110 



UASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



has been taken from the tree, for then the foliage, 

 which grows to a large size under extension training, 

 gets the full benefit of light and air, and the force of 

 the returning sap goes to the perfect formation and 

 maturation of the buds from which the succeeding 

 year's crop is to be obtained. 



When all the leaves have fallen from the trees, 

 and the time has arrived for giving them the winter 

 dressing, it will be necessary to go carefully over 

 every branch with a sharp Peach-pruner to smooth 

 any cuts that were imperfectly made while the 

 foliage was yet upon them, and to shorten a leader 

 where it has reached 

 the extremity of the 

 trellis. In order to 

 perform this pro- 

 perly, it is neces- 

 sary to be able to 

 distinguish wood- 

 buds from blossom- 

 buds, for if short- 

 ened back to the 

 latter, the shoot 

 will die back to the 

 wood-bud next be- 

 low it. Sometimes 

 all the buds on a 

 shoot, with the ex- 

 ception of the ter- 

 minal and one at 

 the base, are flower- 

 buds (Fig. 12), the 

 removal of which 

 would cause the 

 shoot to die back 

 altogether ; there- 

 fore, to avoid this 

 mishap, the operator 



should be able to tell at a glance which is the proper 

 bud to prune back to. Fig. 13 represents a portion 

 of a shoot with a triple eye ; a in the centre is a wood- 

 bud ; b b are flower-buds. In Fig. 14, a a are wood- 

 buds, b b are flower-buds. The first are long, narrow, 

 and pointed; the latter globose, plump, and hoary. 

 It is always safe to prune to a triple bud, not so to a 

 single bud, although it may be long and pointed, as 

 some varieties of Peaches, especially Noblesse, cast all 

 their wood-buds, if at all weak, except the terminal 

 and one near the base. Some kinds of Peaches have 

 a tendency to produce spurs, as in Fig. 15. All the 

 buds on this growth but two, a a, are blossom-buds, 

 consisting of the rudiments of the future flower. 

 Those near the point, being ripe, generally set freely, 

 and sometimes produce good but not such fine fruit 

 as that obtained from the free-growing shoots. 

 When shy kinds, like Belle Beauce, are forced earlv, 



Fig. li— Wood-buds and Flower- 

 buds. 



many growers pinch some of the fore-right shoots 

 instead of rubbing them off to induce the formation 

 of spurs, and believers in the short-lived Cordons de- 

 pend greatly on spurs for their supply of Peaches. 

 But under extension training they are not often met 

 with, neither are they needed. 



In a preceding chapter, short or tall double-worked 

 standards were favourably noticed. Why those 

 trees do better than dwarfs it is difficult to explain, 

 unless it is that the second working is further away 

 from the ground, and the sap in its upward course 

 gets two slight checks instead of one. Such, how- 

 ever, is the case 

 under glass as well 

 as in the open air, 

 and it is to be re- 

 gretted that nur- 

 serymen do not 

 work more of their 

 trees on two to 

 three feet stems. 

 The house shown in 

 Fig. 3, and a case 

 containing 350 

 square feet of trellis, 

 were planted with 

 trees of this kind, 

 and the produce 

 within four years 

 paid for the houses. 

 The measurement 

 of one of the stems, 

 a Royal George, 

 now rising five 

 years from an un- 

 trained maiden, is 

 fourteen inches 

 close to the ground, 

 and sixteen inches just below the upper working. 

 It produced twenty dozen of fruit in 1883, eighteen 

 dozen in 1S82, and the first crop in 1881 was borne 

 on strong shoots, many of them five feet in length. 

 The Peaches on these growths were left twelve 

 inches apart. Many of the old-school disciples pre- 

 dicted a finely-swelled Peach at the top of each 

 shoot, others a f ailure : but all came up alike well. 

 The tree at the present moment is a sheet of flower 

 from .base to summit, and will most likely yield 

 twenty-five dozen of fruit of the finest quality. 

 The pruning of this particular tree, which is a fair 

 but not an extraordinary example of the extension 

 principle, is managed in the following way. Young 

 growths of the preceding summer are laid in regu- 

 larly at the winter dressing six inches apart ; but 

 none of them are shortened back unless there is 

 likely to be a dearth of fruiting wood in any parti- 



Fie. 15. 



-Dormant Spur of Boyal 

 Georsre Peach. 



