THEORY OF LONG PRUNING. 



75 



well to admire the great results produced under 

 such difficult conditions. 



No one can now reasonably doubt the immense 

 boon which the introduction of orchard-houses 

 has been to lovers of the Peach. We who are 

 conversant with the best productions of foreign 

 climates, know that fruit grown in well-managed 

 orchard-houses is literally unequalled ; but to do 

 this is not in the power of every one. To simplify, 

 then, as much as possible the process of learning 

 must be our object; and no system, however 

 sound, can be really useful if it be complicated. 

 For this reason alone more than one excellent 

 teacher has failed. 



Peach culture is not really difficult to practise ; 

 it may become so by injudicious treatment. When 

 we read the works of the best writers on this sub- 

 ject, we cannot fail to see how simple the whole 

 process seemed to be to the minds of some of 

 them. In several the whole instruction for the 

 summer and winter is contained in a dozen lines. 

 To keep the roots well drained, to lay in a good 

 supply of bearing wood, to remove that which had 

 fruited, and not to shorten-in too much, were 

 almost the only injunctions given. No indica- 

 tions were thought necessary by which the amateur 

 could distinguish the various classes of shoots; 

 some vague and general directions as to dis- 



