CUTTING THE LEAVES OF PEACHES AND NECTARINES. d4 I 
When therefore we remove a soiuilI, heaUliy leaf, we deprive the plant 
of one of those organs hy which its vital functions are maintained. 
In respect, therefore, to the first observation noticed by Noctura, 
“that trees receive great advantage if planted with their leaves on,” 
it is true to the letter, that if a young tree be removed in September, 
when the leaves retain their verdure, //’e.s7i fibrous roots will be 
emitted; and as I have lately seen, these leaves may even remain 
firm and green beyond their usual period. But these appearances 
are deceptive, in as much as regards the future growth of the young 
tree; for, the energy of the plant is exerted in causing the 'protrusion 
o f fresh fibres, instead of causing the deposition of the proper juices 
in and among the vascular cells of the inner bark (Liber), and the 
sap-wood, (Alburnum.) Now^, Mr. Knight has proved that a por¬ 
tion of the true sap is conveyed tlrrough the channels of the conver¬ 
gent processes (formerly termed the medullary raps) into the 
alburnum; and the deposition thus produced is doubtless one of the 
chief requisites for efiecting the perfect ripening of the wood. If 
then the reservoir of prepared fluids be expended in the protrusion 
of roots instead of being boarded up during the torpid season, the 
future spring growth must be materially injured. 
Trees therefore ought, perhaps, to remain undisturbed until the 
leaves have fallen; after which jDeriod, I doubt much whether a 
.single fibrous root is ever produced till the early spring influences 
begin to prevail. 
The agency of the leaves in ripening the fruit is another con¬ 
sideration. During the blossoming season, and until the fruit has 
acquired its full immature growth, the leaves are essential to its 
])rogress ; but when nothing remains to be eflfected but the process 
of maturation, the agency of light is perhaps of paramount impor¬ 
tance. There is a curious and most interesting paper on this 
subject in the forty-sixth number of the Annales de Chimie et de 
Phisique, February, 1831, by M. Couverchel. It was read before 
the Academie des Sciences of Paris on the 10th of May, 1830, and 
contains the detail of a vast variety of interesting experiments ; 
from the general results of which, the writer arrives at the conclu¬ 
sion, that, the process of maturation may be, and is, perfectly 
effected after the fruit is detached from the tree. I venture to 
transcribe a passage from the original Memoire, as it is found in 
page 187. 
^^La maturation des fruits a pericarpes charnus, s’opere par la 
reaction des principes qiii entrent dans leur composition. II est a 
pia^umer, comme nous 1’avons dit, que la seve s’acidefie dans son 
