138 



Transactions of the Horticultural Society, Vol. vii. Part II. 

 4to. London, 1828. 



[Continued from No. III. p. 175.] 



The following are the principal contents of this Number, which 

 is illustrated by four copper-plates, two of which are coloured, 

 and many wood engravings. 



XXIV. Account of a Mode of managing Peach Trees in an early 

 Peach House. By Mr. Walter Henderson. 



Of all the fruits that are forced into bearing at unseasonable 

 periods, the peach is one of the most delicate, and which re- 

 quires the greatest care and good management. Mr. Hen- 

 derson, who has the reputation of being unusually successful, 

 states, that the mode of treatment he adopts is the following : — 



The trees are trained on trellis-work at a short distance trpm 

 the glass ; the house is warmed by a single flue running along 

 the middle of the house ; and by a pit between the flue and back 

 wall, filled with decayed leaves, which are continually impart- 

 ing moisture to the atmosphere. 



The house is shut up about the first of December, and either 

 gently warmed by fire, or not, according to the state of the 

 weather. As soon as the buds swell, as much as possible of the 

 wood that bore the previous season is cut away, and the younger 

 shoots are tied into their places ; not having previously been 

 interfered with, but allowed to grow wild. The best shoots being 

 selected, they are shortened according to their strength, care 

 being taken always to cut them down to a leaf hud. The 

 shoots are eventually laid in at the distance of from six to 

 nine inches, and a great number of flower-buds are rubbed off", 

 the strongest only being allowed to expand. As soon as the 

 peaches are set, their leaves are gently sprinkled in the fore- 

 noon with water, once in every six or seven days ; about the 

 middle of March they are sprinkled in the afternoon. By this 

 time the trees are producing the new shoots which are to bear 

 a crop in the succeeding year : these are reduced in number by 

 thinning and rubbing off", none being preserved except where 

 there is room for them ; such as are left are not tied down, but 

 allowed to grow in their natural way, by which means the 

 shoots on which the fruit is growing are not disturbed. As the 

 season advances, the trees are sprinkled twice each week be- 

 tween four and five in the afternoon ; this, however, is only 

 done in warm, sunny weather. About a fortnight after the 

 young peaches have stoned, the sprinkling is stopped, much 



