196 THE FRUIT GARDEN. [jAN- 



the more the tree will grow ; and as all trees natu- 

 rally grow strongest at their extremities, it follows 

 that we should cut least there, and exercise the 

 knife more freely in the lower and middle parts, in 

 order to counteract this propensity, and obtain a re- 

 gular supply of bearing shoots. 



Unless for these reasons, the middle-sized, hard, 

 and well ripened shoots that abound in fruit-buds, 

 and have a bold wood-bud at their extremities, need 

 not be shortened, but may be laid in at full 

 length. It often happens, on such, that there will 

 be a wood-bud at the point, and only one or two at 

 the lower end ; the intermediate ones being all fruit- 

 buds. It requires some care, therefore, to discrimi- 

 nate these, and some practice to know where to cut, 

 if it were necessary to shorten such. To cut in the 

 middle of the shoot would be useless, as no bud 

 would push except that at the bottom ; and although 

 the fruit-buds might bloom and the fruit might set,, 

 yet they would not ripen, for want of nourishment, 

 occasioned by the want of a leading shoot. 



Since writing the above, I have perused Mr 

 Knight's new method of training fruit-trees, as com- 

 municated by him to the London Horticultural So- 

 ciety, which I think, upon the whole, very ingeni- 

 ous, but by no means such as to induce me to alter 

 one word of what I had written on the subject. His 

 method of training the Peach, as exhibited by the 

 plate, evidently tends to produce a very ugly tree, 

 without gaining any advantage ; since the Peach 

 must continually be pruned, as said above, in order 

 to obtain a supply of bearing wood. Neither can it 



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