210 Mode of Managing Peach Trees, §c. 



filled with dead leaves of trees, the steam from which contri- 

 butes much to the healthiness of the trees within the house. 

 The flue is raised nineteen inches above the border ; the 

 return flue is contiguous to the pit, being separated only 

 by a partition of bricks on edge. The top of the flue thus 

 doubled, being three feet wide, is covered with stone three 

 inches thick, which forms a walk along the middle of the house. 



I generally shut up the house about the first of December; 

 if the weather be mild I apply no fire heat for two weeks, 

 but if it be frosty I put on a little fire every night. In the 

 course of four weeks the buds begin to swell ; being at that 

 time able to distinguish the best buds, I prune and cut away 

 as much as possible of the wood that bore the fruit last 

 season, and tie in the young shoots that were made in the 

 course of the summer. These shoots were allowed to grow 

 upright, with their tops towards the glass, through the pre- 

 ceding season, and were not tied down till this time. I cut 

 out all the worst shoots, and leave none except those that are 

 well ripened, and full of perfect and strong flower-buds; 

 these shoots I shorten from fourteen to six inches, according 

 to their strength, always observing to cut them at a leaf-bud. 

 I lay in the shoots that are to bear the Peaches, from six 

 inches to nine inches apart ; after the young wood is all tied 

 in, I go over the trees, and rub or cut off a great number of 

 the flower-buds, carefully observing to leave the best and 

 strongest. The few flowers that are left consequently blow 

 very strong and perfect, and by this means, the trees not 

 being weakened by a great quantity of bloom, I can almost 

 count on every flower-bud which I leave, setting. When the 

 Peaches are set, and about the size of peas, I generally give 



