General Notices. 277 



nectarine trees once in five years, which I find to be an excellent plan ; it 

 induces the development of embryo buds in the large branches, and pro- 

 duces a uniformity of fine short strong wood throughout the whole of the 

 tree. Since I adopted this practice I have neither sufl^ered with curl or 

 insects. Many of my trees measure from 20 to 30 feet from tip to tip of 

 the branches, and every part of them is filled with fine fruiting wood quite 

 to the stem. In this operation care is taken to get up the tree with all the 

 roots possible, which are all carefully spread out on an even surface at one 

 given depth in replanting ; by this means the roots have all equal action 

 with each other, which I consider a very important feature in the culture of 

 all fruit trees. Moving trees in this way will cause them to be fruitful, and 

 the fruit will be finer both in size and flavor, and the trees more naturally 

 healthy than if subjected to that much recommended, though diabolical 

 system, called "root-pruning." — [Card. Join:, 1852, p. 2C0.) 



Preparation of Soils for Potting. — The routine of operations in 

 the plant and forcing department having been sufficiently dilated upon the 

 last few weeks, rnd there being no particular operation necessary to be 

 noticed, I w.a this week take the opportunity to make a few remarks on 

 soils, which is perhaps one of the most important considerations which can 

 occupy our attention ; for without a due supply of soils of all descriptions, 

 properly aerated and prepared for immediate use, success in growing plants 

 of all kinds subjected to artificial treatment can only be considered adven- 

 titious. It is generally allowed by all good cultivators that soils for pot 

 purposes should undergo a long process of preparation ; and as the present 

 is a good season for getting them together, I am inclined to believe that a 

 few remarks deduced from practice may not be out of place, even in a 

 weekly calendar of operations. I propose to treat of them under their 

 several heads, and first Loam. The goodness of this important soil is 

 mainly dependent on the substrata from which it is taken. The best for 

 all plant purposes I have ever met with, was three inches taken with the 

 turf from a meadow situated at the junction of a deep substratum of gravel, 

 with one of clay : the loam itself was nearly two feet deep, and the subsoil 

 good enough for many garden purposes. This loam was carted home in 

 dry weather, and stacked in a deep ridge, turf downwards, about six feet 

 high, and resting on a base of four feet. It was full of fibrous roots, very 

 sofi; and unctuous to the touch, rather sandy, and possessed in a remarkable 

 degree the indispensable quality of not running together or binding when 

 wetted. It is desirable to secure a loam possessed of these qualities as 

 near as possible. A loam from the top of gravel is better than from the top 

 of sand, or clay, or chalk. If it lies deep on chalk, it is next best : that 

 from sand is often very poor, and, if the sand is fine, liable to run together : 

 so that I would prefer a good loam from the top of clay to it, as we can 

 always add coarse- porous material. As a general rule, from two to three 

 inches is qjiite thick enough to cut it. Peat: This is more difficult to 

 obtain of that genuine quality that cultivators of hard-wooded plants delight 

 in. Many, indeed, confound bog, or decayed marsh vegetation, and alluvial 

 deposits with peat ; but they are as different in quality aa in the eflfectsprO" 



