THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 



489 



And we may here also remark, that much of 

 what will be said regarding pruning and train- 

 ing these trees in the open air, is applicable to 

 those under glass also. 



Season of pruning. — Some advocate early au- 

 tumn-pruning, some midwinter, and others early 

 in spring, when the buds begin to swell. The 

 earlier authorities say little of early autumnal 

 pruning, but many of them advocate winter for 

 performing the operation, chiefly December and 

 January. The most prominent of these are 

 HiU, Abercrombie, Kennedy, Niool, and, lat-' 

 terly, Harrison. The advocates for spring-prun- 

 ing are Forsyth, Rogers, Switzer, &o. Amongst 

 more recent writers opinions on this matter 

 are similarly divided. Mr Errington, practising 

 in a cold part of Cheshire, and one of our most 

 celebrated fruit-tree managers, says, " Many 

 persons do not like to prune their peaches in 

 the dead of winter ; for our own part, we have 

 pruned at all seasons for many years, and could 

 never find any injury resulting from midwinter 

 pruning of the peach. Where such has oc- 

 curred, it must have been in the case of bloated 

 and badly-ripened wood, and this is liable to 

 such injuries under any circumstances." The 

 prevaihng opinion is, we believe, in favour of 

 spring-pruning, because, say its advocates, the 

 wood-buds are at that time more easily distin- 

 guished, and the wounds heal more rapidly. 

 Our own opinion is, if they are not pruned by the 

 end of October or beginning of November, par- 

 ticularly in cold climates, it is better to defer the 

 operation till spring. Much of this, however, de- 

 pends on the ripened state of the wood, and also if 

 the locality is subject to severe winters or to late 

 spring-frosts. The best thing under adverse 

 circumstances, such as cold situations, &c., is to 

 depend on summer-pruning mainly, leaving 

 little to do afterwards, but the removal of such 

 wood as may have sustained injury during vrin- 

 ter, thinning out where too thick, and shortening 

 back shoots either imperfectly ripened, or such 

 as have been left at too great a length previ- 

 ously. Harrison prunes as early in the season 

 (that is, in autumn) as the state of the trees will 

 permit, beginning his general winter-pruning by 

 operating on the peach and nectarine first. " I 

 have," he says, " noticed some persons prune 

 peach and nectarine trees that were in a bear- 

 ing state as late as April, when the bloom-buds 

 were just bursting. The effects that followed 

 such a system were in numerous instances very 

 evident, for soon after the blossoms had expand- 

 ed, many of those situated nearest to the end of 

 the shoots withered and dropped off, and the tree 

 was considerably weakened. Young trees, how- 

 ever, I uniformly prune in spring for the first 

 two years after being planted, being careful that 

 it is performed before the rising of the sap." 

 As we have noticed in the case of the vine, early 

 autumn-pruning strengthens a tree, while late 

 spring-pruning greatly weakens it. Both For- 

 syth and Rogers disagree with Harrison, both 

 recommending spring-pruning, the latter re- 

 marking that sometimes young shoots or old 

 branches receive injury or die during the winter, 

 and which cannot be seen till the spring-growth 

 commences : " another thing," he says, " the 



later a peach tree is pruned, the sooner are the 

 wounds healed." The principal object to be 

 aimed at, in pruning and training the peach and 

 nectarine, is to keep up a constant succession of 

 young wood in every part of the tree ; for un- 

 less this be accomplished, the crop of fruit must 

 be partial and defective, and the trees them- 

 selves become naked and worn out. With this 

 object before us, it behoves us to adopt that 

 mode of pruning and training most likely to 

 insure success ; and as some of the many me- 

 thods laid down are better adapted to some 

 situations, soils, and circumstances than others, 

 it is necessary that we not only make ourselves 

 acquainted with these modes, but also choose 

 from amongst them that which is best suited to 

 the circumstances with which we have to deal. 

 In connection with this, Mr George Lindley, in 

 " Guide to the Orchard," p. 301, remarks, " To 

 effect this (that is, keeping up a succession of 

 young wood), the annual shortening of the 

 young wood is perfectly calculated ; but the 

 manner in which this ought to be performed 

 has by no means been fixed upon one certain 

 principle : the various methods laid down and 

 insisted upon by writers being greatly at vari- 

 ance with each other, they leave the inexperi- 

 enced gardener in a dilemma as to which course 

 he should pursue." A supply of young wood 

 throughout every part of the tree is to be effected 

 by pruning alone, and a judicious distribution 

 of its young wood. " Commencing with the 

 winter-pruning," Mr Lindley continues, "the 

 first rule to be laid down as a basis for all the 

 rest, is to shorten every shoot in proportion to 

 its strength, and to prune to where the wood is 

 firm and well ripened ; this will cause all the 

 pithy and unripened wood to be removed, thence 

 causing a supply of that which is better ripened 

 for the ensuing year. But in order to give 

 every facility to the ripening of this wood, it 

 must be trained thin, not in profusion, accord- 

 ing to the general custom, but such shoots only 

 as may be required for the following year. Trees 

 which have arrived at a bearing state should 

 have their strongest bearing shoots shortened to 

 12 or 14 inches, those next in strength to 8 or 

 1 0, and the weaker ones to 4 or 6 inches, prun- 

 ing each to what is termed a triple eye, or 

 that where there is a blossom-bud on each side 

 of a wood-bud. Where branches are not in a 

 bearing state, these triple eyes will not be 

 found. They must, therefore, be pruned to a 

 wood-bud alone, which is always known by its 

 sharp point. When the tree has been pruned 

 once in this manner, the shoots must be trained 

 neatly, nearly parallel to each other, so that a 

 line continued in that direction would lead it- 

 self clearly out to the extremity of the tree." 



Mr R. Errington, in " Cottage Gardener," vol. 

 i. p. 116, lays down the following very explicit 

 rules : " To understand this operation the better, 

 it may be well to state what are the prime ob- 

 jects ; namely. First, To thin out or remove 

 superfluous shoots, in order to insure sufScient 

 light and a due circulation of air to the remain- 

 der; Secondly, To shorten back, for the twofold 

 purpose of removing unripe or immature por- 

 tions, and of inducing plenty of successive 



