April 10, 1874. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



305 



WHY SHOULD FBDIT DROP AT STONING 

 TIME? 



FRANKLY confess my inability to fully 

 answer this question. I bring it forward 

 merely that observations and notes may be 

 made with a view to solve the problem. Is 

 it from a deficiency of something in the soil? 

 Is it from unripe wood or imperfectly fer- 

 tUised flowers ? insufficient foliage, too much 

 vigour, too much fire heat, or too little light ? 

 or is it only Nature's resentment to over- 

 cropping? It is a perfectly natural opera- 

 tion, and its failures ought to be accounted for. It is not 

 creditable to oui' modern enlightened gardeners to bo 

 obliged to have their fruit half-growu before they dare 

 thin it. For my own part I cannot think much good is 

 done to the trees by thinning the fruit after the stoning 

 is completed, as there is then no more hard work to be 

 done. If one leaves all the blooms to see which set best, 

 and all the fruit to see which go through the stoning 

 process best, why not wait another stage, and see which 

 ripen best ? It is only a question of a little extra feed- 

 ing, and fruit trees will bear an abundance of that when 

 the fruit is half grown, if the foliage is healthy and the 

 crop a heavy one. 



According to my own observations the fruit is not so 

 likely to drop when the crop is a moderate one as when 

 it is either too light or too heavy, nor with out-door trees 

 as with those which are hard forced, nor with trees of 

 moderate age which make growth of regular and moderate 

 size as compared with those which are young and vigor- 

 ous, and which make some shoots much stronger than 

 others, especially if such strong shoots be hard pruned in 

 winter. 



I am of opinion that insufficient thinning of the shoots 

 in summer, and consequently imperfect ripening of the 

 wood, dryness at the root in winter — not bearing in mind 

 that the roots of the Plum tree and its alhes are always 

 in action before the upper part of the tree — a quantity 

 of vegetable manure in the border, too late pruning, too 

 soon disbudding, and too late thinning of the fruit, all 

 tend to cause the fruit to fall at stoning time. Winter and 

 spring pruning should be abolished from our fruit gardens 

 for ever. Excepting newly-planted trees no pruning 

 should be done after November, and only then such as 

 cannot be done earlier, as branches which have borne 

 fruit and are not again required, and unripe shoots. All 

 thinning which can be done should be completed as soon 

 as the fruit is gathered, while the leaves are healthy and 

 have the power of ciu'ing the wounds, and also to enable 

 the light and air to reach better the remaining shoots. 

 It is quite a mistake to leave the pruning of Peach and 

 other trees till just as they are coming into bloom ; it does 

 not retard them one hour, and it must do them an in- 

 calculable amount of harm. 



I believe I am right in saying that trees in a perfectly 

 healthy state, and which are not overcropped, get through 

 the stoning process more quickly as well as more safely 



No. 681.- Vol. XXVI., New Series. 



than those which are not in so good a condition. It is 

 more difficult to tell when they are stoning, they hardly 

 seem to stand still at all. I am positive I have known 

 one or two Vines of which the fruit kept swelhng all the 

 time it was stoning. It is also a fact that it is not the 

 most forward fruit which falls at stoning, but that which 

 is comparatively small and late, and has allowed the 

 forward fruit to appropriate all the good things to itself. 

 As a rule, too, I think the fruit that falls has not com- 

 menced to form the hard substance at all. 



Disbudding is often done too soon aud too much at one 

 time ; it should not be commenced till the petals have 

 fallen, and then it is better to do it very gi-adually, going 

 over the trees several times. I think, too, the shoots 

 immediately before the fruits are often stopped too closely ; 

 it is better to allow them to grow 3 or 4 inches, and then 

 afterwards a leaf or two can be spared from the base, so 

 as to admit light to the fruit. It is not enough to admit 

 light to the fruit just before ripening time, they should 

 always have hght ; some of the higher-coloured Necta- 

 rines will show the benefit of this before they are half- 

 grown, being of a darker colour and hardier-looking than 

 those which are grown in comparative shade. They 

 always retain their superiority, colouring before they are 

 reaUy ripe, and having a flavour as superior to those 

 grown in the shade as the latter have to a Turnip. 



When the stoning is fairly over all useless branches 

 should be cut clean out of Peach and Nectarine trees, and 

 the shoots for fruiting the following year should be well 

 cared for. Those having the fruit on may be tied in any 

 conceivable way to get all the light and air possible ; it 

 is only the fruit to be cared for on these now, as the 

 shoots will be cut away as soon as the fruit is gathered. 

 — William Taylor. 



HEATING BY LIME-BUBNING. 



I HAVE read with interest the various articles which 

 appeared in the .Journal for the last year bearing on fnei 

 and the different modes of heating horticultural buOdings ; 

 for since coal has risen to such a price it behoves every 

 gardener to apply himself to ascertain as far as possible 

 not only the best and cheapest fuel, but also the best and 

 most effective apparatus. I have had considerable ex- 

 perience in various forms of heating apparatuses, and it 

 may interest some of your readers to hear what I have 

 to say on the subject. I will confine my remarks to 

 those I have in use at this place. 



First, there is an ordinary saddlq boiler, wliich heats 

 a span-roofed house. This is a sorJ of mixed greenhouse, 

 so that the boiler is not much used, except in winter. 

 The next is an upright tubular boiler heating another 

 span-roof, but it is in use almost all the year round ; it is 

 a stove, Melon house, and greenhouse. Both these boilers 

 answer the purpose for which they were intended, except 

 the common complaint — waste of fuel, together with the 

 uncertainty of heating and all the other incidents and 

 accidents connected with careless stoking. 



My chief remarks refer to my third andjlast. though by 



No. 1SS3.— Vol. LI., Old Series 



