165 
PRUNING THE QUINCE. 
No fruit tree is more neglected than the quince, which is hardly 
ever pruned. Its natural habit of growth is that of a confused and 
scattered bush; by proper training, however, it can be made more 
shapely and more productive. A stout and straight trunk should 
be secured by cutting off all the other stems and keeping it tied up 
to a stake to prevent it from straggling. This is cut back the second 
year to a height of 12 inches from the ground, and treated in the 
manner described when dealing with the training and shaping of 
young trees. 
The bearing branches of the quince are small twigs produced 
on wood at least two years old; thése produce besides short shoots, 
on the point of which the fruit is borne singly. At pruning these 
bearing branches are shortened back and produce new fruit spurs. 
Pruning Stone FRvits. 
What has been said about the early training of deciduous trees 
as low standard, applies to stone as well as to pome fruit. The 
subsequent management of the fruit spurs of stone fruits differs, 
however, in several points from that of pome fruits. In the former, 
the fruit spurs require two to three years for their growth, but when 
formed they last, with proper attention, for a long period. In stone 
fruit the fruit spurs are of much quicker formation, and in the 
peach and necetarine, notably, they blossom the spring following 
their first appearance on the previous season’s growth. 
PRUNING THE PEACH AND THE NECTARINE. 
The peach and the nectarine, like the apricot and the plum, are 
profuse bearers, often inclined to over-bear, and are in consequence 
not very long-lived, especially the first two, whose period of useful 
existence extends to 12 to 15 years, unless their strength and ex- 
uberant vitality are checked and controlled by judicious pruning 
and thinning out of the superabundant fruit crop. 
Liberal manuring is essential to all heavy fruiting plants, and 
in this respect peaches and nectarines are exacting in order to keep 
up their productiveness. This matter is referred to further when 
dealing with the Intermittent Bearing of Fruit trees and wali the 
Dropping of Fruit. 
At the time of planting, if a yearling tree, cut them back to a 
straight stem about 18 inches high, and prune to side branches, on 
which are left one single bud at the base. 
From their habit of growth, the peach and nectarine require 
constant and yearly prunings, the method adopted in these instances 
being that of shortening in. 
A standard stone-fruit tree is trained in precisely the same 
manner as described above, with a low head, which affords shade 
