96 



JOURNAL OF HOSTICUIiTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ February 11, 1869. 



are best leaded into the coping of tbe wall, and to theee the 

 boards are to be eeciired with broad-beaded iron pins. The 

 boards should be placed on the uprer side of the brackets, 

 which, if the wall coping is not sufficiently sti-onp, must be 

 driven into tbe wall, and the boards placed upon them. It is 

 well, however, to have tbe coping boards hinged, and where 

 there are good stone copings the brackets, by having a joint, 

 will answer both purposes; but in most cases the boards may 

 be hinged, hooks being leaded into the coping, and strap-hinges 

 employed the same as for cross-bar doors. The boards when 

 hinged can be folded up when the weather is mild, and let 

 down when cold, and after May should be removed altogether. 

 Whether hinged or not they should not be used until the 

 blossom shows colour, and they ought to be removed when 

 danger from frosts is past. These copings should incline to, 

 and not fall from, the wall. 



Coping boards alone are not sufficient protection from spring 

 frosts ; other protection must be given, and the best material is 

 thin canvas. Woollen netting is also good, and so is tiffany. 

 The material, whatever it be, should be prevented from brush- 

 ing against the blossom by means of poles, and is best kept 

 at from !) inches to a foot from the trees. If there are wood 

 copings, it may be fixed to them ; if not, the material must 

 be fixed immediately under the coping, and may fold or roll 

 np and down. There will not be any necessity for the covering 

 until the blossoms are so far expanded as to i-how colour ; but 

 ■when the season is very mild, and the blossom buds are swell- 

 ing at a very early period, it may be well to employ the cover- 

 ing to keep off the sun's heat. In that case the coping boards 

 must not be employed, but ought to be folded up day and night, 

 and the material should be suspended from the brackets ; it 

 being thus about 1 foot from the wall, the sun will be kept 

 from heating the wall, and there can be no accumulation of 

 heat, as that will escape at top and bottom. The material need 

 not reach nearer the ground than 1 foot. A judicious employ- 

 ment of the protecting material in this way will keep the 

 blossoms from undue excitement or will retard them, and they 

 will, perhaps, escape, or be better able to endure inclement 

 weather very often sneceeding a mild period occurring at an 

 early season. 



If the weather be mild and the sun so powerful in February, 

 and sometimes in January, as to cause the swelling of the buds 

 and their premature expansion, the covering or protection 

 should be let down or placed over the trees by day, and drawn 

 up or removed at night; whilst to protect the blossoms from 

 frost in March and April, and the young fruit and tender 

 foliage in April and May, the material ought to be placed over 

 the trees before 6 p.5r., and should be removed by 8.30 a.m. or 

 earlier, according to the state of the weather, it being in no 

 case removed as long as the temperature is below 35°. Even 

 in the day, if frost prevail, the covering should not be with- 

 drawn, nor on foggy, cold days ; but whenever the weather is 

 mild no covering will be needed night nor day, and, as a rule, 

 the less protected the trees the less susceptible they will be of 

 cold ; at the same time protection must be given when neces- 

 sary, the material being always in readiness for placing over 

 the trees, to ensure the fatety of the blossom and fruit from 

 frost. The coping boards should be left on day and night 

 after the blossoms show colour, unless it be desirable to 

 retard them ; but when the bloom is expanded no good results 

 from retarding, therefore allow the coping boards to remain down 

 after that period until their final removal at the end of May. 



Wateeing, Svbingino, and Manuring. — For the successful 

 cultivation of the Peach, the trees must be in a proper condi- 

 tion as regards moisture at the roots. A want of moisture in 

 the soil is a frequent cause of red spider, and of the fruit being 

 small and not arriving at perfection. To guard against a defi- 

 ciency of moisture in the soil, it should be examined before 

 the flowers expand, and if not moist give a good watering; if 

 the water does not enter the soil freely, as will be the case 

 when the surface is hard and tbe border slopes considerably, 

 the soil may be forked into ridges, filling and refilling the 

 hollows with water until the border is thoroughly moistened to 

 the bottom, and when the top has dried the surface ought to 

 be levelled. After the fruit is set and commencing to swell, 

 water will be required ; the border should, therefore, be fre- 

 quently examined from that time until the fruit commences to 

 ripen, and if the soil is dry water must be given in sufficient 

 quantity to reach the lowest roots. The last watering may be 

 applied when the fruit commences ripening. Liquid manure 

 may be applied, but not in driblets ; a good soaking should be 

 given after thinning the fruit, or when it is well get, another 



when it ie half grown, and a third when it begins to swell for 

 ripening — that is, early in May, the middle of June, and the end 

 of July or beginning of August, are good times for the applica- 

 tion of manure water, good soakings only being given. Do 

 not wait till the leaves droop and lose their deep green hue 

 before applying water, for it is vain to expect the yellow-tinged 

 foliage to assume its former freshness — the water must be 

 given before that state occurs. 



