THE PEACH. 



585 



A peach-tree pruned by the shorten- 

 ing-in mode. 



secured against the prevalent evil, an over-crop, we have also provi- 

 ded for the full nourishment of the present year's fruit, and induced a 

 supply of fruit-bearing shoots throughout the tree for the next season. 



This course of pruning is followed regu- 

 larly, every year, for the whole life of the 

 tree. It is done much more rapidly than 

 one would suppose ; the pruned wounds are 

 too small to cause any gum to flow ; and it 

 is done at the close of winter, when labor 

 is worth least to the cultivator. 



The appearance of a tree pruned in 

 this way, after many years of bearing, is a 

 very striking contrast to that of the poor 

 skeletons usually seen. It is, in fact, a fine 

 object, with a thick, low, bushy head, filled 

 with healty young wood, and in the summer with an abundance of dark- 

 green, healthy foliage and handsome fruit. Can any intelligent man 

 hesitate about adopting so simple a course of treatment to secure 

 such valuable results ? We recommend it with entire confidence to the 

 practice of every man in the country that cultivates a peach-tree. 

 After he has seen and tasted its good effects, we do not fear his laying 

 it aside.* 



Training the peach-tree against walls or espaliers is but little prac- 

 tised in this country. Espalier and cordon training, on a small scale, 

 is, however, highly worthy of the attention of persons desiring this fruit 



beauty of the fruit depend on the size and vigor of the leaves. We have seen 

 two peach-trees of the same age side by side, one unpruned, and the other regu- 

 larly shortffned-in, and both bearing about four bushels. That of the latter was, 

 however, of double the size, and incomparably finer. 



* Our attention has been drawn to the following remarkable .examples of the 

 good effects of regular pruning, which we translate from the leading French 

 journal of horticulture. We ask the attention of our readers to these cases, 

 especially after perusing our remarks on the Yellows and its cause. 



u M. Duvilliers laid before the Royal Society of Horticulture an account of 

 some old peach-trees that he had lately seen at the Chateau de Villiers, near 

 Ferte-Aleps (Seine-et-Oise). These trees, eight in number, are growing upon a 

 terrace wall, which they cover perfectly, and yield abundant crops. The gar- 

 dener assured M. Duvilliers that they had been under his care during the thirty 

 years that he had been at the chateau ; that they were as large when he first saw 

 them as at present, and that he supposed them to be at least sixty years old. We 

 cannot doubt (says the editor) that it is to the annual pruning that these peach- 

 trees owe this long life ; for the peach-trees that are left to themselves in the latitude 

 of Paris never live beyond twenty or thirty years. M. Duvilliers gave the accu- 

 rate measurement of the trunks and branches of these trees, and stated, what it 

 is more interesting to know, that although all their trunks are hollow, like those 

 of old willows, yet their vigor and fertility are still quite unimpaired." (Annales 

 de la Soci'te tf Horticulture, tome xxx. p. 58.) 



In volume 25, page 67, of the same journal, is an account of a remarkable 

 peach-tree in the demesne of M. Joubert, near Villeneuve le Hoi (d^partement 

 de 1'Yonne). It is trained against one of the wings of the mansion, covers a 

 large space with its branches, and the circumference of its trunk, taken at some 

 distance from the ground, is two feet and a half. It is known to be, actually, of 

 yfiore than 93 years' growth, and is believed to be more than 100 years old. It is 

 still in perfect health and vigor. It is growing in strong soil, but it has been 

 regularly subjected to a uniform and severe system of pruning, equivalent to 

 our shortening-in mode. Where can any peach-tree of half this age be found 

 in the United States, naturally a much more favorable climate for it than that 

 of France ? 



