AMY 



that has heen already seen, stocks for this pur- 

 pose may be raised" from different varieties of 

 plums, as well as peaches, almonds and apricots : 

 however, the true muscle plum cannot with such 

 certainty be produced in this way, as when raised 

 by seed, being liable to great variety. The 

 only method that promises success is by layers 

 or suckers, from peach or other trees that have 

 been worked upon that sort of plum stock, which 

 may be collected in autumn, or the early spring- 

 months, selecting such as are of the size of the 

 little linger, which, after the side branches and 

 knots of old wood that adhere to the roots have 

 been trimmed off, should be planted about two 

 feet and a half distant, in rows. Of these some 

 will be ready to bud for dwarfs the following- 

 summer. The stocks most proper for budding 

 upon, in order to form dwarfs, are those of from 

 half an inch to an inch in thickness, and those 

 of stems an inch thick at the bottom, and four 

 or five feet high, for half or full standards. 



The season most properfor budding is August; 

 as when this operation is performed in the earlier 

 months the buds are liable to put out weak shoots 

 the same season, and the winter to injure them so 

 greatly as almost to prevent their progress. 



As trees of this kind are mostly trained against 

 »ome sort of fence, to bud them so as to form 

 dwarf's should be a principal motive: the stocks 

 should therefore be budded within five or six- 

 inches of the bottom, so that the branches may 

 come out low, and by degrees be trained to oc- 

 cupy every part of the wall : however, where the 

 fences are high, they may be budded for half 

 or full standards, and trained accordingly : care 

 should be taken, in the performance of this busi- 

 ness, that only one bud be inserted into each 

 stock, the head of which should remain perfect 

 until the spring : about March the whole of the 

 heads should be cut over in a sloping direction, 

 just above the insertion of the buds ; presently 

 after which the buds will shoot out, each pro- 

 ducing a strong erect shoot, which will have at- 

 tained a considerable height by the autumn, 

 and the trees by that time have acquired their 

 first state of formation, which, in the autumn or 

 early spring months, as October and November, 

 or February and March, should be transplanted 

 against walls proper for the purpose, and where 

 they are finally to remain; or occasionally against 

 a reed fence or paling, for training, one, two 

 or three years, to give them the requisite forma- 

 tion as wall trees, previously to their being 

 placed into their allotted situations : whichever 

 method may be practised, it will be necessary to 

 have the first shoot headed down to a few eyes, 

 in order to produce a sufficient supply of lateral 

 shoots below. The trees, in this way, may be 

 expected to fruit in two or three years. 



AMY 



Trtes of this sort succeed best in soils thai are 

 tolerably diy, but not too open or porous. Mr. 

 Forsyth t hinks that a light mellow loam is the most 

 proper soil for peaches, as they require it to be 

 lighter than either the pear or the plum. In places 

 where the natural soil inclines to clay, or a strong 

 brick earth, in order to prepare the borders for 

 the trees, it may be necessary to take some part 

 of the soil away, and to mix it with light mould, 

 sand, or old lime-rubbish ; and in making up the 

 borders, a further quantity of earth should be 

 taken out, at the places where trees are to be 

 planted, to the depth of three feet, and the 

 breadth of four, and mixed well with street-dung, 

 or rotten leaves, and the above substances, throw- 

 ing- up the whole together into rough high ridges, 

 in order to its being fully exposed to the action of 

 the frost, and the mellowing influence of the 

 winter season. 



In no case where it is intended to plant these 

 trees against walls should the borders be nar- 

 rower than three or four feet, and when made 

 six or seven feet they are better. 



In places where the soil is of a moist wet kind, 

 it would be advisable, in the opinion of the same 

 writer, to lay deep drains across the borders, to 

 communicate with others along the walks, in 

 order to draw the water from the roots of the 

 plants : in the bottoms of these cross drains may 

 be put, old bricks or stones, with gravel above, 

 taking care to have at least two feet of good 

 mould to the surface; and if the ground has a 

 stiffness and tendency to retain water after rains, 

 the borders should be laid with a suitable slope, 

 to carry it off as much as possible, and prevent 

 its stagnating about the roots of the trees. In 

 sour moist clay soils, brick-bats or cores from 

 the screening of lime may be thrown into the 

 bottoms of the borders, and rammed so as to 

 form a solid surface, and then covered with dry 

 lime-rubbish, which may prevent the roots 

 of the trees from entering the wet earth or clay, 

 and also materially contribute to take off the 

 water. 



And in cases where there is not sufficient de- 

 scent to take off the water in an expeditious man- 

 ner, hollow covered drains may be formed in the 

 bottoms of the walks, about the middle, the 

 sides being filled up with brick-bats and small 

 stones in finishing, the walks being well rounded 

 to throw the water to the sides. 



The vegetable disease termed mildew is, it is 

 added, the certain consequence of water being 

 suffered to stagnate near the roots of tender trees 

 in strong soils, and they are thereby almost en- 

 tirely spoiled. In some instances it may, per- 

 haps, be possible, by moving them to a drier 

 soil and different aspect, to recover them. It is 

 to be remarked that all the French peaches, on 



