104 
CULTIVATION OF THE TEACH. 
but, for obvious reasons, it should be as near 
the very base as possible : the topmost bud, 
too, must be allowed to grow, and may extend 
a few inches, and should be tben shortened or 
stopped, by pinching out the growing point. 
All the others on each sboot, which were not 
removed in the embryo state, and have not 
fruit set at their base,- must be removed as 
soon as this can be ascertained ; and all those 
which have fruit set at their base should be 
allowed to develop two or three leaves, and 
should then be stopped. A repetition of this, 
with reference to each part of each tree, 
annually, will provide the trees with fruit- 
bearing wood ; its healthiness, and the amount 
of its produce will, however, depend partly on 
other circumstances, of which the nature and 
condition of the soil, and the peculiarities of 
the season, are the most important. 
This system may be called regular' fan- 
training: there are other modes of training 
the branches of wall-trees into a fan-shape, 
which maybe termed irregular fan-training ; 
and of this there are numerous modifications. 
It may be remarked, that in practice, it is by 
no means important to attempt the strict 
regularity which it is necessary to keep con- 
tinually in view, in rendering a description of 
any operation at all easy to be understood. 
The use of descriptions of this nature is 
chiefly to develop and establish the principles 
on which the operations they refer to are to 
be performed ; and, in order to do this, they 
must necessarily speak of order and precision. 
In practice, however, if the principles are 
kept in view, and maintained without viola- 
tion, there may always be a considerable 
latitude taken ; and even when examples are 
given of the manner of performing an opera- 
tion, they are not to be copied, but studied, 
in order to furnish the practitioner with 
some knowledge of principles ; and these 
principles he should himself apply to his own 
particular case. Herein lies the main part of 
the evils which are wrought, by a mere pos- 
session of book-knowledge : the instructions 
are copied, and not studied ; and as the secrets 
of all the operations of gardening depend upon 
the presence or absence of peculiar circum- 
stances, it is evident enough that an operation 
which if performed at one time is proper, and 
attended with success, may be performed in a 
precisely similar manner at another time, 
without being successful. Gardening is not 
an art, but a science. 
There are many other ways of training the 
Peach-tree practised with success ; but they 
belong rather to the experimentalist, and 
experienced horticulturist, than to those for 
whom these instructions are written. It will, 
therefore, be attended with no advantage to 
mention them further ; especially as the 
various methods of fan-training, one of which 
has been explained, are preferable to all those 
to which we now refer. 
The operation of summer pruning has 
already been incidentally mentioned ; but it 
is so important an operation as to claim a 
more decided and definite explanation. Though 
called summer pruning, it should commence 
in the spring, and requires to be continued 
till after Midsummer. In performing it, no 
other instrument of manipulation should be 
made use of, than the thumb nail. 
It must be recollected that pruning is not, 
under any circumstances, a natural process ; 
it is, in fact, purely artificial, and is rendered 
necessary either from the confined limits 
within which it is convenient to permit plants 
to flourish, or from some cause incidental to 
the climate of this country, which does not, in 
all cases, permit the perfect growth and ma- 
turity of plants which naturally inhabit more 
genial climes. Hence pruning should be 
regarded more as a matter of necessity than 
of choice. Since, however, it is found to be 
an operation which is rendered indispensable 
by such causes as these, we must endeavour to 
ascertain the most favourable conditions upon 
which it may be carried out. Practice has 
ascertained this to consist in its performance 
at the earliest possible period from the time 
of development. The removal of a branch, or 
flower, or fruit, or leaf, which may require to 
be removed, can be best effected — with refer- 
ence to the influence of the operation on the 
plant — at that period of their development 
when the removal can be effected with the 
smallest possible amount of labour ; and hence 
it is that summer pruning should be assidu- 
ously carried out at an early period of that 
season, because the energies of the plant are 
by that means taxed in the least degree which 
it is possible to lay upon them. 
It must, too, be borne in mind, that it is 
the very fact of pruning being an unavoidable 
operation, which renders it so important to 
give especial attention in the construction of 
the border in which the Peach-tree is planted. 
Were it to be planted in a deep, or moist, or 
rich soil, in which its growth would be luxu- 
riant, the operation of pruning would tend to 
establish its barrenness, rather than to aid its 
fertility; this would be the certain conse- 
quence, because, if the roots were thus per- 
mitted to imbibe an unlimited supply of such 
aliment as would in that case be afforded 
them, it must find vent somewhere in the 
branches : and if one set of luxuriant and 
barren shoots were removed by pruning, it 
would only induce the development of others. 
Root pruning, ringing of the branches, boring, 
and bandaging, have been had recourse to as 
expedients, to counteract the bad effects of this 
