formation of a head to a peach-tree. Take a tree a year old from the
bud, and cut it down to within two and a half feet from the ground.
Below that numerous strong shoots will come out. Select three vigorous
ones and let them grow as they please, carefully pinching off all the
rest. In the fall you will have a tree of three good strong branches. In
the next spring cut off these three branches, one half. Below these
cuts, branches will start freely. Select one vigorous shoot to continue
the limb, and another to form a new branch. Check the growth of the
shoots below, by cutting off their ends, but do not rub them off, as
they will form fruit branches. At the close of the season you will have
a tree with six main branches, and some small ones for fruit, on the
older wood. Repeat this process the third year, and you have a tree with
twelve main branches, and plenty smaller ones for fruit. All these small
branches on the old wood, should be shortened in half their length, to
cause the leaf-buds near their base to start, so as to produce large
numbers of young shoots. Continue this as long as you please, and make
just as large a head and just such a form as you may wish, being careful
only to control the shape of the top so as to let the sun and air freely
into every part.

Trees thus trained may be planted thick enough to allow four hundred to
stand on an acre, and will bear an abundance of the finest fruit, and
all low enough to be easily picked. This method of training is much
better than allowing the tree to shoot out on all sides from the ground:
in that case, the branches are apt to split down and perish. This system
of heading-in freely every year, preserves the life and health of the
tree remarkably. Many of the finest peach-trees in France are from
thirty to sixty years old, and some a hundred. We may, in this country,
have peach-trees live fifty years, in the most healthy bearing
condition. By trimming in this way, and carrying out fully this system,
some have thrifty-looking peach-trees, more than a foot in diameter,
bearing the very best of fruit. It is sheer neglect that causes our
peach-orchards to perish after having borne from three to six years. Let
every man who plants a peach-tree remember, that this system of
training will make his tree live long, be healthy, grow vigorously, and
bear abundantly.

_Diseases_ of peach-trees have been a matter of much speculation. The
result is, that the hope of the peac