The trees having been properly attended to with water at 

 the roots, the necessity for syringing will be lessened ; still, it 

 is very beneficial, and I may say essential. It should begin 

 before the flowers expand, and only cease after the fruit begins 

 to ripen. Before the flowers expand syringing should apply not 

 only to the trees, but to the whole wall, and should be prac- 

 tised at least once before the flowers open, but better twice, 

 and one of these syringings should be with some anti-aphis 

 solution. Clarke's compound, at the rate of 1} oz. to the 

 gallon of water, is excellent for this purpose. The nights at 

 this early period being cold, the syringing should be prac- 

 tised early in the morning, before the sun has attained mach 

 power. Whilst the trees are in blossom syringing must be 

 discontinued, but resume it when the fruit is set and begins 

 to srtell, operating in the morning only, except in warm 

 periods, until danger from frost is past ; then the syringing 

 should be in the afternoon, and not before i r.M. By keep- 

 ing the soil moist and syringing frequently in dry weather 

 (it will not be required in moist weather), we secure a good 

 growth and healthy foliage ; on these depend well-grown trees 

 and large fruit. 



With regard to manure, mulching from the stems of the trees, 

 outwards as far as the roots extend, with fresh cow dung as free 

 of straw as possible, and put on an inch deep in February, 

 will be very beneficial, by preventing evaporation and enrich- 

 ing the soil. In April a little fresh loam may be placed over 

 the manure, or lightly forked in if the roots allow, and then 

 trodden firm, and if it can be had strew soot over the border, 

 BO as to render it quite black. 



Fkuit EirEsiNG AND Gatheking. — In some localities it is a 

 practice to cut off the leaves, or shorten them, so as to expose 

 the fruit to the sun. This, in my opinion, is more injurious 

 to the future well-being of the trees, than beneficial to the 

 present crop. The foliage, when this is necessary, is too plenti- 

 ful, either from the shoots being too close or from neglecting 

 to stop and disbud. In cold localities, and cold late seasons, 

 however, the leaves may be turned aside so that they may not 

 unduly shade the fruit. It attains a better colour and flavour 

 when this is done, which is all I recommend, for if the crop 

 will not ripen without the tree being deprived of foliage, the 

 climate is too cold, and the fruit will never be otherwise than 

 mealy and worthless, or it would ripen quite as well with as 

 without the leaves, and I have proved better. 



Various instruments have been invented for gathering the 

 fruit, but tbe best means is the hand. Tbe fruit should be 

 taken in the hollow of the hand, and the soft parts of the 

 fingers will embrace the part of the fruit next the wall. It 

 will, if ripe, part from the tree easily with scarcely any 

 pressure, and the little there is being equally divided no part 

 will be bruised. A ripe fruit is easily known by the part next 

 the wall, or that which is shaded, being green in an unripe 

 fruit, but when lipe it becomes of a yellowish tinge. Peaches 

 are best gathered in the forenoon, but may be gathered in the 

 heat of day without loss of flavour. An old way of gathering 

 Peaches was to have a net with half or three-quarter-inch mesh 

 fixed near the ground, one edge being fastened to the wall and 

 the other to stakes driven in the ground so near the wall that 

 the net would be slack, and form a sort of furrow or bag. The 

 fruit in this case fell into the net of its own accord when ripe, 

 and from the net being slack it was caught without being 

 injured, and though birds would soon spoil fruits finding their 

 way to the ground, they never touched those hanging in the net. 

 The fruit will fall as soon as it is ripe unless held between two 

 shoots, and such fruit is vastly superior to that gathered by 

 hand. A ripe Peach requires very careful handling, being 

 easily bruised. — G. Abbey. 



CULTURE OF THE TRUFFLE. 



The following "notes of M. Chatin's discourse at yesterday's 

 Feb. .5), meeting of the " Sociele Imperiale d'Acclimatation," 

 will probably interest the readers of The Journal of Horti- 



CULTORE. 



M. Chatin, who has long been Btudying the subject, and just 



