VARIOUS SOILS. MULCHING. 



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careous soil. The situation should be 

 moist than dry, and they will do well where 

 there is no great depth of soil. It is useful to 

 remember this ; because light soils, especially if 

 at all sandy, are not adapted for peaches. These 

 require a firm and rather unctuous loam, deep, 

 but permeable, and they must have abundance 

 of calcareous matter. In the case of wall trees, 

 the borders should not be less than six feet broad, 

 and should slope gently downwards, and be well 

 drained. This is indispensable in the case of 

 peaches. These borders should never be cropped. 

 No early potatoes should ever be allowed to 

 encroach on the ground devoted to wall trees. 

 Fork lightly up these borders, removing the ( 

 weeds, but unless the soil be very heavy do not ) 

 dig them up. Mulch the borders in July, but ' } 

 never before that month ; because the ground is 

 not warmed enough till that period to shade it 

 from the sun by mulching : but after that time j 

 this operation is invaluable, as it checks evapora- : 

 tion and saves watering. In the late autumns 

 lightly fork in this mulching, which will then ( 

 be quite friable. You may renew it in the sum- ( 

 mer, as occasion requires; indeed, the proper 

 time to nourish the tree is during growing and 

 bearing season, and not when it should be at 

 rest, that is, in the winter. In cold localities, 

 however, mulching in winter has the advantage ,/ 

 of protecting the surface roots from the frost. 

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