PEACHES AND NECTARINES 105 



is dispensed with. leave a crack of air on all the time. In airing be careful 

 not to make any sudden changes of temperature. Squalls frequently come up 

 during the Summer months, when the air may be reduced to good advantage. 

 In growing Peaches and Nectarines for private use, it is important that 

 the supply should be kept up as long as possible. With care in selecting the 

 varieties, fruit may be had from the first week in May to the first week in Octo- 

 ber. For a steady supply three houses are absolutely necessary, and of these 

 the early house is started the middle of December, the second house on the first 

 of February, and the late house about the loth of March. It is impossible to 

 hold the late trees much longer; in fact, to hold them to that date they must 

 be kept as cool as possible, with open ventilators and doors. But it is not safe to 

 hold them back after they begin to move or the buds commence to de\elop, 

 otherwise there would be danger of a check. 



DISBUDDING AND TYING THE YOUNG GROWTHS 



Peaches and Nectarines under glass must not be overcrowded; other- 

 wise, the wood cannot develop properly. This is an important matter, as the 

 success, of the following season depends on the treatment of the young wood. 

 Fruit trees brought along in a cro\\ded, cramped condition cannot develop 

 good buds; these are the prerequisites of good foliage, and require sunlight, with 

 space for the foliage to expand. One good fruiting shoot is worth two poor 

 ones; therefore, disbudding is an important factor in the work of obtaining 

 good fruit. The man in charge of this work must be thoroughly familiar with 

 it, for much depends on the way in which the operation is carried out. Always 

 try to maintain a well-balanced tree. Generally some branches will grow stronger 

 than others, and this tendency may be overcome somewhat with good judg- 

 ment in disbudding. If ail the shoots were allowed to remain, we should soon 

 have a " conglomeration of nothing." Disbudding consists in the removal of 

 all the surplus shoots. It should be done by degrees. It would be a serious 

 mistake to remove them all at one time, for this would give a check to the tree 

 not easily remedied. Young trees as a rule do not need the same severe dis- 

 budding as old, established trees. With full-grown trees much of the wood 

 that bears the fruit is cut away after the crop is gathered, and it is well to secure 

 a good shoot at the base of the previous year's growth to take its place. This 

 disbudding should be begun while the shoots are quite young, or about iiaif 

 an inch long. Remove some of the thickest clusters at first, and repeat the 

 operation every other day until the work has been accomplished. Where there is 

 fruit and the shoot is not needed, pinch at the third leaf instead of removing the 

 shoot, for tiie remaining foliage is necessary for the development of the fruit. 



By this method of pinching, fruit buds will form during the Summer, or 

 toward the Fall, and fruit buds formed on those spurs generally produce ex- 

 cellent Peaches the following season. Some branches grow stronger than others, 

 and if permanent shoots for the next season's fruiting wood are selected from 

 the top side of the extra strong shoots, they will also naturally grow strong. 

 As sap flows more freely from the highest point, I would recommend selecting 



