THE PEACH. 233 



and longevity and beauty of their trees, there can be no 

 doubt but it will be found a paying investment. 



Iioot Pruning. — In gardens where the soil is rich, and 

 trees very full of vigor, disposed to grow too much and 

 bear too little, root pruning should be practised once in 

 two or three years — the first lightly, removing only the 

 ends of the large feeding roots. The safest time to do it 

 is between the fall of the leaf and the opening of spring. 

 Yegetation in the peach seldom becomes sufficiently 

 inactive during the growing season, to enable the roots to 

 be pruned with safety. 



The Peach in the form of a vase. — Among all the 

 forms in which trees are conducted, this is, when well 

 done, one of the most graceful. 



It consists of a short stem two to five feet, according to 

 fancy, with a head composed of three or four main 

 branches, and two or three times that number of second- 

 ary branches, all trained by means of light stakes at first, 

 and afterwards wire or wooden hoops in the form of a 

 vase or goblet. The branches are arranged in a circle, 

 with bearing shoots filling up the spaces. I^o shoots are 

 permitted either in the interior or in front that is project- 

 ing from the exterior surface of the goblet. 



The most beautiful trees of this form are to be seen in 

 the gardens of the Luxembourg, at Paris, and elsewhere 

 in France. 



Mr. Louis Gaudry, who has a very pretty little plan- 

 tation in Paris, and who has published a small work on 

 pruning and training trees, gives the annexed cut as a 

 representation of one of his vase peach trees of eight 

 years' growth (fig. 113). The following is the substance 

 of his mode of conducting them. 



First Pruning. — The stem of the yearling tree is cut 

 back to the point at which it is desired to commence the 

 head to three buds, forming a triangle and as nearly as 



