•340 CUTTING THE LEAVES OF PEACHES AND NECTARINES. 
not answer on account of the friction. The carnage for conveying 
the Uquid to any part of the garden need only he a skeleton harrow, 
with a cask holding ahout thirty-five gallons placed upon it : an old 
wine-pipe is a good thing for the purjiose, where it can he drawn 
by an ox. 
Geo. Stafford. 
WilUnley, Feb. 6, 1832. 
(To be continued.) 
ARTICLE IV. 
REMARKS ON CUTTING THE LEAVES OF PEACHES AND 
NECTARINES IN THE AUTUMN. 
BY THE AUTHOR OF THE DOMESTIC GARDENER'S MANUAL. 
It appears to nie that the observations of Noctura in the 
Desert, (page 475, No, 10.) are interesting, and call for early 
notice. I am not surprised at the nature of his remarks and enqui- 
ries, for, at the first view of the directions which he refers to, he 
could scarcely fail to discover apparent contradiction. 
I recollect that, when I first perused the ahle Treatise on Fruit 
Trees, by Mr. Charles Harrison, I was perplexed and staggered by 
the earnest advice therein given, to remove a portion of the leaves 
of peach-trees in autumn. I could not conceive how an author could 
direct the amputation of those organs which he himself had pointed 
out as vitally essential to the well-being of the tree. 
To render horticultural directions entirely useful to the reader, 
writers, could they spare the time, ought to furnish the rational of 
every process which they direct to be performed ; they ought also to 
enter into a philosophical view of the vegetable structure, and of the 
effects likely to be produced by every given operation ; but to do 
this ably, would recpiire a great deal of thought and trouble. The 
leaves are unquestionably the vital organs of the plants, those upon, 
and in which the Solar light exerts its primary energy ; causing the 
elaboration of the sap, the transpiration of its redundant aqueous 
particles, the production of the returning proper juice, and the depo- 
sition of the several colouring matters : their structure, as I hope 
ere long to show, is most peculiar and interesting ; and in every- 
way prepared to effect important changes in the vegetable juices. 
