256 



PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



upon which the wood is generally more full}^ ripened. 

 Where late spring frosts are to he expected summer 

 pruning may thus be an advantage, since the blossoms 

 may appear after the danger has passed. 



201. The peach more quickly responds to pruning than 

 any other woody fruit-bearing plant, with the exception 

 of the grape. The pleasure that peach growers take in 

 pruning it accounts largely for the fact that peach or- 



FIG. 218— PEACH TREES CLIT BACK WITH VARYING DEGREES OF SEVERITY 

 AFTER BEING INJURED BY A SEVERE WINTER 



chards generally look better and are better than orchards 

 of other tree fruits. Failures to have well-pruned peach 

 trees arc most often due to want of ner\-e to cut. There 

 is less danger of over-doing the pruning than with any 

 other fruit except the grape. This is because of its axil- 

 lary method of producing its fruit buds. 



Mature peach trees should make annual growths of 

 18 to 21 inches. It should, therefore, be the aim of the 

 orchardist to secure abundance of such growths by con- 

 sistent annual pruning as well as effective soil manage- 



