HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 169 



* ■ ' ' JOB 



fruit for half a century. Wherever more wood is required, the 

 shoots in the immediate neighbourhood are shortened ; the rest, 

 designed to bear fruit, are left their full length. When the leaf 

 buds burst the following spring, I carefully note what shoots are re- 

 quired for fruiting purposes next season ; and when those I do not 

 require have pushed about six or seven leaves in length, I pinch 

 them back to about three, so that my trees are covered the whole 

 season with shoot-like spurs, each bearing about three leaves. Some- 

 times, if very luxuriant, the pinched off shoots will burst again, 

 when these secondary ones are pinched back to one, or taken out 

 entirely, especially if at the top of the tree. These stopp'd off 

 shoots never increase much in diameter ; their leaves are employed 

 in strengthening the trunk, or in the formation of leaf buds. It is 

 curious to see them, if left till the spring, covered with spurs, 

 giving the tree at a distance the appearance of a Plum. These are 

 however, mostly cut off in the winter pruning, which cutting back 

 of spurs is the only winter pruning they generally receive. Some- 

 times a tree from overbearing, or some other cause becomes weak ; 

 in that case as little summer pruning as possible is performed. 

 From our trees, extending along the back wall of the nectarine house 

 70 feet, my winter prunings would not fill a bushel measure. 



It will be observed that my system does away with two things, 

 very generally followed in nectarine management, namely, winter 

 pruning, and summer or spring disbudding — it is now pretty well un- 

 derstood that if wood be the object and not fruit, prune in the 

 winter; on that score the advantage of my system will be apparent. 



The evils of disbudding are also being perceived by cultivators, 

 the trees receiving a very injurious check from the sudden loss o^ 

 such a mass of foliage. This has latterly become so apparent, that, 

 all good cultivators take several days for the operation, taking off 

 but a few each time. This system does away with this disadvan- 

 tage also. In fact it seems to me to be as perfect rs possible. Those 

 who have seen the specimens of fruit that obtained the society's high- 

 est prize last September, will bear witness to the equality of the 

 fruit, and I shall be happy at any time to exhibit the health and 

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