124 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
four laterals, at a height not exceeding two or two and a 
half feet from the ground. This system is constantly fol- 
lowed in after years, which disposes the tree to grow 
with hollov/ centre, admitting light and air more thorough- 
ly among the branches, and greatly facilitating the gather- 
ing of the fruit and the future prunings. These latter may 
be performed during the winter, early spring, or, moder- 
ately, during the summer, so as not to endanger the pre- 
mature bursting or running into wood, of the buds destin- 
ed to furnish fruit the following year. By means of an 
ordinary walking stick, furnished with a hooked handle, 
the topmost branches, even of trees prunned with hollow 
centres, may be bent down, and made accessible from the 
ground, until the the limbs become too rigid to bend, 
through extreme old age. Ihis is by no means a small 
advantage, when among many hundreds of trees, it is con- 
sidered that the full flavor of the fruit so much depends 
upon gathering it precisely at the proper period of matur- 
ity, and through which an examination by the touch may 
be had with facility of each separate fruit. 
The next, and more important consideration, is to res- 
train the tree from exhausting itself by its too generous 
crops of fruit, and which can only be done, with facility, 
by diminishing the number of fruit-buds at the winter or 
early spring pruning. My constant instructions at this 
time, are “not to spare the knife,” being w'ell persuaded 
that it is necessary not only to the longevity of the trees, 
but also to the size and quality of the fruit. As the fruit 
is borne only upon the wood formed during the proceed- 
ing year, the rule is, first, duly to attend to the hollow 
form of the tree, which should be constantly maintained, 
and secondly, to head back each fruit-bearing branch to 
at least one-half its extent. The crop is thus easily kept 
within reasonable bounds, and if, after the lapse of many 
years, any of the main laterals become too rigid, or too 
much extended, new ones may be allowed to grow in 
their place, and the old ones then withdrawn. The vigor 
and growth of the tree seem to be surprisingly increased 
under this restraining system, as are also the size and 
quality of the fruit. 
The third important point is, to guard the tree from its 
insidious and deadly foe, the worm. For this purpose, 
two examinations of each tree should regularly be made 
— one in the month of May and the other in September. 
Fortunately, the presence of the worm may easily be dis- 
covered at or just beneath the surface of the ground, by 
the oozing of the gum, and, if not duly attended to, will in 
a short time occasion the destruction of the tree by cutting 
around the bark, and thus diminishing or totally destroy- 
ing comunication between the tree and its roots. The 
worm is most speedily and effectually destroyed by scrap- 
ing and probing them away through the aid of an ordin- 
ary oyster-knife, which is usually pointed and formed 
with a double edge. With such an instrument, a person 
may go through many hundreds of trees in a day, when 
the system is regularly attended to as above described, and 
it will be found that, with such care, but here and there 
only will a tree be infested and require attention. 
As the Peach tree is so generous in its growth, and in 
its exhuberar.t crops, it is necessarily a great exhauster of 
the soil, and must have the support of proper manures. It 
is also essential to its prosperity that the soil should be 
kept open, and free from grass or weeds. I have found 
that the cultivation of many kinds of root crops requiring 
manures and frequent stirring of the soil, such as potatoes 
beets, turnips, &c.,. are quite consistent with the health 
and vigor of the tree, but that, when the soil becomes 
bound through a dense growth of grass, which excludes, 
light and air from the roots, it soon dwindles, becomes 
sickly, takes on the yelloics^nnA dies. At the period of 
Uoiung of the f nut, a large demand for silica is made 
upon the soil, which must necessarily be dissolved, and 
conveyed through the roots, trunk, and branches, in a 
soluble state. It is probable that, along with carbonic 
acid, some kinds of alkaline manures, such a.s lime, or a 
mixture of one-third potash and fwo-thirds salt, contribute 
most powerfully to aid the efforts of the tree in effecting 
its solution, and, with this view, I have caused a handful 
or two, according to the size of the tree, to be applied upon 
the soil, and forked in to the distance of about three or four 
feet around each one, at the time of the examinations for 
worms in May and September. A dose of guano to the 
same extent, in lieu of the above, is also excellent. 
Under this system, which is by no means expensive or 
burdensome, I am well repaid by regular and large crops 
of the finest fruit. I have never had a case of the yelloios 
unless, through some oversight, a tree has been neglected 
at the examination for worms, and the application of the 
alkaline manures has been omitted. 
In my judgment, this disease i.s owing entirely to a 
want of attention or neglect of one of the important points I 
have adverted to, and when a tree, through neglect, has be- 
come affected with the yello'ics, I have in no instance 
known it to extend to the other trees upon which atten- 
tion had been duly bestowed. 
Prof. Mapbs, of the Working Farmer, seiys : — 
The above, from the HorticuUnrist, accords mainly 
with our expeiience, but differs in some particulars. We 
will repeat these differences with a view to profit by the 
observations of others which may be called out in reply. 
PRUNING. 
When taking the Peach tree from the nursery row, we 
find its growth unequally distributed, the greater number 
of branches occurring towards the next row, and the les- 
ser towards the-next tree in the same row. We therefore 
remove all the branches and cut down the main trunk to 
two and a half feet. When put out in place, the brunches 
will be thrown out equally in all directions. This being 
done in the spring, at each succeeding spring we cut 
back the new growth two-thirds its length, always cut- 
ting next to a wmod or triplet bud, and never next to a 
fruit bud. By this method the tree has many instead of 
a few branches; they are short and nearer the trunk, 
forming a round low head, and fruit borne on the ends of 
branches cannot bend them below the horizontal position, 
as we have found that even when trained, the slightest de- 
pression below the horizontal line causes their decay. 
PLANTING. 
Having observed that fine fruit could only be obtained 
from trees around which the soil was thoroughly disturbed 
in early spring, we have thought it judicious to dig holes 
four feet in diameter and four feet deep, fillirig the hole 
with surface-soil, and not returning any of the sub-soil, 
but spreading it on the surface to become ameliorated by 
sun and air. We always place the tree one inch higher 
out of the ground than we found it in the nursery row, as 
it will probably settle half an inch or more the first year, 
and Its cotyledons should never be covered with soil, or 
each of them will contain a peach- worm in a short time. 
PEACH WORM. 
We have used the various methods of dosing with boil- 
ing water, removal with a wire, application around the 
earth-collar of the salt and lime mixture, all or either of 
which seems to be perfectly effective. 
Mr. James Galbraith, Gardener, ofNewark, who is most 
accomplished as a Horticulturist, paints the earth-collar of 
the Peach tree with a very thin coating of the black mix- 
ture used in Newark for preparing cloth for wagon tops, 
and he finds this a sure preventive against the peach-worm 
and of no injury to the tree. 
CULTIVATION, &C. 
The soil must be disturbed around Peach tree.s in '-cry 
