viii INTRODUCTORY. 



wood every year trees which never failed to yield 

 good crops of fine fruit year after year during 

 the whole period I was at Longford ; the trees, 

 as well as the heavy crops of prize-winning fruit 

 which they annually bore, commanding the admira- 

 tion of all fruit-growers and owners of gardens who 

 saw them .from time to time, the trees and fruits 

 cultivated under glass eliciting equally compliment- 

 ary remarks. Therefore, in these flattering circum- 

 stances, I have been asked by horticultural friends 

 and others interested in the cultivation of the peach 

 to put into book form the practice that succeeded 

 so admirably in this connection at Longford, a 

 request with which I have great pleasure in com- 

 plying, in the hope that the cultural remarks herein 

 detailed may lead to a more general and extended 

 cultivation of the peach and nectarine, not only in 

 the gardens of the rich, but also in those attached 

 to the villa-mansion downwards, in England, Scot- 

 land, Ireland, and Wales. 



With this object in view, I have arranged the 

 cultural work and other matter under separate 

 headings and in due order, so that those wishing 

 to consult these pages on any particular point of 

 cultural treatment have only to refer to the contents 

 to find the desired information. In the course 

 of my gardening practice, I have made many and 

 various experiments in cultural methods of pro- 



