Jan.] THE FORCING GARDEN. 585 



occur in the tree ; but such shoots as are short, stout, well- 

 ripened, and nearly of an equal thickness, having a good 

 wood-bud at their extremity, and a number of blossom-buds 

 arranged along them, should not be shortened, but laid in at 

 full length, for from these may be expected the finest fruit ; 

 and, indeed, in most cases, it would be useless to shorten them, 

 as they seldom have wood-buds, except at their lower and higher 

 extremities. Shortening, therefore, unless at a wood-bud near 

 the bottom of the shoot, would destroy the whole ; for if they 

 be shortened any where but at a wood-bud, although the fruit 

 might set, still it would come to nothing, in consequence of 

 the want of a terminating shoot to draw nourishment for its 

 support. 



We are informed by Mr. Patrick Neil, in Hort. Tran., that 

 M. Du Petit-Thouars, an eminent French physiologist and 

 peach-cultivator, has drawn conclusions considerably at vari- 

 ance from this received opinion. " He denies the propriety of 

 the distinction usually made of wood-buds and flowev-buds ; 

 but states, that in the peach-tree for example, each leaf pro- 

 duces a bud at its axilla or base ; this bud soon becomes 

 triple, the two outer proving flower-buds, and the middle one 

 a leaf or wood-bud. When this central bud happens to be 

 favorably placed, it sometimes developes itself indefinitely, and 

 produces the anomaly of a gourmand or robber. He has also 

 announced that the embryo flowers of peaches, apricots, pears, 

 and apples, are palpably formed as early as midsummer of the 

 year preceding that in which they are unfolded, and produce 

 fruit. He asserts, that the branches of a mature tree produce 

 regularly every season an equal average quantity of embryo 

 flower-buds, and that if these fail to be duly developed, it 

 must be owing to the low temperature to which they are sub- 

 sequently exposed during the winter, or early in the following 

 spring." If he be correct in these observations, the affording 

 protection to such fruit-trees in the early spring months, ac- 

 quires additional importance, and furnishes one of the best 

 reasons yet given for protecting such as are in peach-houses, 

 by allowing the sashes to remain permanently on them, as re- 

 commended by Mr. Atkinson. 



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