14 THE MODERN PEACH PRUNER. 



begins by experiments based on the teaching of 

 unlearned and often deeply prejudiced men. The 

 consequence is, that after a series of years passed 

 in alternate success and failure, he finds himself 

 compelled to return to first principles, and to 

 make an attempt, often futile, to unlearn nearly 

 all he formerly knew ; and this often occurs when 

 his practical manipulation had attained a pitch 

 which, had it been regulated by a sound acquaint- 

 ance with the laws of vegetation, would have 

 placed him in the highest rank. It is obvious, 

 then, that a treatise on Peach pruning, such as 

 this one, must commence at the beginning. It 

 shall be the especial object of the writer to make 

 this portion of the subject as brief and as simple in 

 detail as possible, while nothing that is important 

 to the amateur will be omitted. 



Commencing by an analysis of the organs of 

 plants, we find that, in general, what are de- 

 signated as the elementary organs, or the primi- 

 tive formations of matter, are known as cellular 

 and vascular tissues. The cellular tissue appears 

 first, and is composed of small cells, while vascular 

 tissue is composed of tubes, pierced with lateral 

 openings, and enclosing the original cellular tissue 

 between them. Cellular tissue forms the softer 

 portions of plants, and vascular the harder por- 

 tions. 



