Daeembe r 2, 1876. ] 



JOUBNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



431 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day I Da; I 



ol I of 

 Month Week. I 



DECEMBEB 2—8, 1875. 



Th 

 F 



S 



Strs 

 M 

 Tn 

 W 



Linnean Society at 8 p.m. 

 Geologists' AsRociation at 8 p.m. 



2 Sunday in Advent. 

 Victoria Institute at 8 p.m. 



Society of Arts at 8 p.m. 



81.4». 



From obaervationa taken near London during forty-three years, the average day tempeiatoie of the week is 47.8°; and ita night temperature 



NECTAEINES. 



THE KENOVATION OF OLD TEEES-AN ESTIMATE OF SOETS. 



' ECTAE, the fabled drink of the gods : hence 

 Nectarine. The name is certainly as appro- 

 priate as it is suggestive, this fruit being 

 especially notable for its delicious flavour, 

 all the best kinds now in cultivation being 

 more or less excellent in this respect ; it 

 is, however, excellence in degree, for even 

 here we may not claim to have attained to 

 full perfection. Pitmaston Orange is my 

 standard sort for flavour. Taken at its best 

 when fully ripe and with a slight tendency to shrivel it is 

 difficult to find its equal among Nectarines or any other 

 fruit. It was placed first at the great Fruit Show at the 

 Alexandra Palace in September, not because its fruit was 

 finest, but because the Judges very wisely tested it and 

 the larger fruit of Lord Napier for flavour. 



Before proceeding to discuss the merits of some kinds, 

 I wish to call attention to the renovation of old and 

 exhausted Peach and Nectarine trees. By exhausted trees 

 I mean those which are in such an enfeebled condition 

 as to produce nothing but small undersized fruit. This 

 lamentable state of things is more frequently owing to over- 

 cropping and to injudicious management than to actual 

 old age. There never was a greater mistake made than 

 the modern advocacy of sensational heavy cropping of 

 very young trees. Talk of " floricultural millinery," that 

 is a trifle in comparison to the ridiculous extreme to which 

 pruning, pinching, and cropping by line and rule have 

 been carried. Take a young tree, plant it, stop its first 

 growth at so many eyes or inches, cut off its toes — I beg 

 pardon, roots — prune it, lift it ; in fact, do anything that 

 will prevent a vigorous growth, and cause it to form fruit 

 buds so that you may be able to entertain the delusive 

 fancy that you have a quick return and clear profit upon 

 cash expended, if it be only a farthing the first year and 

 three farthings the second. This is the form which such 

 teaching really takes when put into plain language : if it 

 is followed what is eventually the result ? A crippled 

 weakly growth, incapable of bearing fine fruit ; and in 

 any case the condition of the fi-uit is as unsatisfactory as 

 is that of the tree. Premature decay follows, and the trees 

 are then said to be short-lived ; chmate, soil, and tree 

 being declared at fault rather than the cultivation. If 

 we must have rules let one be that no tree shall bear fruit 

 till the third year after planting. 



There is no doubt that really old trees are often kept 

 on year after year bearing fruit of inferior size and quality 

 without any attempt at renovation or improvement. The 

 remedy is plain, yet it is not always possible to apply it. 

 One would, of course, like to adopt sweeping measures 

 with such trees, but this is impracticable when it is im- 

 perative that there shall be an annual supply of fruit, no 

 matter how indifferent its condition may be, and so the 

 only plan is to take one or two trees in hand each year 

 till the whole of them are gradually, almost imperceptibly, 

 brought into a better condition. Now, despite all that 



No. TCe.-Vol,. XXrX., new Sepjbb. 



has been said about the tenderness and early decay oil 

 Peach and Nectarine trees, it is an indisputable fact that 

 most old trees possess a wonderful amount of vitality, 

 hardiness, and an inherent vigour, which, when the old 

 worn-out branches are removed, bursts forth with such 

 power as to quickly replace them with others of Fuch 

 strength as will rival the growth of the most fturdy 

 newly-planted tree. Is there not a valuable lesson to be 

 learnt here ? It was not long ago that Mr. Wright 

 pointed out most clearly how much the vigour of a Grapo 

 Vine was kept in check by its old knotty spurs, the 

 hardened contracted tissue preventing the quick flow of 

 sap — precisely that prompt and ready action which a 

 brisk growth demands and must have in order to sustain 

 it in full vigour and enable it to bring the crop to ma- 

 turity. Just BO is it with the Peach and Nectarine. When 

 the main branches become bark-bound the action of the 

 sap is so sluggish that the branches cannot put forth 

 shoots of suflicient strength to produce fine fruit. Cut 

 back the whole of those branches to within a foot or two 

 of the bole, see that the roots are in a suitable medium, 

 and in two or three seasons you have a tree re-invigorated, 

 the growth young, vigorous, and fruitful, and the fruit 

 itself of large size and excellent in the highest degree. 



Mr. Bivers has greatly enriched our collection of varie- 

 ties of Nectarines with his splendid seedlings, which, in 

 addition to great intrinsic merit, have, by the earliucss 

 of some and lateness of. others, materially lengthened the 

 time when ripe fruit can be had. I have planted most of 

 them, but all have not yet fruited. I have great hopes 

 that Albert Victor, which ripens its fruit about the middle 

 of September, wiU prove of much value, and should be 

 glad to know the opinion of others who have fruited it. 

 Pine Apple is the latest kind I have yet fruited ; it proves 

 a great acquisition, succeeding the mid- season kinds, and 

 formed an admirable finish to the past season, which wa& 

 so well begun by 



Lord Napier. — This is a very fine kind, the branches, 

 foliage, and fruit all being of an extraordinary size, much 

 of the fruit attaining a circumference of 8 to 1) inches. 

 Its colour when ripe is a pale yellow, with light red on 

 the exposed side. The fruit is very handsome, and ol 

 dehcious flavour. It is ripe in August— earlier than any 

 other good kind. 



Pitmaston Orange. — A distinct sort of the highest 

 excellence. The large oval-pointed fruit is finely coloured 

 — a bright orange, with deep crimson on the sunned 

 side ; the flesh is of a deep orange colour, with a tinge 

 of crimson next the stone. It is very sweet, rich, and 

 juicy, surpassing almost aU other Nectarines in its ex- 

 quisite flavour and fine aroma. The growth of the free 

 is not quite so vigorous as most others, but it is perfectly 

 healthy, and I have no hesitation in giving it the pro- 

 minent and le.tding position of which it is undoubtedly 

 most worthy. 



Doionton.—h. very fine Nectarine. The fruit, which is 

 produced in great abundance, is very handsome, large, with 

 the skin of a deep crimson hue ; the flesh is melting, rich, 

 and very juicy, with a brisk acidulous flavom- that is most 



No. Ills.— Vol. LIV., Old Series. 



