80 



so doing, not unfreqnently leaves the tree suspended 

 by its fastenings. 



Fruning, — We now come to the department of 

 peach-culture on which there is some difference of 

 opinion ; but we shall, as in other instances, consider, 

 first, what is the object to be kept in view during the 

 operation, and shall conclude by detailing the various 

 modes suggested, with such observations as practice 

 has suggested to us. 



As the peach bears principally on shoots one year 

 old, the object for the gardener to aim at, is to obtain 

 annually a sufficient supply of these regularly distri- 

 buted over all the branches of each tree. To do this 

 the sap must be uniformly supplied to them. The 

 shoots must be of moderate size, short-jointed, and 

 well-ripened ; which is never the case with very ro- 

 bust, over-vigorous shoots. It is here, as is truly 

 observed by Mr. J. Newington, that too many culti- 

 vators of the peach commit a fatal error, for they 

 endeavour to procure annually a great supply of long 

 and strong wood, sufficiently large to make basket- 

 rods, and from these they expect a crop ; but nothing 

 can be more unnatural or erroneous than this system 

 of pruning. Whoever has seen the peach trees in 

 Malta or America, and noticed the very short and 

 small wood from which such large peaches are pro- 

 duced, would immediately contemn the above-noticed 

 erroneous practice. Mr. Harrison, the eminent gar- 



