PEACHES AND NECTARINES- STRUCTURES AND ASPECTS. 



f-y 



fruit may be gathered in the hottest part of the day without deterioration, if placed 

 in a room, and allowed to cool and become perfectly mature before sending to table. 

 Fruit for packing should be rather under-ripe, yet if picked too soon will be uninviting 

 in appearance and indifferent in quality. 



CULTIVATION UNDER GLASS. 



Structures for the cultivation of peaches and nectarines vary exceedingly. One* 

 form consists of upright sashes placed at a sufficient distance only from trees on walls 

 to allow a person to attend to them. A belter 

 structure consists of front sashes, about 3 feet 

 high, fixed upright, and opening half their 

 depth outwards from the bottom, the whole 

 length of the house ; then sloping top lights, 

 2 feet deep, opening the whole length of the 

 structure. (See Fig. 30, Yol. II., page 76.) The 

 aspect of unheated lean-to houses should be 

 south-east, south or south-west, though east and 

 west aspects answer in favourable localities. It 

 is a decided advantage to have the roof lights 

 movable, in order that the trees may be 

 subjected to full exposure, after the wood is 

 thoroughly ripened and the leaves falling. 

 This ensures the thorough moistening of the 

 borders, and assists in retarding the blossom 

 buds in spring. In some places there are 

 no walls, and glass structures are employed 



instead, so arranged as to afford an agreeable promenade, as well as a supply of the 

 choicest fruit in season. A somewhat steep-roofed span forms an admirable substitute 

 for a wall, and is not more costly. (See Fig. 23, above). 



A lean-to house, having a wall to absorb the sun-heat by day and radiate it at 

 night, is less liable to have the temperature so reduced by spring frosts as to render the 

 blossoms and young fruit unsafe than is the case in a narrow, span-roofed house ; the 

 latter, therefore, should be artificially heated, especially in cold localities. In warm and 

 sheltered positions the frosts may not be so severe as to damage the blossom, provided 



Fig. 23. SECTION OF STEEP- SPAN-EOOF^ PJEACH 

 HOUSE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOE A WALL. (Scale : 

 | inch = 1 foot.) 



References :p, drains ; q, drainage ; r, rain- 

 water tank ; s, inside borders ; t, outside borders ; 

 u, 9-inch brick pillars ; v, oak heads to over open- 

 ings between, the pillars ; w, 4-inch hot- water 

 pipes ; x, side lights ; y, roof lights, movable ; 

 z, top lights ; a, trellises, 1 foot from the glass ; 

 b, trees ; c, path. 



