330 . W E S T E R N F R U 1 T B U K . 



trees as are most exposed, the shade by boards, or straw- 

 wrapping, that might have been afforded more cheaply 

 and better, by the natural limbs of the tree. In select- 

 ing cherry trees, therefore, choose those which have been 

 so treated, in the nursery, by heading down, or otherwise, 

 as to have their sides furnished with low branches, instead 

 of those which have been either trimmed up high, or 

 allowed to branch only from the upper buds ; so as to 

 make a high head. With pears, apples, and most other 

 fruits, the same rule will apply, and you may safely 

 restrict your selection to those that are furnished with 

 moderate side branches from near the ground. Eest as- 

 sured, that it will be much more easy a matter to trim 

 these lateral branches off, as you ma}' wish to raise the 

 head of the tree, than it will be to produce them from 

 one of your beautiful, smooth, high -trimmed trees, such 

 as are constantly to be seen, and which, unfortunately, 

 are so much admired. 



• With the peach there is less importance to be attached 

 to this matter of nursery trimming ; for the virgin trees 

 are always of but one year's growth from the bud, and 

 it matters little how they may have been branched and 

 have grown, for a judicious planter will always cut them 

 down to a foot or less, when setting them out, and force 

 them to take a new start. The more equable this is, the 

 better for the future tree ; for, of all our fruits, the peach 

 most needs to be a bush, branching equally from its stock, 

 near the ground ; but this plan involves the modern ad- 

 mirable ideas, of pinching in, and shortening of fruit 

 trees, particularly applicable to the peach, and this is a 

 topic that it was not intended to broach. 



These general rules with regard to the branching of 

 the trees being premised, next look to the condition of 

 the bark, which should be smooth and fresh, not wrinkled, 

 nor mossy with age; for all thrifty young trees will have 



