FRUIT TREES. Chap. IV. 75 



On young trees & on those in their prime, it should be treated like a sucker, unless 

 it's needed to fill a present or anticipated gap or that it's turned out to be better than an 

 authentic neighboring branch. In that case it's pruned as though it were a wood branch. 

 When it's being cut back, & there's no longer any concern about clutter at its origin, it 

 can be cut back to a ligne [see translator's note, p. 0053], or, as the expression goes, thin 

 as a dime. As a rule, one or two small fruiting branches will emerge at its insertion point. 

 It's better to cut it, or pinch it as soon as it appears, rather than waiting until the February 

 pruning, making sure beforehand that the branch from which it emerges isn't deteriorated 

 or diseased, because in that case it would be necessary to train & ready it for replacement. 

 Sometimes false wood branches break out just in time on the trunk of an old tree; the 

 trunk is cut back to these branches & they regenerate the tree. 



Definition 7. A small fruiting branch, on trees bearing stone fruit, is two inches 

 long at most, well nourished, supplied with fine buds along its entire length, or 

 terminating in a cluster of flower buds & a leaf bud. If this last feature is missing, the 

 branch is removed because it will be unable to nourish its fruit. M. de Combes calls it a 

 bouquet on a peach tree, & it could be called the same on all trees with stone fruit. It 

 yields fruit for one, two, or three years at most, & then dies. 



On other kinds of trees, the small fruiting branch is six to fifteen lignes long, 

 knotty, & looks as though it were made up of parallel rings and terminates in a large bud. 

 In springtime a bouquet of flowers emerges from it & next to the bouquet, one or two 

 buds with some leaves. After the fruit ripens, the tip of the branch that bore it dies. 



