68 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



laid down in close order, like a circle of rays, which 

 in summer they will still more resemble by the 

 brightness of their blossom. Within this luminous 

 ring you will have another circle, yet in embryo, 

 composed of the young shoots proceeding from the 

 old stem, and for whose expansion you have provided, 

 by keeping the naked part of the old branches at a 

 proper distance from the wall. This inner circle will 

 also abound in fruit, as close and beautiful as the 

 stars of a peacock's feathers, and will quickly enlarge 

 its dimensions, approaching nearer to the exterior 

 ring. When the younger rival comes quite up to 

 the older, then, agreeably to the laws of nature, the 

 beauty of the mother must fade, as that of the 

 daughter is unfolded. On the first conjunction your 

 tree is complete, and all in full bearing ; and this com- 

 pleteness will be maintained by gradually diminishing 

 the outer ring as the interior disk is enlarged. For 

 the success of this shift also, I can refer to the test 

 of experiment; and may be allowed to notice again 

 the advantage of a principle by which, without losing 

 one year's crop, an old and almost barren tree is 

 submitted to a process of entire renovation, having 

 not only young wood in every part, but studded all 

 over with golden apricots or green-gage plums. 



In the wall department of your garden, I have 

 placed pruning before planting an arrangement 

 which, though not very accordant with the order of 

 time, is most likely to answer your business as to 

 the order of importance ; because, for one in your 

 circumstances who is called to the first operations of 

 planting on new ground, there are ten who enter to 

 a garden already in some sort furnished ; and that, 



