THE GARDENER. 



55 



should be always freely admitted through the day when 

 the weather is at all favourable. 



Licfht is so essential, that unless peaches be trained 

 near the glass, the fruit will neither acquire due colour 

 nor flavour. Vicissitudes of drjTiess and moisture 

 must be avoided. The roots should be well supplied 

 with water before the fruit begins to ripen off, because 

 at a later period none can be applied without deterio- 

 rating the flavour. 



The management of the peach-tree can only be cor- 

 rectly understood by those who are aware of the dis- 

 position of its buds and its mode of bearing. The 

 leaves on the shoots of the cm-rent season are produced 

 either singly, in pairs, or in threes, from the same node. 

 In the course of the summer, or early part of autumn, 

 a bud is formed in the axil of every individual leaf, 

 and these are termed single, double, or triple ez/es, or 

 buds, according as one or more are produced at each 

 node. In the following season, these buds develop 

 themselves either as flower-buds or young shoots, and 

 previously to pruning it is necessary to distinguish the 

 one description from the other. The flower-buds are 

 plump and roundish ; the wood-buds are more oblong 

 and pointed, and one of these is generally situated be- 

 tween flower-buds in the case of triple buds occurring 

 at the same node. It is therefore expedient in prun- 

 ing to shorten a shoot to these triple eyes if possible, 

 or in their absence to a leaf-bud ; but never to a fruit- 

 bud only, for no shoot could be prolonged from it, nor 

 would the fruit attain perfection, owing to the want of 

 leaves in immediate connexion with its footstalk. In 

 selecting buds for the purpose of propagation, single 

 wood-buds only should be chosen. 



The mode of bearing is solely on shoots of the pre- 

 ceding summer's growth. 



The peach is propagated exclusively by budding ; 

 for although it can possibly be grafted, yet the trees 



