It is now upwards of forty years since I was put to the pruning and training of the Peach, and other fruittrees, and more than thirty-six years since I was called upon by a gentleman to renovate a set of wall trees which had gone into a state of dilapidation. Said he, Do you think you can make anything of them PI replied that I could do so, and may say, without boasting, that I did do so, to his astonishment. The inducements I have had to write this work have been various. I know that there have been many who have given directions how to prune the Peach, c., but their works are either too deficient in illustrative examples, or so elaborate as to be beyond the reach of most of the younff men who are trying to learn this essential branch of good gardening. Few among our young men can now aflford to give so much as thirty, twenty, or even fifteen shillings for such a book. One great reason I had for writing this book was the miserable and defective method of pruning generally adopted nowadays. I see this almost everywhere I go, and deplore it. I have a garden now under my care, with a splendid brick wall 400 feet long planted with Peaches, which has been managed by several professional gardeners, not one of whom, however, knew howto prune a Peach. I see from the trees on this long wall that men may know how to plant and grow a tree, but that there are comparatively few who can prune well, or perhaps even at all. -- amazon.com
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