In large orchards, cultivated by horse-power, the stems of the trees are usually from four to six feet high; but in the garden this length of stem is not necessary, and the trees can be grown as dwarf standards, with stems beginning to branch two feet from the ground.  A little study of the habit of growth in the peach will show that, to obtain the best results, the pruning-shears are almost as essential as in the case of the grape-vine.  More than in any other fruit-tree, the sap tends strongly toward the ends of the shoots.  Left to Nature, only the terminal buds of these will grow from year to year; the other buds lower down on the shoots fail and drop off.  Thus we soon have long naked reaches of unproductive wood, or sucker-like sprouts starting from the bark, which are worse than useless.  Our first aim should be to form a round, open, symmetrical head, shortening in the shoots at least one-half each year, and cutting out crossing and interlacing branches.  For instance, if we decide to grow our trees as dwarf standards, we shall cut back the stems at a point two feet from the ground the first spring after planting, and let but three buds grow, to make the first three or leading branches.  The following spring we shall cut back the shoots that have formed, so as to make six leading branches.  Thereafter we shall continue to cut out and back so as to maintain an open head for the free circulation of air and light.

To learn the importance of rigorous and careful pruning, observe the shoots of a vigorous peach-tree, say three or four years old.  These shoots or sprays are long and slender, lined with fruit-buds.  You will often find two fruit-buds together, with a leaf-bud between them.  If the fruit-buds have been uninjured by the winter, they will nearly all form peaches, far more than the slender spray can support or mature.  The sap will tend to give the most support to all growth at the end of the spray or branch.  The probable result will be that you will have a score, more or less, of peaches that are little beyond skin and stones.  By midsummer the brittle sprays will break, or the limbs split down at the crotches.  You may have myriads of peaches, but none fit for market or table.  Thousands of baskets are sent to New York annually that do not pay the expenses of freight, commission, etc.; while the orchards from which they come are practically ruined.  I had two small trees from which, one autumn, I sold ten dollars’ worth of fruit.  They yielded more profit than is often obtained from a hundred trees.

Now, in the light of these facts, realize the advantages secured by cutting back the shoots or sprays so as to leave but three or four fruit-buds on each.  The tree can probably mature these buds into large, beautiful peaches, and still maintain its vigor.  By this shortening-in process you have less tree, but more fruit.  The growth is directed and kept within proper limits, and the tree preserved for future