CHAP.II . DESSERT FRUITS. 241 



trees have made great growth during the season, pruning of the 

 roots will conduce greatly to the ripening process. After this 

 drying of the roots by exposure to the air is over, and not before, 

 while the new wood is as yet full of sap, the trees should be 

 pruned. The pruning of the Peach-tree consists merely in 

 cutting out the wood according to the form in which it is desired 

 to train the tree, and in shortening the bearing wood (which is 

 that of the same year's growth) to six or seven buds. 



After this it is the usual practice to cover the roots with 

 some rich manure or compost. But the plan I have adopted, 

 in my opinion preferable, has been to cover the roots again with 

 dry earth, and so leave them without the application of anything 

 wet or of an exciting nature till the trees have blossomed and 

 set their fruit, which they generally have done by about the 

 middle of February. I then immediately remove the earth 

 again, and apply new soil well enriched with old stable or cow 

 manure. At first a sparing application of water is given, which 

 should be increased in quantity as the fruit grows larger, and 

 then be supplied in abundance continually till just before the 

 fruit ripens, when it must be withhold en entirely. 



In the North- West Provinces the expediting of ripeness in 

 the bearing wood that it may blossom early is of the utmost 

 importance ; for if the fruit be not formed sufficiently soon to 

 become ripe before the hot winds set in, it never becomes so, 

 but remains on the tree then quite hard till it drops. 



To propagate the Peach-tree the fruit stones are sown in the 

 open ground in September or October, and in February the young 

 plants spring up, which, according to Mr. Hampton, would give 

 as good fruit and produce it nearly as soon as grafted plants. 



However for certainty it is always usual either to bud or inarch, 

 the former process being as uniformly adopted in the North- West 

 as the latter is in Bengal. The plants raised in February will be 

 ready for either process by June or July ; and the following Cold 

 season they will be ready for planting in the spot where they are 

 finally to remain. They come into bearing in two years' time. 



It is a great point in the cultivation of the Peach-tree to keep 

 the roots as little below the surface of the soil as possible. This 

 is sometimes effected by placing tiles underneath where the 

 trees are planted. But caution must be taken against the adop- 

 tion of this plan in the North- West Provinces ; or, as happened 



B 



