Pruning Mature Trees 127 



this fault is characteristic, but it may usually be over- 

 come by proper handling. 



Pruning the Peach 



There is probably no fruit-tree that gives the careful, 

 observing pruner as much pleasure in the pruning as 

 does the peach. Results soon indicate whether the 

 pruning is right or wrong, for no fruit-tree will suffer 

 more from neglect, and none responds more promptly 

 to careful treatment. This prompt response, so plainly 

 indicated, lends not a little inspiration to the proper train- 

 ing and care of the peach orchard, and it is safe to say 

 that, largely on this account, no fruit-tree is better pruned 

 in our recognized peach sections. The practice is simple, 

 and lack of courage is more often responsible for fail- 

 ure than complicated principles. As already mentioned, 

 the peach develops its fruit-buds in the axils of the leaves, 

 and the fruit is borne on one-year-old wood, being a system 

 of fruit-bearing that makes severe pruning a prerequisite 

 to successful peach-growing. 



In pruning the peach, the object of the pruner should 

 be to cut out enough wood to force good, strong new growth 

 each year, to remove superfluous fruiting-wood, and to 

 give the tree the desired shape. The mature peach tree 

 should make an annual growth of at least 18 inches. 

 With such new growth, much of the new wood will have 

 to be removed entirely, while that remaining may be cut 

 back to remove a part of the fruit-buds it carries. While 

 some persons object to shortening-in the fruiting-wood, 

 contending that it injures the fruit, the years of experience 

 of our most careful growers recommend rather than con- 



