52 



THE MODERN PEACH PRUNER. 



shoot provided with leaves, which, elaborating the 

 sap, will speedily augment the dimensions of the 

 whole, both in length and in breadth. This class 

 of shoots is common on young and growing trees. 

 When it occurs as an extension, it is far better to 

 endeavour, by judicious summer-stopping of the 

 buds a, a, a, as they lengthen into shoots, to make 

 them fruit-bearing, and then little or no shortening- 

 in of the extension will be needed at the winter 

 pruning. The tree will thus gain much. A con- 

 trary practice will end in producing other wood 

 shoots of No. 1 class, arising from the buds a, a, a. 

 Whenever this unfortunate circumstance occurs, 

 then these wood shoots should be cut very short 

 back to try for fruit again. Of course, it is not 

 supposed that this class of shoot should be laid-in 

 for bearing purposes at the winter pruning. It is 

 naturally a long shoot, and has occasionally some 

 feeble blossom-buds near its extremity, which are 

 valueless. At the lowest a (at the junction of the 

 one and two-year-old wood), we perceive a wood- 

 bud, which will probably become a short fruit- 

 bearing spur. 



2. The Fruit Shoot. Rameau a fruit, proprement 

 dit, Dubreuil. — Fig. 2. is a type of the ordinary 

 fruit-bearing shoot. This shoot is a good specimen 

 of the long-pruning style. The blossom-buds at 

 b, b, b, are all double, and have a leaf-bud between 



