THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 



171 



pruning becomes necessary in order that flower- 

 buds may not too much predominate, for in that 

 case a deficiency of young shoots would be the 

 consequence. 



Pruning and Training. — The Peach-tree re- 

 quires what are termed winter-pruning and 

 summer-pruning. The best time for performing 

 the winter-pruning is January or February, 

 before the flowers begin to open, if on outside 

 walls; for trees under glass, the best time is as 

 soon as the leaves fall. However, it may be 

 done at any time between the fall of the leaf 

 and the rising of the sap, provided there is not 

 severe frost. Summer-pruning should be com- 

 menced as soon as the shoots begin to push, 

 and is continued as may be found necessary 

 during the growing season. Training may be 

 done any time after the trees are pruned in 

 autumn or winter, and before they get into 

 active vegetation in spring. The summer-train- 



Fig. 973.— Peach. Training. 



ing of the young shoots ought to be attended to 

 throughout the growing season. 



The Peach-tree is trained in a variety of 

 ways, but the fan-method is the best; yet it 

 requires particular care and some knowledge of 

 the physiology of the tree, otherwise the latter 

 will become weak at bottom and too strong at 

 top, as well as exhibit irregular growth through- 

 out. 



Commencing with a maiden plant, consisting 

 of a simple shoot from the bud, as at «, fig. 

 973, let that be cut back, as at 1, above two 

 eligible buds, situated one on each side, and 

 about 9 inches from the surface of the ground. 

 Two shoots will likely push from these buds 

 in the course of the summer, and they should 

 be encouraged to grow as much as possible 

 during the early part of the season by training 

 them rather upright, as in the direction be; 

 but in August they should be lowered by 

 degrees to the position de. They are thus 

 brought nearly to a horizontal position, with 

 the exceptions of their extremities, which are 

 turned upwards in order still to encourage 

 growth, and so long as they continue to grow 



it matters not whether they are straight or 

 otherwise, for they will be cut off' at the winter- 

 pruning. 



The dotted lines, fig. 974, corresponding with 

 those in fig. 973, represent the state of the tree, 

 as regards its shoots, at the end of the first 

 summer's growth, reckoning from the time 

 when the maiden plant was headed back. At 



Fig. 974.— Peach. Training. 



the ensuing winter-pruning, the shoots d e are 

 cut back, as at 2, fig. 974, and in the course of 

 the summer four shoots, /, g, h, i, are the result. 

 Here it should be observed that the extremities 

 of the two lower branches /# are turned up- 

 wards during the growing season; whilst the 

 two upper ones h i are not so favoured, other- 

 wise, from being situated on the upper side, 

 they would grow much stronger than the two 

 lower branches, an occurrence which should be 

 carefully guarded against. 



We have now seen that by the first cutting 

 of the plant it is divided into two branches: and 

 that by the second cutting, performed twelve 

 months afterwards, it is divided into four. At 

 the third cutting, which takes place after the 

 second summer's growth, each of the four shoots 

 is shortened, as at 3, 3, 3, 3, fig. 975. 



During the ensuing summer two shoots and 

 a leader are trained from each of these branches, 

 which eventually form the branches marked 

 befgrnnqr. The young shoots which are to 

 form / and g should start almost close together 



Fig. 975.— Peach. Training. (I in. to l foot.) 



from a, and the same applies to the corre- 

 sponding branches on the other side of the tree. 

 When the branches are trained in the following 



