THE FRUIT GARDEN. [jAN. 



generally be fruitful, but soft and spongy. The 

 most fruitful shoots of the fig are short-jointed, 

 round, and of little length in proportion to their 

 thickness *." 



Of priming Nectarines and Peaches. 



Nectarines and peaches may also now be pruned. 

 It is wrong to suppose, as has been advanced by 

 some, that frost will induce canker at the wounds 

 of these, or indeed any fruit-trees, at this period of 

 the season. Their juices are now in a dormant state, 

 the unripened points of the shoots will now be evi- 

 dent, if such there be on the tree ; and it cannot be 

 wrong to prune under these circumstances. But ge- 

 nerally speaking, it is not wrong to prune any kind 

 of fruit-tree, if we except the fig and the vine, at 

 any day of the year. 



These trees ought to be trained in the Jan man- 

 ner only. It is not practicable to train them to any 

 considerable extent horizontally, as they produce 

 their fruit entirely on the shoots of last year ; and 

 because these often require to be shortened, and the 

 older branches to be cut entirely away, in order to 

 obtain a supply of young bearing wood. A peach- 

 tree, therefore, may be said to be always in training, 

 inasmuch as there must be a constant cutting out of 

 old, and encouragement of young wood, in every 

 part of the tree, even after it has filled the full 

 space allotted to it. How near the older branches 

 may be placed to each other, is not very important. 



* Forcing Gardener, article Fig-house. 



