THE PEACH. 229 



The dwarf standard is treated precisely as the dwarf, 

 and differs from it only in having two feet instead of six 

 or eight inches of stern. In pruning and training the 

 cherry, it should always be borne in mind that when 

 large branches are removed, it is liable to suffer from the 

 gum, and, therefore, the regulation of the shoots should 

 be carefully attended to in summer, that amputations of 

 woody parts may be avoided as far as possible. When it 

 is necessary, however, the cut surface heals more rapidly 

 and surely when made in the summer, during the growing 



SECTION 4:. PKHNIXG AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH. 



The peach is universally regarded as the most delicious 

 fruit of our climate, and ranks in importance for orchard 

 culture next to the apple and the pear. Nowhere in the 

 world is it produced in such quantities, and with so little 

 labor, as in America. An English or French gardener 

 will expend more labor on a single tree, than the majority 

 of our orchardists do upon one hundred. Our favorable 

 climate obviates a multitude of difficulties that have to 

 be contended with in other countries, and renders unneces- 

 sary the minute and laborious systems of management 

 which they find it absolutely necessary to pursue. 



But this very excellence of our climate has given rise 

 to a most negligent and defective system of cultivation, 

 as is everywhere illustrated in the condition of orchards. 

 The peach, of all other trees, is one that, from its mode 

 of growth and bearing, requires constant pruning to 

 maintain it in a shapely, thrifty, and productive state. 

 The sap tends powerfully to the extremities of the shoots, 



diameter. We have in our specimen grounds trees of several dukes and 

 morellos, six years old, on mahaleb stocks, not over four or five feet high, 

 and pictures of fruitfulness. 



