PEACH 



641 



PEACH BLISTER 



so on, all over the tree. One thing may be observed ; 

 if the operator is at any time doubtful about a young 

 shoot, let him merely pinch the point instead of totally 

 removing it ; at the finishing disbudding he will perceive 

 whether it may be entirely stripped away. Disbudding 

 should be completed a little before Midsummer. During 

 this period the fruit must be thinned, if too thick, and 

 this may be done at three different periods ; the first, 

 when the fruit is as large as a marble, when all mal- 

 formations, and those crowded behind the shoots, may 

 be taken away. The remaining, if too thick, must be 

 singled out, leaving none in pairs or touching each other. 

 At this period, they may average 3 inches apart all over 

 the tree. In about three weeks, another slight thinning 

 may be made, taking away a few where crowded ; and 

 now the remainder may be reserved until the stoning is 

 nearly completed, which will be in the course of July, 

 when all not wanted may be plucked away. It is difficult 

 to give any set rule as to distance, so much depends on 

 the powers of the trees ; from 6 to 8 inches apart, finally, 

 may be considered a fair crop. Water should be liberally 

 supplied during their swelling, if the weather is dry. All 

 gross shoots, or robbers, should be pinched when about 

 6 inches in length, throughout all the growing season. 



Culture during the Rest Period. Do not brush off the 

 foliage of peaches in the autumn ; the practice is not 

 only unscientific, but really absurd. If the summer's 

 management has been right, the pruning will be but a 

 small affair. It consists of thinning out the shoots 

 which had escaped notice in summer, and shortening 

 back as much of the point of each shoot as appears 

 immature : this is readily told by its colour and general 

 character. These things done, the trees must be neatly 

 trained, and such should be completed by the beginning 

 of February, about which time we cover ours to retard 

 the blossom-bud. Before covering them we apply a 

 sulphur-paint, as a preventive of the red spider. This 

 is simply sulphur beaten up in soap-water, four ounces of 

 soft soap to a gallon, adding nearly as much sulphur 

 as it will carry, and plenty of clay to give it a body. 

 This is applied in all directions, between the shoots, 

 with a painter's brush. In order to soften the colour, 

 it is well to add plenty of soot to the mixture. 



Diseases. The Gum is the principal ; and as a gum- 

 ming habit is readily induced by wounds, especially if 

 the tree be growing in a deep and rich soil, great care 

 must be exercised at all times not to wound them. 

 Rich soils, also, must be avoided, and manurial matters 

 applied, for the most part, on the surface. The Mildew 

 is a great annoyance to some cultivators. Sulphur is 

 the best remedy, and an avoidance of extremes of wet 

 and dry at the root the best preventive. Blistered leaves 

 are said to be caused by cold at the germinating period ; 

 but this we much doubt. It probably arises from im- 

 perfect ripening of the wood in the preceding season, 

 caused by ungenial soil and ill-training ; indeed, it would 

 not be difficult to trace three-fourths of the evils to which 

 the peach is liable to ill-conditioned wood. The imme- 

 diate cause is the fungus, Exoascus deformans. 



Insects. See APHIS and ACARUS. 



Forcing : Form of House. The best form for a peach- 

 house is that thus described by the late T. E. Knight, 

 Esq.: 



As the lights, to be moved to the required extent with 

 facility, must necessarily be short, the back wall of the 

 house must scarcely extend 9 feet in height, and this 

 height raises the rafters sufficiently high to permit the 

 tallest person to walk with perfect convenience under 

 them. The lights are divided in the middle, and 

 the lower are made to slide down to the ground, and 

 the upper to the middle. The flue, or hot-water 

 pipe, enters on the east or west end as most convenient, 

 and passes within 6 inches of the east and west wall, 

 but not within less than 2 feet of the low front wall, 

 and it returns in a parallel line through the middle of 

 the house, in the direction either east or west, and goes 

 out at the point at which it entered. The house takes 

 two rows of peach or nectarine trees, one of which is 

 trained on trellises, with intervals between for the gar- 

 dener to pass, parallel with the two end walls. These 

 trees must be planted between the flue and the front 

 wall, and the other row near the back wall, against which 

 they are to be trained. 



