AN ENCYCLOPEDIA | 
Nectarine—continued. 
possibly succeed in this latter. Good drainage 
important; it must be provided artificially, if the sub- 
soil will not conduct water away readily. When neces- 
sary, this can best be accomplished by placing a drain, 
with a proper outlet, parallel with the wall, and near 
the outside edge of the border. It should be deep 
enough to take all superfluous water—say, 3}ft. from the 
surface—otherwise, the trees will not thrive. About 3ft. 
depth of soil, of a fairly good description, should be 
provided, and it is advisable that the border should 
incline from the wall, thus allowing the part where 
the trees are planted to be the highest and, conse- 
quently, most efficiently drained. Old borders are not 
suitable for planting Nectarine or Peach-trees in with- 
out the addition of some new soil around the roots, 
Where other conditions are favourable, sufficient might 
be placed round each tree to give it a good start, and 
more could be added afterwards, if it were required. A 
compost of loam and manure, mixed with the natural 
soil of the border, will always greatly improve it, and 
do more good to fruit-trees than manure alone, 
rubbish, old crushed mortar and brick, or burnt clay, 
should be freely intermixed where soils are inclined to be 
adhesive; but they are much better not to be of this 
description, if it can be avoided. The chief points re- 
quisite under this heading are, therefore: a favourable 
position against a south wall for planting; a good depth 
of soil; and efficient drainage, secured either by natural 
or by artificial means. Without these provisions, Necta- 
rines and Peaches will rarely succeed satisfactorily. 
Planting and After-treatment. The autumn is, un- 
doubtedly, the best season for planting, as, in spring, root- 
action and vegetation take place early in the trees, and 
they cannot be removed at that season without receiving 
more or less check. 
2. 
About Ein. of space should be allowed between the wall 
against; frost oftentimes does 
ss the flowers become 
and removed 
If any substance is used which excludes light, it will be 
te alle 
It is advisable to cover the surface 
with stable litter, so far as the roots extend, and not to 
secure the branches, except very loosely, until all the 
new soil has More ordinary 
‘of these boards, 
rate, be exercised in thinning only there parte chars ay 
fruits are unduly thick, or where they are unevenly dis- 
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2 
may cause a large number of fruits to drop off 
before the stoning period is past; in fact, a greater or 
less proportion invariably do so, on trees both indoors 
2 = 
are to be permanent should be planted at from 
16ft. to 20ft. apart. If a standard and a dwarf 
d 
planted alternately, they may be closer to each other 
than the distance named ; or others may be put in between 
temporarily, wi to afterwards, 
Pruning Poach and Nectarine. _ 
trees is work which rire attention; not only 
the summer. persons who 
understand the habit of the tree f 
operate, and, above all, its mode of bearing 
aim in pru to annnally intro. 
to the crop of the current year, and, in the winter 
pruning, to cut the old fruit-bearing wood away, and 
allow the new wood to take its place. Medium-sized, 
E 
SSE 
3 
f 
buds. The former are thinner and more elongated 
than the latter, and contain a growing point, sur- 
rounded with leaves in a ry state. Frit- 
buds contain ‘blossoms only, and, in pruning, 
no shoot should be cut back to a noi those 
only are present, as it would eventually die back to 
„„ 3 
1 of wood-bads; while, in 
evenly | r i 
ntre stem from the very earliest stages; otherwise, the 
troo will always be irregular, the stronger branches 
will rob the weaker ones, and the upper part, whence 
the sap most readily flows, will soon succeed in render- 
ing the lower branches weak and unsatisfactory for 
fruit-bearing. A maiden tree consists of a single shoot, 
