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X. On Inarching leafless Branches of Peach-trees. By Thomas 

 Andrew Knight, Esq. F. R. S. fyc. President. 



Read June 2, 1812. 



Every gardener who has paid the slightest degree of at- 

 tention to the culture of the Peach-tree, must have observed 

 that whenever the part of the bearing branch, which extends 

 beyond the fruit, is without foliage, the fruit itself rarely 

 acquires maturity, and never its proper flavour and excel- 

 lence. The blossoms, under such circumstances, set well, 

 in some seasons much better than upon other parts of the 

 tree, and the fruit often grows with preternatural rapidity, 

 but it will not subsequently ripen. 



In the last season, a Peach-tree in my garden, of which I 

 was very anxious to see the fruit, had lost, by the severity of 

 the weather, all its blossoms, except two, which grew upon 

 leafless branches : I was very desirous to preserve these, 

 as well as to ascertain the cause why the Peach and Necta- 

 rine, under such circumstances, fail to acquire maturity. 

 The most probable cause, according to my hypothesis, ap- 

 peared to be the want of the returning sap, (which the leaves, 

 if existing, would have afforded), and the consequent morbid 

 state of the branch ; I therefore endeavoured to derive the 

 necessary portion of returning sap from another source. To 

 obtain this object, the points of the branches, which bore 

 fruit, were brought into contact with other branches of the 

 same age that bore leaves ; and a part of their bark, extend- 

 ing in length about four times their diameters, was pared off 