If early varieties be planted in the front, and the 

 earliest where the flue first enters, these being trained 

 immediately over the flue, and at a small distance above 



it, will ripen first ; and if the lower lights be drawn 

 down in fine weather to the ground, every part of the 

 fruit on the trees, which are trained nearly horizontally 

 across the peach-house, will receive the full influence of 

 the sun. The upper lights must be moved as usual by 

 cords and pulleys, and if these be let down to the middle, 

 after the fruit in the front tree is gathered, every part of 

 the trees on the back wall will be fully exposed to the 

 sun, at any period of the spring and summer after the 

 middle of April, without the intervention of the glass. 

 A single fireplace will be sufficient for a house 50 feet 

 long, and the foregoing plan and dimensions mil be found 

 to combine more advantages than can ever be obtained 

 in a higher or wider house. Both the walls and the flue 

 must stand on arches, to permit the roots of the trees 

 to extend themselves in every direction beyond the 

 limits of the walls, for whatever be the more remote 

 causes of mildew, the immediate cause generally appears 

 to be want of moisture beneath the soil, combined with 

 excess of moisture or dampness above it. A bar of wood 

 must extend from the wall to the ground, opposite the 

 middle of each lower light, to support it when drawn 

 down. Knight's Select Papers. 



The soil, culture, and pruning are the same as required 

 for those trees grown on walls. 



Forcing in Pots is a very excellent mode, and enables 

 the peach to be thus grown in establishments where there 

 is no regular peach-house. Pot a three-years'-old tree 

 in a i2-inch pot, cutting it back to four buds, and shift 

 every year until it has attained an i8-inch pot, a size 

 which need never be exceeded. Let the soil be turfy, 

 and mixed with decaying wood from the bottom of an 

 old wood stock. 



Commencing Forcing and Temperature. The best and 

 most successful directions on these points ere the follow- 

 ing, given by Mr. W. Hutchinson, gardener at Eatington 

 Park. He says : " Bring the trees into the house in 

 mild weather during November, a little earlier or later 

 according to the state of the weather; do not start 

 them all, however, at once ; the last lot need not be put 

 in until the ist of January. Any later than this would 

 not answer, as the weather, if clear, is then hot through 

 the day ; commence forcing them at 55 at night, 

 allowing the thermometer to fall to 50 in the morning, 

 if cold ; but if the weather is mild, never to fall below 

 55, and from that to 60, is the usual temperature kept 

 up throughout the period of forcing during the night. 

 During the day I make up for low night temperature, 

 when I have the chance, by sun heat. Do not be fas- 

 tidious about a few degrees: to get it high enough is 

 the main point, say from 70 to 85 and 90, until the 

 fruit is stoned ; then keep them very hot during the 

 day, viz. from 95 to 105, and sometimes even as high 

 as 110. Of course a great deal of moisture is required 

 with this high temperature. Syringe over-head twice a 

 day, and sometimes oftener when the air is dry, and you 

 will scarcely ever be troubled with either green-fly 

 or red-spider. Watering at the root must be carefully 

 attended to ; very little is wanted until the trees get 

 covered with leaves, but after the fruit is stoned they 

 should be watered plentifully. Of course the watering 

 must be gradually withdrawn as the fruit approaches 

 maturity, in order to increase their flavour." Card. Chron. 



When the blossoms are well opened, impregnation 

 should be aided by applying the pollen with a camel's- 

 hair pencil, by lightly brushing the flowers with a 

 rabbit's tail, tied to a cane, and by tapping the trees 

 with a cane or the hands, during the middle of the day, 

 when the ventilators are open. 



One essential for securing vigorous production in the 

 peach- house is to have the roots of the trees well nourished. 

 If these are not duly supplied with moisture and food 

 during the time the fruit is setting and swelling, a failure 

 of the crop is inevitable. To secure such a supply, it is 

 a most effectual treatment to give the border a top- 

 dressing, at the close of February, of charred turf. 

 Liquid-manure and water, of course, must be given also, 

 as the dryness of the soil and appearance of the trees 

 indicate is necessary. 



Standards. In Essex we have grown the peach success- 

 fully, both as a standard and as an espalier, in a garden 

 sloping to the south, and well protected from the east 

 and strong westerly winds. 



PEACH BLISTER or LEAF CURL. It is well known 

 that Peach Blister is due to the work of the fungus, 



2 S 



