482 FORCING THE PEACH. 



occupy about the same amount of space in a house, trees approach- 

 ing the former shape will enjoy the light over nearly all their parts. 

 Besides, trees pyramidal in outline are much more presentable. The 

 general tendency is too much towards squat-headed trees, which have 

 been allowed to develop their primary branches much as they liked, 

 and which frequently betray no trace of any attempt at judicious 

 training. Yet nothing is easier than to secure this desirable form in 

 the case of the peach : first, by securing a broad furnished base 

 secondly, by repressing those parts that grow too vigorously at the 

 expense of weak and ill-furnished ones ; and thirdly, by first pinching 

 the upper parts of the tree, so as to prevent it running to a head. 

 Once fairly trained into this form, there is little after-trouble beyond 

 routine pinching. But to get the broad well-furnished base it is 

 necessary to cut the young tree at first down, instead of allowing the 

 first erect shoot it makes to form the pyramid. Neither has the pot- 

 culture of fruit trees been confined to peaches and nectarines, but 

 apricots, cherries, plums, and even apples and pears and grapes are 

 now extensively grown under glass in this manner. 



Orchard-houses or glass structures, wholly devoted to the cultivation 

 of fruit trees, either in pots or planted out in the border, are to be met 

 with frequently. The most common form is a lofty span-roofed 

 house, with a wide border down the centre for pyramidal trees in pots 

 or planted out, and borders at the side for smaller trees of similar 

 character, or in the form of bushes at the sides. Such structures are 

 either heated or not heated, and have all the characteristics of a 

 miniature orchard under glass. Many of our stone-fruits, such as 

 cherries and plums, set and finish their fruit better in such structures 

 than in peach or any other fruit-houses, chiefly from there being more 

 light and a freer, fuller ventilation. 



The routine of culture under glass does not differ from that on walls. 

 Attention to cleanliness, disbudding, pruning, stopping, and tying in 

 the young wood is required in both cases. Ventilation is the chief 

 difference, and this is of great moment. Air should always be 

 admitted early in the morning, and before the sun has raised the tem- 

 perature of the house more than five degrees. Sudden or extreme 

 changes of temperature must be guarded against, and the fruit must 

 not be overhung by the leaves in the last or ripening stages, else its 

 flavour will be injured. The winter treatment consists in excluding 

 frost only, at least from the roots. 



Applying a Preventive Composition. Previously to tying the trees to 

 the trellis, the whole of their stems, but not the bearing wood, should 

 be washed with a composition, formed of one pound of soft-soap, one 

 ounce of tobacco, and a little flowers of sulphur, mixed with as much 

 boiling water as will make the whole of the consistence of paint. This 

 composition is carefully applied with a painter's soft brush whilst it is 

 milk-warm. The process of cleaning should never be omitted at the 

 pruning season, as it clears the trees of brown scale. When the trees 

 are tied to the trellis, the borders may be slightly forked over and top- 

 dressed with fresh soil, or well-rotted manure if the trees are weak. 



