500 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



be Jules Margottin, an old but very free-blooming Rose, that is a 

 great favourite with me, and, I doubt not, many more. 



William Plester. 

 Elsenham Hall Gardens. 



ON PEACH-TREE TRAINING. 



Old writers (I use the term with all respect), and some young ones, 

 borrowing from them, generally advise, in beginning with a young 

 Peach-tree, to train up several shoots, to pick out the sublaterals, and 

 cut back at the winter pruning to 9 inches or 1 foot — and so on from 

 year to year; and to prevent an outburst of superabundant vigour 

 thereby induced the following season, and perhaps gumming, will 

 further advise you to root-prune annually, until a balance is effected 

 between root and top. 



By this system good trees and fruit can be secured, I am aware ; 

 but another system has been coming into repute of late years, which, 

 I think, possesses not only all the advantages of the old plan, but 

 enables us to get large trees in about half the time, or less, that was 

 formerly required, and consequently quick returns. 



To give your readers an idea of this plan, I perhaps cannot do 

 better than give the history of two Peach-houses here that were 

 planted in 1866. 



Our old early Peach-house was taken down for the purpose of erect- 

 ing two better and larger houses on the same site. The old trees 

 could not be used again, and as we would be without early Peaches 

 while the young trees were growing, I had recourse to the plan I have 

 alluded to, and which I shall call the " extension system of Peach-tree 

 culture." The trees, with the exception of two which were got the 

 year before, were brought from the nursery in the beginning of 1866. 

 They each had from four to six strong immature shoots upon them, 

 which were shortened back to about 1 foot, and the trees were planted 

 permanently about the beginning of April, when the houses were fur- 

 nished. From each of the cut-back limbs two or three shoots were 

 trained, and these were encouraged not only to make all the growth 

 they would in length, but all the sublaterals were also laid in that we 

 could find room for, thereby expending the gross vigour of the main 

 shoots, and at the same time laying in a stock of bearing-wood. 



Instead of cutting away perhaps one-half or two-thirds of the 

 season's growth at the winter pruning, as some recommend, we retained 

 the whole of it, with the exception of some of the extreme points of 

 the strongest shoots, which were cut off for the sake of preserving the 



