208 THE GARDENER. [May 



a shoot of any given length is disbudded to, say three or four young 

 shoots, in order to secure a heavy crop and plenty of growth, and that 

 there is a fruit at the base of each young shoot ; as soon as it is seen 

 which is the most promising fruit nearest to the base of the shoot, the 

 branch might be shortened back with a sharp knife to that shoot, leav- 

 ing the space for one flue growth where two or three would have been 

 crowded before. No danger need be apprehended from this practice, 

 as the Peach, like other stone-fruits, is never subject to canker or gum- 

 ming when it is cut in a growing state, provided the operation be judi- 

 ciously and carefully performed ; and the flow of sap that was going to 

 support two or three shoots before would be concentrated in one, which 

 would also be the case with the fruit. And thus an improved condition 

 of things would be brought about, both for the present and following 

 year. 



The same principle might also be applied to large trees which are 

 showing symptoms of exhaustion through overcropping, or, what is 

 quite as great a source of evil, overcrowding of shoots, which not only 

 drains the tree of its power and resources to feed, but also misapplies 

 and misdirects what little power is left, as well as prevents the wood 

 from being exposed, as it should be, to sun and air. 



Next to thinning of fruit, disbudding, and the shortening back and 

 thinning of shoots, is a steady supply of liquid manure to the border, 

 and the maintenance of an atmosphere which is calculated to produce 

 fruit of first-rate quality. I think in a former article on the subject of 

 supplying fruit-trees with liquid manure, it was recommended that libe- 

 ral supplies should be given in the autumn before the fall of the leaf. 

 Where this has been attended to, and the border is already enriched, 

 there will be the less necessity for giving much at the present season ; 

 but a good deal depends upon the condition of the trees and their root- 

 capacity for absorbing food. A steady night-temperature of 65°, and a 

 day-temperature of 75° to 80°, with a moist surface, will be sufficient 

 till the leaves have taken their last swelling, when increased moisture 

 and a high day-temperature should be kept up. 



It appears to me, from close observation, that there are some excellent 

 attempts at Peach cultivation frustrated for want of due reflection 

 upon the conditions under which the Peach swells its fruit most freely 

 in its last stages, and the reason why some fruits are so much superior 

 in appearance to others, except in size. Look at a score of dishes 

 arranged for dishibition, and examine the " finish " of each dish care- 

 fully, and see if the fact is not clearly established, that those which 

 present that handsome appearance, which is conspicuous by the skin 

 being distended to the utmost degree of tension, and which is the most 

 transparent to the sight, are not those which have been grown in a 

 high moist atmosphere of from 90° to 100° for a few hours each day, 

 and which have received no check by lowering the temperature abruptly 

 before the swelling process was fully completed 1 Large, coarse-looking 



