239 
through the summer, in which case a slight diversion may again be made 
by an occasional touch with the knife. 
The above theory and practice are based on an experience and observa¬ 
tion of over twenty years in a range of eight degrees of latitude, and 
the best guaranty which I can offer for their correctness in reference 
to the peach, is the fact that I have in Wisconsin raised from the same 
trees, five good crops of peaches in six successive years. And I now 
venture the assertion, that this is a rare occurrence in even the best fruit¬ 
growing State in the Union. » 
That portion of this article devoted to the subject of hardy fruits is 
applicable to the apple, the pear, the plum, and the hardier varieties of 
eherry—the latter part to the peach, nectarine, apricot, and the tenderer 
varieties of cherry, with this single qualification, that the method of cul¬ 
ture must lean to the directions given to one or the other of the two 
•lasses of fruit, in proportion as the particular fruit leans to either class. 
Having now brought our trees to a state of maturity, but little remains 
to be said. If v T e would bring them early into bearing, we may prune 
even the hardier kinds occasionally in the growing season, to arrest the 
two rapid formation of wood ; we should at the same time change the 
character of our manures, and use those only in which the ammonia has 
been fixed, thereby furnishing a full supply of nitrogen by which the pro¬ 
lific propensity is actively excited. After the tree has arrived at full 
bearing let the ammonia always be fixed in your manures, by the addi¬ 
tion of plaster, sulphuric acid, or common salt, to your manure heap, as 
additions are made to it from the barn, and by keeping it covered from 
the rains. If in addition to a supply of this kind of compost, given to 
your orchard every April or May, a little air-slackened lime and leached 
ashes be added, you need never fear that your trees will be “alternate 
bearersthey will bear every year, and the only duty remaining to you 
is to prevent them from bearing too much, by plucking off a portion of 
the fruit as soon as it is fully formed, and to keeping your orchard free 
from noxious weeds, grasses, and cereal crops. 
I should have been glad to add to this article a few paragraphs on the 
diseases of fruit trees, but it has already attained a length which was 
never intended; and I must defer writing more till I learn what confidence 
the public may accord to what has already been said. 
