PEACHES 155 



At the end of the first growing season the 

 stubs will have thrown out long whip-like 

 sprouts — anywhere from three to a dozen or 

 more. The best of these should be selected to 

 form the framework of the tree and the rest be 

 cut off. We should leave not less than three 

 and not more than six and these should be cut 

 back as to leave only one-third of their length. 

 When a vigorous young peach tree has been 

 pruned in this way you may expect some pro- 

 test from the neighbors, many of whom will as- 

 sure you that you have ruined the trees. As a 

 matter of fact it's a pretty hard job to "ruin" 

 a peach tree. The things seem endowed with 

 such buoyant vitality that they recover from all 

 sorts of ill-treatment and sometimes make a 

 successful orchard in spite of indifferent care 

 on the part of the pruner. It may be stated as 

 a general principle, however, that it is better 

 to over- than to under-prune during the first 

 few years. The second year's pruning should 

 be a repetition of the first except that each of 

 the main branches is to be treated just as we 

 treated the whole tree the first time we pruned 

 it. I find it convenient in conveying this idea 

 to new men in the pruning gang to tell them to 

 consider each year's growth in exactly the same 

 way they consider the nursery tree at planting 

 time. We prune the nursery tree to a stub — 

 from this we grow other sprouts, each one more 



