HOW PEACHES ARE BORNE 



123 



man who owns the tree, yet he is frequently the man who cuts it 

 off. The second point to be emphasized is that once these spurs are 

 cut or broken away, they can never be developed again at that 

 spot. The only possible way that this section of the tree can be 

 again brought into usefulness is by developing- watersprouts on 

 these bare branches and then growing fruit spurs on the water 

 sprouts, a long and difficult pro cess. 



Pruning the apple or pear' 

 tree, therefore, ought to consist in 

 thinning out the top so as to let 

 in enough light and air to keep 

 it healthy, and in holding on to 

 these small spurs just as long as 

 they remain productive. 



With those varieties which 

 bear on the one-year wood, as the 

 Wealthy, AVagener, and Olden- t^m^ 

 burg do to a considerable extent 

 the fruit spurs become somewhat 

 less important because one can 

 get some fruit even without the 

 spurs. But even with these 

 varieties the spurs form a very ^ 

 important part of the fruiting 

 machinery of the tree. 



How Peaches are Borne. — Now contrast this method of bear- 

 ing and pruning with the peach. It is about as different as one 

 can well imagine. To begin with, the peach always bears on last 

 year's shoots instead of on these little spurs (Fig. 49) Then the 

 fruit buds, instead of being ' ' mixed ' ' buds, as in the apple, are 

 plain blossom buds, each winter bud containing a single blossom. 

 This is probably one reason why peaches are more subject to 

 \nnter-killing of the fruit buds than apples. They are not nearly 

 so well protected. And lastly the bearing section of the tree in 

 the peach migrates along the branch, instead of remaining practi- 

 cally stationary for years, as in the apple. 



Fig. 49 — Young peaches just set. Notice 

 that most nodes have two peaches and a 

 cluster of leaves. 



