176 



THE GAEDENEE'S ASSISTANT. 



off, the circulation depending upon it must 

 cease or find other channels. In the former 

 case stagnation of the fluids proves injurious 

 to the general health of the tree; but if the 

 sap readily finds other channels, the circulation 

 undergoes little derangement. 



When the young leaves are expanding slowly, 

 in consequence of low temperature, we may 

 remove from a shoot every pushing bud except 

 one, and yet that one will scarcely be excited 



Fig. 



-Nectarine. Humboldt. (|.) 



to a more rapid development. If we at once 

 remove nine buds from a shoot, and leave only 

 one, that one, under any circumstances, will 

 not be prepared to receive the sap which was 

 in movement towards the other nine, In order 

 that the disbudded shoot may continue healthy, 

 the disbudding should be performed by degrees. 

 The forerights, in the first place, and then the 

 others, should be gradually thinned away, till 

 no more shoots and foliage are left than there 

 is room to fully expose to light. 



The leading young shoot of branches intended 

 to be prolonged should be trained at full length. 

 The terminal young shoot of bearing branches 

 ought to be allowed to grow till its lower leaves 

 are nearly full-sized, and then it should be 

 shortened to 3 inches. Other young shoots 

 having fruit at their bases should also be cut 

 or pinched back to three or four leaves; and 

 when the fruit is thinned, many of such shoots, 

 from the bases of which the fruit is removed, 

 may be dispensed with. It will sometimes 

 happen that on shoots laid in for bearing there 

 will be no fruit. When this is found to be the 

 case, they may be cut off at the base, and the 

 succession shoot trained in their place. When 



any of the succession shoots appear likely to 

 become too vigorous, their tops must be pinched 

 off, but it would be desirable that this should 

 be done not lower than 1 foot or 15 inches from 

 the base. 



After the fruit is gathered, all wood that is 

 not required for the following year's fruiting, or 

 for extending the size of the tree, must be re- 

 moved, so as to give the shoots left the full 

 benefit of the food supplied by the roots, ana 

 exposure to air and sunshine. 



Thinning the Fruit. — To what ex- 

 tent thinning should be carried de- 

 pends on the vigour of the tree and 

 natural size of the fruit. If the tree 

 is weakly, its fruit should be left 

 thin as compared with that on a 

 tree that is vigorous; and on weak 

 branches fewer fruit should be left 

 than on the more vigorous branches 

 of the same tree. If the tree is in 

 a healthy state, and the flow of sap 

 distributed as equally as possible 

 throughout the respective branches, 

 the fruit will set in much greater 

 abundance than could be properly 

 matured, and few will drop unless 

 injured by frost when in a young 

 state. Large-fruited varieties, all 

 other circumstances being the same, 

 require more thinning than those that are 

 small. Nectarines, being generally smaller than 

 such Peaches as the Noblesse, Barrington, &c, 

 need not be so much thinned. 



A large vigorous tree may be allowed to bear 

 as many as twenty dozen fruits, and these, if 

 the foliage is healthy, ought to be large and 

 fine. Trees are sometimes allowed to bear 

 almost as many fruits as they will; the conse- 

 quence is that the trees are weakened in pro- 

 i ducing a great number of stones, but the 

 quantity of flesh is by no means in proportion, 

 whilst the quality is very inferior. The fruits, 

 though numerous, are small, thin-fleshed, sour, 

 and would be reckoned unfit for use by those 

 accustomed to eat Peaches or Nectarines in 

 perfection. 



If there has been no frost to injure the kernels 

 in spring the fruits may be pretty well thinned 

 at once ; but however healthy the tree may be, if 

 the kernel is injured from the above-mentioned 

 cause, the fruit is very liable to drop, and there- 

 fore it is necessary to leave a greater number till 

 such time as the stone is formed. The first thin- 

 ning should take place when the fruit is scarcely 

 the size of a Hazel-nut. By that time it will be 



