44 THE MODERN PEACH PRUNER. 



best suited for planting out. The roots become 

 strong, and Have an inward twist, which makes it 

 perilous to endeavour to open them out well. A 

 year or two may be passed with very great profit 

 if the trees be well looked to, and pots changed as 

 the roots fill them, Up to three years this may 

 be done ; and certainly the way that vertical 

 cordons, three years established in large pots, and 

 full of fruit-buds, both grow and bear the season 

 after they are planted out, would astonish those 

 who depreciate pot-cultivation. 



No. 7. — Useful Maxims. 



1 . It is essential to form the tree into two equal 

 wings, so as to direct the main current of the 

 ascending sap into two channels. By this means 

 it is best mastered and held in check. The sap 

 has always a very great tendency to flow in a 

 vertical direction, therefore any vertical line is a 

 difficulty in training. The consequence of a 

 neglect of this law in vegetation is that the lower 

 portion of a tree becomes feeble, bears small fruit, 

 is exhausted even by this production, languishes, 

 and dries up, while the upper branches, receiving 

 a superabundance of sap which, cannot be elabo- 

 rated, become rankly luxuriant, and so produce 

 few flower-buds. 



