512 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



Before closing this chapter, we may add a few remarks on pruning, which 

 ap[)ly to all trees. In making cuts, be sure to make them clean and short. In 

 cutting out a branch always cut close to the cleft, and if the branch is so thick 

 as to necessitate the use of the saw, always take care to smooth the surface 

 with a sharp knife. In cutting young shoots, always cut to a wood-bud, and 

 about an eighth of an inch above it, and be sure to cut to buds which point in 

 the direction in which it is wished to make the resulting shoots grow. Make 

 all cuts slanting, at about an angle of 45°, with tlie faces of the cuts pointing 

 downwards wherever possible. In all cases cuts should be so made that no 

 rain can possibly lodge on them. 



Finally, the soil about all trees .should be made very firm, especially under- 

 neath the roots. A loose soil favours the production of long sappy roots, with 

 their concomitant of long sappy shoots. Loose soil holds too much water ; a 

 firm one is always drier. "Wet soil is sure to be cold, for water requires more 

 heat to warm it than dry soil, and as firm soil is always drier, it is sure to be 

 warmer. For stone-fruits especially, the soil should be very firm indeed. 



A. H., H. 



HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF WALL - BORDERS IN 

 KITCHEI^ - GARDEN'S. 



NO. X. 



Pearlies and Nectarines. — Outdoor crops of these having been unusu- 

 ally good, both in quantity and quality — at all events in the southern 

 and midland counties of England — the demand for young trees will 

 inevitably be extraordinary. Many of us were beginning to despair of 

 success again crowning our efforts ; but those who fortunately have 

 continued to replace their debilitated old specimens with healthy 

 youngsters, have this season been rewarded as their perseverance 

 deserved. The winter of 1879-80 was remarkably destructive among 

 Peach and Nectarine trees ; the old trees especially, with their im- 

 paired vitality and badly ripened growths, being most extensively 

 killed. The younger trees escaping comparatively uninjured, subse- 

 quently formed excellent growth, and this being well ripened, was un- 

 injured during the past severe winter — hence the above result. 



To a certain extent we are independent of the outdoor Peach and 

 Nectarine crops, and, as a consequence, no thorough attempt has been 

 made to replace the fine specimens that only a short time since 

 occupied our walls. This being so, I propose to write upon what 

 has been accomplished by others, notably Mr Goodacre at Elvaston 

 Castle Gardens, near Derby, and Mr W. Taylor, Longleat, Wilts. The 

 success of the former is the most remarkable, owing to the unfavour- 

 able position of the garden — being almost on a level with the river 

 Derwent, rendering it almost impossible to drain ; and when it is 

 stated that the soil is a heavy retentive clayey loam, it will be readily 

 conceded that in such a garden it must be " Peach-growing under diffi- 

 culties.^' Yet here is to be seen a long and high south wall, beautifully 



