SECOND DIVISION OF PEACH SHOOTS. 



59 



2nd Division of Peach Shoots. 



5. The Cluster Shoot or Spur (fig. 5). — The 

 word cluster, which so appropriately represents 

 the appearance of the blossom-buds b, round the 

 terminal leaf-bud c, is synonymous with the French 

 term "bouquet/" By this last name this particular 

 spur is known all over France. Bubreuil calls it 

 rameau a fruit bouquet ; and Gressent and Lepere 

 call it bouquet de max. Knight appears to desig- 

 nate it as a " spur," and the word " cluster" may 

 be considered an appropriate English rendering. 

 Class 5 constitutes the basis of very close pruning, 

 such as that which M. Grin, of Chartres, practises, 

 and is also the end and aim of established orchard- 

 house training. This class is common on the two 

 and three-year-old wood, and indicates both fertility 

 and health in the tree. Under all forms of cordon 

 trained Peach trees this type is abundant. To- 

 gether with No. 7 it should, in orchard-houses, form 

 the greatest portion of the fruit-bearing shoots. 

 In the case of a Downton Nectarine bush, which 

 had been about eight years in a pot in my orchard- 

 house, out of 120 fruitful shoots no less than 110 

 were of Classes 5 and 7. The blossom-buds almost 

 all set in clusters of four or five, requiring to be 

 thinned clown to one fine specimen. All writers 



