THE PEACH. 



the practice of every man in the country that cultivates a 

 peach tree. After he has seen and tasted its good effects, we 

 do not fear his laying it aside.* 



Training the peach tree against walls or espaliers is hut little 

 practised in this country, except in the neighbourhood of Boston. 

 Espalier training, on a small scale, is however, highly worthy of 

 the attention of persons desiring this fruit in the colder parts of 

 the country, where it does not succeed well as a standard. 

 Every where in New-England excellent crops may be pro- 

 duced in this way. Full directions for training the peach with 

 illustrations are given in page 38. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES. For a considerable time after the 

 peach was introduced into America, it was grown every where 

 south of the 40 of latitude, we may say literally without cul- 

 tivation. It was only necessary to plant a stone in order to 

 obtain, in a few years, and for a long time, an abundance of 

 fruit. Very frequently these chance seedlings were of ex- 

 cellent quality, and the finer grafted varieties were equally 

 luxuriant. In our new western lands this is now true, except 

 where tae disease is carried from the east. But in the older 

 Atlantic states, two maladies have appeared within the last 

 twenty years, which, because they are little understood, have 

 rendered this fine fruit tree comparatively short-lived, and of 

 little value. These are the Peach borer, and the Yellows. 



The PEACH BORER, or Peach- worm (jEgeria exitiosa, Say.) 



* While this is going through the press our attention is drawn to the following 

 lemarkable examples of the good effects of regular pruning, which we translate 

 from the leading French Journal of Horticulture. We ask the attention of our 

 readers to these cases, especially after perusing our remarks on the Yellows and 

 its cause. 



" M. Duvilliers laid before the Koyal Society of Horticulture, an account of 

 some old peach trees that he had lately seen at the Chateau de Villiers, near 

 Ferte-Aleps (Seine-et-Oise.) These trees, eight in number, are growing upon a 

 terrace wall, which they cover perfectly, and yield abundant crops. The gardener 

 assured M. Duvilliers that they had been under his care during the thirty years 

 that he had been at the chateau, that they were ns large when he first saw them 

 as at present, and that he supposed them to be at least sixty years old. We cannot 

 doubt (says the editor,) tkat it is to the annual pruning that these peach trees owe 

 this long lift ; for the peach trees that are left to themselves in the latitude of Paiis, 

 never live beyond twenty or thirty years. M. Duvilliers gave the accurate measure- 

 ment of the trunks and branches of these trees, and stated, what it is more inte- 

 resting to know, that although all their trunks are hollow, like those of old wil- 

 lows, yet their vigour and fertility are still quite unimpaired. (Annales de la So- 

 deled" Horticulture, tome xxx. p. 53.)- 



In volume 25, p. 67 of the same journal, is an account of a remarkable peach 

 Iree in the demesne of M. Joubert, near Ville-neuve-le Roi, (departement de 

 1'Yonne.) It is trained against one of the wings of the mansion, covers a large 

 space with its branches, and the circumference of its trunk, taken at some dis- 

 tance from the ground, is two feet and a half. It rs known to be, actually, of more 

 than 93 years growth, and is believe;! to be more than 100 years old. It is still 

 in perfect health and vigour. It is growing in strong soil, but it has been regu- 

 larly subjected to an uniform and severe system of pruningr, equivalent to our 

 shortoning-in mode. Where can any peach tree, of half this age, be found in 

 the United States naturally a much more favourable climate for it, than that 

 rf France 1 



