62 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



& if I have nothing below it to replace the worn out one, I prune it hard & allow it only 

 three or four inches. It generally happens that because of the different arrangement of the 

 spaces, half of my branches are lengthy & the other half are kept short. That way I keep 

 the tree full & don't wear it out at all". 



The people in Montreuil cut off all weak branches equally, & in fact they only 

 keep the medium strength ones when strong ones are lacking; they prefer to prune the 

 latter. Their trees are not very full & they prune the strong branches to three or three-&-a- 

 half feet long. They often prune for fruit a portion of the small branches that emerge from 

 these strong branches. Since they quite reasonably plan to get attractive fruit, this way of 

 pruning only the vigorous branches that can nourish it well is appropriate for 

 accomplishing their goal. But in spite of the care that they take to open up their trees, 

 they soon thin out at the bottom. Young peach trees planted between the old ones will fill 

 in the gaps that the latter leave on the espalier & will correct the problem. But we know 

 how rare it is to find terrain similar to that in Montreuil as well as growers who are as 

 wise & experienced as they are. Besides, their procedures aren't absolutely all the same. 

 They vary according to the approaches of different individuals. Some are concerned only 

 with what the trees produce, & others broaden their interests to care about their shape & 

 how long they last. 



As to other procedures such as training, disbudding, &c. there's no point in 

 repeating what's been covered in Vol. I. under General Cultivation. 



Peach trees grown from pits, the Bourdin, & some others that succeed quite well 

 in the open either as standard or as bush trees & which in favorable seasons yield 

 excellent fruit there, ought to be pruned, disbudded, & managed like those on espalier. 

 But it's satisfactory & it's usually enough 



