80 



THE MODERN PEACH PRUNER. 



but it is unnecessary here to illustrate more than 

 one, which may be taken as a good specimen of 

 this method. It is not more complicated in prac- 

 tice than the others, which are founded on the 

 annual supply of young branches. 



In this method the shoots spring from spurs 

 which are calculated to last several years, and 

 which are renewed whenever a new shoot springs 

 conveniently from the base of the spur. A good 

 succession of young wood is obtainable in this way. 



AH modern experience tends to show that sys- 

 tems founded on any considerable annual cutting- 

 out of branches, however small those branches, 

 must end in causing disease in the Peach tree. 

 There is not, in reality, any good reason for this 

 dangerous practice, which has already caused so 

 much loss ; far from this, the day seems at hand 

 when leading branches will not be shortened at 

 all, and the chief pruning of the tree will .be effected 

 by the summer-stopping of the shoots, allowing a 

 comparatively small amount of regulation for the 

 winter season. 



When these ideas are fully carried out, the 

 difficulty of Peach pruning will become small, and 

 theory and practice will agree more fully together. 



It is necessary now to go back a little, and 

 remember that our young tree is supposed to have 

 made a certain growth, during the summer next 



