of Peach Trees in Pots. 243 



taken up carefully, preserving all the smaller roots. When they 

 are to be potted, cut off the largest woody roots, and coil the 

 middling sized ones round the pot ; fill in the compost, and spread 

 out the small fibres as regularly as possible. Give the pot two 

 or three hard knocks to settle the soil. The branches should 

 then be cut in to within four or five inches of the stem, being 

 careful to perform the operation at a prominent wood-bud : after 

 this the plants may be set in a warm situation, and watered as 

 often as required ; they will soon commence growing, and will 

 make strong shoots and flower-buds the first season. The suc- 

 ceeding management is the same as will be detailed below. 



The method we have adopted, and which we believe to possess 

 many advantages over others, though requiring a little longer pe- 

 riod to bring to maturity, is, to raise the plants from the seed. 

 Peach stones can be procured almost anywhere, and it is immate- 

 rial how poor the kinds from which the plants are raised ; they 

 are merely wanted for stocks. Let them be collected together 

 in the fall of the year, and laid away for planting in the month of 

 November. At that time they should be sown in a bed in rows, 

 about three or four inches apart, and covered an inch or more in 

 depth. No other care is requisite through the winter ; and in the 

 month of May the plants will make their appearance above the 

 soil. About the first of June, when they will be two or three 

 inches high, with eight or ten leaves, preparations should be made 

 to pot as many as there are trees wanted, allowing an overplus, 

 as some may not grow very well, and, perhaps, a few of the 

 buds will not take. For this purpose, have ready a quantity of 

 sandy loam and leaf mould, in about equal parts, for a compost, 

 and the pots, of the fourth size (seven inches wide by seven 

 deep). Place some potsherds over the hole at the bottom, and 

 partly fill the pot with the prepared soil ; then take up the plant 

 carefully, and transfer it to the pot, filling up round it with the 

 compost, giving the pot two or three gentle taps, to settle the 

 soil well, and finish with a good watering through a fine rose water- 

 pot. The plants should then be placed in a warm shady situation 

 for a week or two, until well rooted, when they may be removed 

 into a sunny aspect, and the pots plunged up to the rims in the 

 soil. Throughout the summer they should occasionally receive 

 supplies of liquid manure, and the pots kept free from weeds. 

 When only five or six plants are wanted, they may generally be 

 found in the garden, where they often spring up from seeds, which 

 are carried in with the manure. They should be potted in the 

 same manner as above recommended. 



By the middle of the month of August they will, if properly 

 treated, have gained the height of twenty inches or more, with 

 shoots as large as a pipe-stem, and of sufficient size for budding. 

 The lower leaves should be stripped off to the height of eight or 



