the top so as to require more severe 

 heading back we do not object. I have grown 

 excellent trees from six-inch stubs. In any 

 event pay no attention to the small side 

 branches — take them all off. In some of the 

 old books you will find pictures of a pruned 

 peach tree at the time of planting, showing a 

 much branched seedling with the branches 

 shortened in to about half their length. I know 

 of no first-class grower who follows any such 

 system of pruning to-day. The stub 's the thing. 



