THE PKACTICE OF PEtJNING. 



385 



result. Sometimes all the 

 buds on a shoot are blos- 

 som-buds, except the ter- 

 minal one and one or two 

 at the base. Such shoot 

 must either be left its 

 entire length, or out back 

 to the wood-bud at its 

 base. The shoots of the 

 Peach naturally terminate 

 with a wood-bud. If this 

 be cut off, the blossoms 

 on the part left wiU ex- 

 pand and the fruit may- 

 set, but all will prema- 

 turely drop ; thus, if aU 

 the buds marked 6 were 

 blossom-buds, they would 

 expand ; but the eight 

 blossoms would either 

 drop without setting, or 

 the fruit would drop at 

 the time of stoning; at 

 all events, a leafless, bud- 

 less shoot would result, 

 incapable of further ve- 

 getation. It dies down- 

 wards to the first wood- 

 bud. The blossom-buds, 

 a of B, will produce four 

 Peaches, but one is enough 

 to leave to come to per- 

 fection. From the wood- 

 bud, 6, shoots wiU pro- 

 ceed ; these, in the course 

 of the summer, will form 

 buds for future bearing ; 

 and a twelvemonth hence 

 they will appear similar 

 to those on B, which 

 having once borne fruit can do so no more, 

 and therefore its place must be supplied by the 

 most appropriate shoot it produces at or near 

 its base, or by a shoot from an adjoining 

 branch. 



Fig. LXXVI.— Shoot of 

 Peach-tree. 



