AMY 



AMY 



that has been already seen, stocks for this pur- 

 pose may be raised from different varieties of 

 plums, as ^^ell as peaches, almonds and apricots: 

 however, the true muscle plum cannot with such 

 certainty be produced in this way, as when raised 

 bv seed, being liable to great variety. The 

 only method that promises success is by layei-s 

 or suckers, from peach or other trees that have 

 been worked upon that sort of plimi stock, which 

 niav be collected in autumn, or the early spring 

 months, selecting such as are of the size of the 

 little linger, which, after the side bi-anches and 

 knots of'old \\ood that adhere to the roots liave 

 been trimmed off, should be pkuited aljout two 

 feet and a half distant, in rows. Of these some 

 V ill be ready to bud for dwarfs the folio-wing 

 summer. The stocks most proper for budding 

 upon, in order to form dwarfs, are those of from 

 half an inch to an inch in thickness, and those 

 of stems an inch thick at the bottom, and four 

 or rive feet high, for half or full standards. 



Theseasonmost properfor budding is August; 

 as when this operation is performed in the earlier 

 months the buds are liable to put out weak shoots 

 the same season, and the winter to Injure them so 

 greatly as almost to jxevcnt their progress. 



As trees of this kind are mostly ti-amed against 

 some sort of fence, to bud thcin so as to form 

 dwarfs should be a principal motive: thciStocks 

 should therefore be budded wlililn llv,e or six 

 inches of the bottom, so that tlie branches may 

 come out low, and by degrees be trained to oc- 

 cupv e\erv part of the wall : however, where llie 

 icnces are high, thev mav be budded for half 

 or fidl st;uidards, and trained accordingly ; care 

 should be taken, in the performance of tliis busi- 

 ness, that only one bud be inserted Into each 

 stock, the head of which should remain perfect 

 rnrtil the spring ; about ISIarch the whole of the 

 heads should be cut over in a sloping direction, 

 just above the insertion of the buds; presently 

 after which the buds will shoot out, each pro- 

 ducing a strong erect shoot, which will have at- 

 tained a considerable height by the autunm, 

 and the trees by that time have acquired their 

 lirst state of formation, which, in the autumn or 

 early spring months, as October and November, 

 or February and March, should be transplanted 

 against walls proper for the purpose, and where 

 they are finally to remain; or occasionally against 

 a reed fence or paling, for training, one, two 

 or three years, to give them the requisite forma- 

 tion as wall trees, previously to their being 

 placed into their allotted situations : whichever 

 method mav be practised, it will be necessary to 

 have the first shoot headed down to a few eyes, 

 in order to produce a sufficient supply of lateral 

 shoots below. The trees, in this way, .may be 

 expected to fruit in tw^o or three years. 



Trees of diis sort .succeed best in soils that arc 

 tolerably dry, but not too open or porous, Mr- 

 i'orsyth thinks that a hglit mellow loam is theniost 

 proper soil for peaches., as they requii-e it to be 

 hghter than eulier the pear or the plum. In places 

 where the natural soil in.clines to clay, or a strong 

 brick earth, in order to prepare the borders for 

 tlie trees, it mav -be necessary to take some part 

 of the soil awav, and to mix it with light mould, 

 sand, or old lime-rubbish ; and in making up the 

 borders, a further quantity of earth should be 

 taken out, at the places \\hcre trees are to be 

 planted, to the depth of three feet, and the 

 breadth of feur, and mixed well with street-dung, 

 or rottc^i leaves, and the above substances, throw- 

 ing up the w hole togcdier into rough high ridges, 

 in order to its being fully exposed to the action of 

 'the frost, and the mellowing influence of the 

 winter season. 



In no case where it is intended to plant these 

 trees against walk should the borders be nar- 

 rower than three or four feet, and when made 

 six or seven feet tliey are better. 



In places where the soil is of a moist wet kind, 

 it would be advisable, in the opinion of the same 

 writer, to lay deep drains across the borders, to 

 communicate with others along the walks, in 

 order to draw the water from the roots of the 

 plants: in the bottoms of these cross drains may 

 be pirt, old bricks or stones, with gravel above, 

 taking care to iia.ve at least two feet of good 

 mould to the surface ; and if the ground has a 

 stifluess and tendency to retain water after rains, 

 the borders should be laid with a suitable slope, 

 to canv it oft' as much as possible, and prevent 

 its stagnating about the roots of the trees. In 

 sour moist clay soils, brick-bats or cores from 

 the screening of lime may be thrown into the 

 bottoms of the borders, and rammed so as to 

 form a solid surface, and then covered with dry 

 lime-rubbish, which may prevent the roots 

 of the trees from entering the wet earth or clay, 

 and also materially contribute to take off the 

 water. 



And in cases where there is not sufficient de- 

 scent to take off the water in an expeditious man- 

 ner, hollow covered drains may be formed in the 

 bottoms of the walks, about the middle, the 

 sides beinff filled up w ith brick-bats and small 

 stones in finishing, the walks being well rounded 

 to throw the water to the bides. 



The ves;etablc disease termed mildew is, it is 

 added, tlie certain consequence of water being 

 suffered to stagnate near the roots of tender trees 

 in strong soils, and they are thereby almost en- 

 tirely spoiled. In some instances it may, per- 

 haps, be possible, by moving them to a drier 

 soil and different aspect, to recover them. It is 

 to be remarked that all the French peaches, on 



