348 VILLA GARDENING • PART IV 



penetrate, the fmit will not colom- and the flavour will be inferior. 

 If a good border of sound loam has been made, Peaches will 

 succeed for many years without training, beyond what is given by 

 the finger, thumb, and knife. Such trees are usually healthier and 

 longer lived than those pruned and braced up to a trellis ; and for 

 a large house it is an interesting way of growing Peaches and 

 Nectarines. There must, of course, be pruning, or in time the 

 trees would get out of hand and become naked at the bottom. 

 But Peaches may be cut back into the old wood, not only with 

 impunity but with benefit. If the potted trees, or any other, have 

 got naked below, cut back sufficiently to bring the tree into a good 

 shape. Encourage growth by giving a genial atmosphere, disbud 

 the shoots not required to form the new head, and in twelve 

 months a handsome fertile tree will be created from the leggy one. 

 The Peach yields to this treatment better than most others, but 

 Plums and Apricots, if the roots are healthy, will submit to it. 



Application of Artificial Heat. — When the Orchard-house 

 idea was first started, it was considered that artificial heat would 

 not be required ; but a riper experience leads me to recommend, 

 especially in the case of small or moderately-sized houses, that some 

 means of warming the house should be available, but only for use 

 in severe weather, to keep out frost. 



Diseases and Insect.s. — The Peach, like all other fruits, is 

 more susceptible to the attacks of insects and mildew when weak- 

 ened by over-cropping or neglect in watering, or any other cause. 

 But under glass these various influences should be minimised, as 

 the cultivator has the matter pretty much in his own hands. It 

 is true that almost as soon as the young shoots break forth in 

 spring the green-fly appears, but in most cases he can be kept under 

 by the use of the engine and clean soft water. If this will not 

 suflice, smoking with Tobacco must be resorted to ; and it is 

 better to smoke twice, with a day or so between, than to overdo it. 

 The leaves must be quite dry when the fumigator is introduced. 

 A calm damp evening is the most suitable, as the smoke remains 

 longer in the house, and is consequently more eff'ective. On no 

 account must the Tobacco paper be allowed to flare. The morning 

 after the fumigation the trees should have a good washing with 

 the garden engine, to bring down the dead and sick flies. The 

 black aphis is more troublesome to the Peach than the green fly, 

 but it may be got under by using the same means ; and it is very 

 important that the matter be dealt with in time. Later on in the 

 season, if the weather be hot and dry, and the water supply has 

 been stinted, either in the atmosphere or at the root, the red sjiider 

 txsually makes his appearance. He is so small that he may at 



