THE DIAGONAL CORDON. 23 



CHAP. VI. 

 CORDON TRAINING IN PEACH TREES. — THE DIAGONAL CORDON. 



" If any cue tree lias occupied the attention of cultivators 

 more than another, it is surely the peach." So says the 

 editor of the Gardener's Chronicle ; and so many have done 

 so, that it may almost be asked if the matter be not exhaust- 

 ed. The article from which this is quoted proceeds to lay 

 down three conditions as necessary to success in peach cul- 

 ture, which is what we are now considering. The first indis- 

 pensable condition for success is, that the soil must be loell 

 drained; and secondly, that the wood must ripen thoroughly ; 

 and thirdly, that as the wood of the Jirst and third year pro- 

 duces no fruit, it must be looked for only on the wood of the 

 second year. I hope to be able to show satisfactorily that 

 these requisites can best be obtained by cordon training, com- 

 bhied with attention to other important particulars. 



The peach, like the pear, is a standard of perfection among 

 fruit trees ; but each requires a widely different treatment. 

 The peach coming from a climate tropical in its summer 

 heats, drier at most seasons than ours, and yet subject to ex- 

 tremely severe frosts, when transplanted to England is placed 

 under very different conditions. These arise chiefly from the 

 want of sun-heat at the necessary period ; but above all, from 

 the excessive moisture of spring and autumn. As to our 

 frosts, these are not often injurious to the tree itself, but they 

 affect the blossoms when setting. Nevertheless, precautions 

 can be used in out-door culture which somewhat obviate this 

 disadvantage ; yet it is difficult to know how to ward off the 

 drenching autumnal rains, which ruin all hopes of ripe wood. 

 It is here that cultivation under glass is most valuable. 



It is no woiKier, then, if the tree should have been written 

 about till the very name of peach becomes odious to readers 

 of horticultural subjects ; and it is not a matter of surprise, 

 if even the ancients blundered amusingly when they wrote 



