on wood of the previous year's
growth. Hence a tree that has the most of that growth, in a mature
state, and properly situated, will bear the most and the finest fruit. A
tree left to its natural state, with no pruning but of a few of the
lower limbs from the main trunk, will soon exhibit a collection of long
naked limbs, without foliage, except near their extremities (see the cut
overleaf). In this case fruit will be too thick on what little bearing
wood there is, and it should be thinned. But very few cultivators even
attend to that. The fruit is consequently small, and it weakens the
growth of the young wood above, for next year's fruiting, and thus tree
and fruit are perpetually deteriorating.

Observe a shoot of young peachwood, you will see near its base,
leaf-buds. On the middle there are many blossom-buds, and on the top,
leaf-buds again. The tendency of sap is to the extremity. Hence the
upper leaf-buds will put out at once. And for their growth, and the
maturity of the excessive fruit on the middle, the power of the sap is
so far exhausted, that the leaf-buds at the base do not grow. Hence when
the fruit is removed, nothing is left below the terminal shoots, but a
bare pole. This is the condition in which we find most peach-trees.

For this there is a certain preventive. It consists in shortening in, by
cutting off in the month of September, from a third to a half of the
current season's growth. If the top be large, cut off one half the
length of the new wood. If it be less vigorous and rank, and you fear
you will not have room for a fair crop of peaches, cut off but one
third. This heading-in is sometimes recommended to be done in the
spring. For forming a head in a young tree the spring is better. But to
mature the wood, and increase the quantity, and improve the quality of
the fruit, September is much the best.

Such shortening in early in September, directs the sap to maturing the
wood, already formed and developing fruit-buds, instead of promoting the
growth of an undue quantity of young and tender wood, to be destroyed by
the winter, or to hinder the growth of the fruit of the next season.
This heading-in process, with these young shoots, is most easily
performed with pruning shears, with wooden handles, of a length suited
to the height of the tree.

[Illustration: Neglected Peach-Tree.]

[Illustration: Properly-trimmed Peach-Tree.]

But a work to precede this annual shortening-in, is the original