PEACH AND NECTARINE. 10& 
and then briefly the French, and other new modes of train- 
ing. ‘ ct 
The old fan form is very nearly that already given 
(supra) as a specimen of fan-training for twiggy trees. The 
young tree is often procured when it has been trained for 
two or three years in the nursery, but it is generally better 
to commence with a maiden plant, that is, in the first year 
after it has been budded. It is then headed down to five 
or six buds, and in the following summer two to four shoots, 
according to the vigor of the plant, are trained in; the 
laterals also being thinned out, and properly nailed to the 
walls. Suppose there be four branches; in the subsequent 
winter the two central ones are shortened back to produce 
others, and the inferior ones are laid in nearly at full 
length. In the following season additional shoots are sent 
forth; and the process is repeated. till eight or ten princi- 
pal limbs or mother branches be obtained, forming, as it 
were, the framework of the future tree. These mother 
branches are occasionally raised or depressed, so as to 
maintain their equilibrium, and are as much encouraged to 
grow outwards as is consistent with the regular filling up 
of the tree. The laterals are carefully thinned out (by 
pinching off with the fingers) insummer ; and the remainder 
are nailed in, to afford subordinate members and bearing 
wood. When the centre of the tree has been filled up, all 
the. training necessary is merely to prevent the inferior 
members from acquiring an undue ascendency over the 
mother. branches. It is highly advantageous to have abun- 
dant space, and to draw the tree outwards, so that it be 
thin, but nowhere destitute of young shoots. 
Meanwhile the pruning for fruit has been going on. This 
consists in shortening down the laterals which had been 
nailed in at the distudding, or summer pruning. Their 
; ee 
