FRUIT GARDEN. 235 



artificial shelter of walls ; which, from many experi- 

 ments made in the most crowded parts of our cities, 

 are believed to be useful in maturing fruits of many 

 kinds, and especially to such as are of southern ori- 

 gin and delicate constitution, as the peach, the nec- 

 tarine, the fig, &c. The rules which apply to this 

 branch of the art are few and simple, and will be re- 

 served for a future subject (the peach-tree), as one 

 to which they better apply than to the apple-tree. 



Of Thinning.* In using this term, we confine 

 ourselves to the removal of superfluous leaves and 

 fruit ; an operation which, though proper and use- 

 ful, must be cautiously performed ; as, in the vege- 

 table economy, the office to which the leaf is des- 

 tined is very important : being the supply of the 

 Elant with that portion of its subsistence derived 

 om the atmosphere. We know of no purpose, 

 therefore, that will justify us in stripping off any 

 considerable part of the foliage, unless it be that of 

 maturing fruit and wood, which, from constitutional 

 defects or a faulty situation, would not otherwise 

 ripen. Peaches, pears, grapes, and some varieties 

 of apples, occasionally come within this description ; 

 and though the process may not be equally indispen- 

 sable to them all, yet all are undoubtedly improved 

 by it. The rule which governs in this case is, " to 

 remove such leaves as shade the fruit, so soon as 

 this has attained its full size, and begins to lose its 

 green colour." To do it earlier would impair the 

 growth of the fruit ; and to do it rigorously and at 

 once, would arrest that of the retained shoots: 

 whence it follows that " the thinning must be grad- 

 ual, and at two or more different times during the 

 space of five or six days."f If the leaves of wall- 

 trees hang longer than usual, they should be brushed 

 off, the better to ventilate and ripen the young wood ; 



* Encyclopaedia of Gardening. 



t Not applicable, or, if applicable, seldom or ever practised on 

 the farm. J. B. 



