PEACH AND THE PEAR. 9I 



a time some of the main branches are cut back to stubs a 

 few feet long. From these, strong new shoots are pro- 

 duced, keeping the trees in good form. When the trees 

 show indications of the Yellows, the whole top is some- 

 times cut off in this manner. The effects of this annual 

 pruning are two-fold ; to keep the trees in compact form, 

 and to reduce the number of fruit-buds, thus lessening 

 the danger of injury from over-bearing. A year ago this 

 winter, we cut the tops of all the trees of this orchard 

 back to stubs, varying from about two feet at the sides 

 to perhaps three or four feet in the centre so as to give 

 them good form, and the result has been the formation 

 of very handsome heads of strong healthy new wood. 

 All the ends of the branches were cut off, and after 

 becoming well dried, were covered over with two coats 

 of linseed-oil paint. The cultivation of an orchard so 

 as to keep the trees in the best health and productive- 

 ness, we find the most difficult problem, and we are 

 uncertain whether the land should be cultivated or not. 

 (There is no doubt about the necessity of cultivation on 

 the Peninsula. — J. J. BLACK.) The great advantage of 

 cultivation is that it is perhaps the best way of supplying 

 the necessary amount of plant-food, and of preserving 

 the moisture in the soil, but I am very certain that trees 

 in cultivated land are much more liable to be affected 

 by the unfavorable changes of our climate, than when 

 the roots are in turf. If grown in turf, we have two 



