380 THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



dwarf espaliers along the sides of tlie structure. If there is a back 

 wall, it of course would be well covered with trees in the usual 

 manner. Some would prefer the pots and small bushes, for the sake 

 of having a great variety ; but that wish can be met by the use of 

 cordons — single, double, or triple. A cordon tree, laden with 

 Peaches, Plums, or Pears, is no mean object ; and it does not require 

 much root-cutting or other manipulation to attain this. A firm bed of 

 stones, in which the roots may be partially confined, will keep them 

 free from rank growth, and manure-water can be given ad lib. Wher- 

 ever I have seen this system of dwarfing trees carried out systemati- 

 cally, abundance of fruit, fine foliage, and very short stiff growths have 

 followed. I have always preferred trees planted out to those in pots. 

 They require less labour, are not so susceptible of injury by root- 

 starving or vice ve?'sd, and the expense of pots is saved. Some think 

 that they cannot be kept to size when out of pots, and would not be 

 kept uniform all round. But when they are prepared to remain dwarfs, 

 they can be kept so a great length of time. I managed some trees 

 with the best results that had for a time been in pots, and afterwards 

 planted out in hard ground, ramming the soil firmly all round the 

 roots, like potting a Heath. They became such a nest of healthy 

 roots that they could be lifted and turned round, to prevent one- 

 sidedness, as easily as if they had been in pots. The weight, size, and 

 colour of the fruit were such as I never saw by any other means 

 of culture. Boss. 



DUNDEE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATIOH". 



A MEETING of the members of this Association was held in the Templar Hall, 

 Reform Street, on Friday evening, the 1st ult. — the President, Mr David Doig, 

 Rossie Priory Gardens, in the chair. There was the usual full attendance. 

 Mr Robert Wilkie, Duncarse Gardens, read a paper on "The Cultivation of 

 the Peach under Glass." In opening his subject, Mr Wilkie explained that the 

 Peach was supposed to be a native of Persia. It was known to, and cultivated 

 successfully by, the Egyptians about two thousand years ago, but appears 

 only to have found its way into this country some time in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. The Peach, notwithstanding its three hundred years' sojourn in our 

 climate, had not materially changed its character; it still retained its habit 

 of early flowering, and this habit, combined with the early spring frosts — 

 unfortunately too familiar to most of us — has rendered the cultivation of this 

 excellent fruit a subject of considerable difficulty and anxiety. Mr Wilkie 

 then treated of the various devices used for protecting the early bloom. 

 These in earlier times were many and various ; but since the reduction in 

 the price of glass, almost all had been superseded by the erection of " Peach- 

 houses " of more or less pretensions. The most approved style of Peach-houses, 

 and the mode of preparing the border, heating, &c., were then explained ; after 

 which jMr Wilkie, in an able, interesting, and remarkably lucid manner, treated 

 in detail the whole system of Peach-culture. On some points he difl"ered con- 



