THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 



491 



peach and nectarine are very impatient under 

 such violent operations. Sometimes, however, 

 actual decay of a branch takes place, and then 

 such operations must be performed. The main 

 business is to secure the wound afterwards. The 

 admission of air and wet to the wound is ruin- 

 ous. A kind of grafting-mixture, composed of 

 cow-dung and lime, is very good. This should 

 be fastened down with some waterproof material, 

 and the whole tied tight. Upon all wounds on 

 two or three year old wood we make a point of 

 applying a good coating of thick white-lead." 



Harrison, who practised in a high cold climate 

 in Yorkshire, has very differently laid down his 

 practice in his " Treatise on Fruit Trees." After 

 having recommended, as strongly as the autho- 

 rities we have already quoted, the necessity of 

 keeping up a sufficient supply of young wood 

 from towards the bottom of the tree, and also 

 retaining as much wood as near to the origin of 

 each branch as possible, to prevent nakedness 

 below, he proceeds : " The mode of treatment 

 recommended and practised by some persons, of 

 leaving wholly unshortened, at the winter regu- 

 lation of the trees, all the wood which is retained 

 for bearing the following year, very much pro- 

 motes the naked state of the branches" towards 

 the bottom and centre of the tree. "I have 

 tried," he says, " such a system of management, 

 and with all the efforts I could make I never 

 could keep the trees perfectly furnished with 

 bearing wood for many successive years, because 

 the leading bud always pushed a shoot first, and 

 then three or four more near the top ; and by 

 the sap finding such ready means of being em- 

 ployed in these new shoots, the lower part was 

 always nearly destitute of them. Not only is 

 particular attention required to the obtaining 

 and preserving bearing-wood in the situations 

 described, but also in retaining a proper supply 

 for bearing fruit the following year. The dis- 

 tance which I consider best is to have all the 

 young wood trained at 4 inches apart, for when 

 they are much nearer than this the shoots crowd 

 each other, because in summer one or two shoots 

 are required to be retained for supporting the 

 fruit which is upon the tree that season, as well 

 as for a supply of wood to bear fruit the ensu- 

 ing year." In regard to shortening the wood, 

 &c, Mr H. scarcely differs from the opinions 

 already given above, but in addition to their ob- 

 servations, he says : " If there be any short spurs 

 formed upon the two or three year old wood 

 which is retained, let such be preserved, as they 

 will be productive the following year." This is 

 in accordance with Knight's views, afterwards 

 to be noticed, and is stated by that great man as 

 being valuable in cold climates, where theyoung 

 wood of the peach does not always ripen. " It 

 will sometimes happen," Mr Harrison continues, 

 " that short wood will be found to have only 

 single and double blooming buds upon them, 

 with a growing ' or wood-bud' at the end, but no 

 intermediate growing ones. In this case, if wood 

 be not wanted at that part, the shoot must 

 be left its entire length; but if wood be re- 

 quired in order properly to furnish the tree, let 

 such a shoot be cut down so as to leave about 

 half an inch of it remaining; there are generally 



a few embryo buds around the base of the 

 part from which a new shoot will afterwards 

 push. When a tree happens to have a great 

 number of shoots so supplied with blooming 

 buds, one-half, one-third, or one quarter of them 

 must be cut down as directed, according to the 

 quantity the tree has, or the portion of new 

 wood required. The necessity of cutting to a 

 growing or wood bud is, that at the ensuing 

 spring a shoot may push at the top of that one 

 shortened at winter-pruning, so that whatever 

 fruit there may be below it the following sum- 

 mer, it may have its required support from the 

 tree, otherwise it will drop off or be defective in 

 size and flavour. If a fruit of particular im- 

 portance happen to be so circumstanced, a bud 

 may be inserted artificially above the fruit, by 

 which nourishment will be derived to it, and it 

 will be matured. With the view of having a 

 leading shoot to every branch of last year's 

 wood, some persons do not prune their trees 

 till late in spring, when they can more certainly 

 discover which bud will push, and which will 

 not. But so many injurious effects result from 

 this practice, that it is advisable entirely to give 

 it up. When it is found expedient to cut back 

 part of a main branch, let it be done very cau- 

 tiously. Always prune close up to a good lateral 

 shoot for a supply, and do not prune farther 

 back than 3 feet from the end of the branch ; 

 for when a large portion of a main branch is 

 taken away, the superabundant sap accumulates 

 at the entrance into the lateral shoots, and 

 the bad effects resulting from it will soon be 

 apparent." 



Mr Knight's method of managing the peach 

 upon a species of spur pruning is, as was re- 

 commended by him, exceedingly well adapted 

 for cold climates, and where the trees do not 

 thoroughly ripen their young wood. " Instead 

 of taking off so large a portion of the young 

 shoots, and training in a few only to a consider- 

 able length, as is usually done, and as I should 

 myself do to a great extent in the vicinity of 

 London, and in every favourable situation, I pre- 

 serve a large number of young shoots which are 

 emitted in a proper direction in early spring by 

 the yearling wood, shortening each where ne- 

 cessary, by pinching off the minute succulent 

 points generally to the length of 2 or 3 inches. 

 Spurs which lie close to the wall are thus made, 

 upon which numerous blossom-buds form very 

 early in the ensuing summer ; and upon such, 

 after the last most unfavourable season, and in 

 a situation so high and cold that the peach tree 

 in the most favourable seasons had usually pro- 

 duced only a few feeble blossoms, I observed 

 as strong and vigorous blossoms in the present 

 spring as I had usually seen in the best seasons 

 and situations ; and I am quite confident that 

 if the peach trees in the gardens round the 

 metropolis had been pruned in the manner 

 above described in the last season, abundant 

 and vigorous blossoms would have appeared in 

 the present spring. I do not, however, mean to 

 recommend to the gardener to trust wholly in 

 any situation for his crop of fruit to the spurs 

 produced by the above-mentioned mode of 

 pruning and training the peach tree. In every 



