78 THE MODERN PEACH PRUNER. 



traditional school, opposed to every change, he 

 proceeds to cut out, perhaps, two-thirds of the su- 

 perfluous shoots, thereby rendering the tree liable 

 to canker, and he has no choice left but to preserve 

 the remainder, which, from the confusion and 

 crowding of the past summer, are often unfit to 

 bear. This may be an extreme case, but when- 

 ever a sunless summer occurs any similar system 

 must fail. " The cautions," says McEwen, " given 

 as to laying-in reserve shoots have done much 

 injury ; the vast amount of unnecessary wood laid 

 in prevents the proper expansion of the leaves, or 

 the action of the sun on the walls. Reserved 

 shoots are only 6 reserved' to be cut out, and green 

 shoots, soft at the core, are the result, and a prey 

 to a thousand diseases. This is smothering the 

 tree with superfluous wood." And to the same 

 purpose his Editor — " Over-cropping with wood 

 is as injurious as over-cropping with fruit; both 

 shorten the existence of trees." Much more might 

 be added, but it is needless. In short it may be 

 taken as certain that the system of long pruning 

 tends to produce too much wood ; that such wood 

 is not fruitful, not having had its due share of our 

 capricious sunshine ; that the amputations of shoots 

 and branches, rendered necessary for a " fresh 

 supply," are dangerous in the extreme, and that 

 the trees are extremely liable to become bare at 



