302 



JODi?.UL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 22, 1668. 



small potG. They are used for decoration, and are very pretty. 

 This is the most suitable kind for the purpose. 



At the meeting of the Fruit Committee of the Royal 



Horticultural Society on Tuesday last, Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridge- 

 worth, exhibited some very remarkable examples of dwarf 

 Apple trees on the Euglish Paradise stock. These varied 

 from 18 inches to 2 feet high, but one or two slightly exceeded 

 the latter height. For such small trees the number and size 

 of the fruit with which they were laden was most extraordinary, 

 and when they had been dispatched from the nurseries there 

 were many more fruit on them, which had been shaken off in 

 the journey, so that it was impossible to say how many really 

 belonged to each. Mela Carla, Coe's Golden Drop, and Stam- 

 iord Pippin had each from six to eight fruits, without counting 

 the " unattached ;" Calville Blanche a dozen ; and the beauti- 

 ful Pomme d'Api, or Lady Apple of the Americans, nineteen, 

 and there had been several more on the tree. What advantages 

 snch small trees offer to those haviug but a small extent of 

 garden ground ! Not only can a large amount of excellent fruit 

 be secured from a small space, but the number of varieties 

 that can be grown may be multiplied from ten to twenty-fold, 

 thus securing diversity of flavour, successional ripening, and 

 a vastly increased amount of interest to the cultivator. The 

 collection received, as it well merited, a special certificate. 



PEACH CULTIVATION.— No. 4. 



Anotheh mode of f.xu-training is that given below, and it is, 

 perhaps, the best for long pruning ; the branches are also ori- 

 ginated with greater certainty. It is not, however, by any 

 means a common mode of training — at least not generally prac- 

 tised; for Peach and Nectarine trees are too often trained on 

 no principle whatever, only an attempt is made to cover the 

 wall with branches and bearing wood, no regard being paid to 

 the maintenance of an equality of vigour between all the 

 branches. It is no uncommon occurrence to find trees with 

 all the vigour on one side or in the few upright branches, the 

 other side or the lower branches making hardly any growth. 



By this mode of training the maiden plant is cut back to two 

 or three good eyes or buds 9 or 10 inches from the ground, and 

 in the course of the following summer we have two vigorous 

 shoots, all others being rubbed off. We have thus the form 

 shown in fig. 5, a a being the two side shoots, which are brought 



Fig. 6. 



down to the horizontal line by degrees, but in summer trained 

 more upright, so as to give them vigour, as is shown by the 

 dotted Unes. 

 In autumn the shoots a a should be cut back to three buds 



represented in fig. 6. The lower two shoots, in order to give 

 them vigour, are to be trained more upright, as shown by the 

 dotted lines ; whilst the upper two shoots are trained more 

 horizontally, so as to keep them from appropriating all the 

 vigour of the tree or becoming more vigorous than the lower 

 shoots, which ought to be the strongest. Unless the ends of 

 the lower branches were thus turned upwards in summer, and 

 those of the upper ones depressed, the latter would grow much 

 stronger than the former, and this ought to be guarded against. 

 We have now four shoots, the maiden tree by the first cutting 

 being divided into two branches, and by the second cutting it 

 is divided into four ; and these, being cutback at the winter 

 pruning, are to be divided into eight, as shown in fig. 7. The 

 figures opposite the bars correspond to the number of the 

 pruning or cutting-back. 



Fig. 6. 



each, and not further from their respective bases than 3 or 

 4 inches. From each of these shoots two others will be ob- 

 tained in the following year. The tree in autumn will be as 



Fig. 7. 



The four shoots on each side of the tree being cut for the 

 fourth time to three eyes will produce two shoots each, or in 

 all sixteen strong shoots. The lowest of these must be encou- 

 raged by training them during the growing season in a more 

 erect position than the shoots from the upper branches, and. 

 whatever laterals they push must be kept closely pinched back 

 to one joint. 



By autumn the shoots will be strong, and must be put in^ 

 their proper position on the wall. This will be done by draw- 

 ing a semicircular line, taking as a centre the height of the 

 lowest branches from the ground, and the centre of the stem 

 at that height; then with a line 5 feet long describe the dotted 

 line a h,fig. 8, and divide this into 1-foot distances, calculating 

 from the lowest branches on each side, which should be 1 foot 

 from the ground. This will give to the whole sixteen shoots a 

 distance, where they cross the dotted line, of 1 foot each, and that 

 number of shoots or branches will entirely cover the wall within 

 the radius a h. These shoots will need to be trained straight 

 for the divisional parts on the dotted lines, calculating from 

 the lowest shoot on each side and then upwards, training each 

 directly to its corresponding number of the divisional parts on 

 the dotted line, shown to the left of fig. 8, from 1 to 8. 



In autumn the shoots, if of equal vigour, will not need to 

 be shortened farther than to secure for each a strong leader. 

 This shortening, as to extent, will be determined by their strength. 

 If strong, their length may be shortened one-third ; if mode- 

 rately strong, one-half ; or if weak two-thirds, always cutting 

 to a wood bud, or to a triple bud which will have two fruit 

 buds, one on each side of the central one — a wood bud. 



In the following spring the shoots pushing from those short- 

 ened will need to be regulated. One shoot must be trained 

 from the end of each as a continuation of the shoot or branch, 

 and below it others a foot apart along the branch, commencing 

 at 6 inches from the rise of the branch. Take out the points of 

 all other shoots at the second or third joint, and keep them closely 

 pinched back to one joint throughout the season, all foreright 

 shoots or breastwood being disbudded or rubbed off closely. 

 The shoots left at 1 foot apart are not to be stopped until they 

 have grown 10 inches, then take out their points, and stop all 

 laterals at the first joint. The leading shoots must not be 

 stopped unless they grow too vigorously, or more vigorously 

 than the corresponding shoots on the opposite side ; then by 

 stopping and keeping closely pinched, also by depressing the 

 over-vigorous shoots, a proper balance of vigour may be secured. 

 The lowest shoots should, if anything, be more vigorous than 

 the upper leading shoots ; they must therefore have their ex- 

 tremities raised if inclined to grow less vigorously than the 

 upper shoots, which, on the contrary, must be depressed. 



When the shoots reach the semicircular line (for their annual 

 treatment in respect of training does not vary from that of the- 

 previous year until they reach the dotted line), another leading 



