PEA 



[615] 



PEA 



him merely pinch the point instead 

 of totally removing it; at the finish- 

 ing disbudding he will perceive whether 

 it may be entirely stripped away. Dis- 

 budding should be completed a little 

 before Midsummer. During this period 

 the fruit must be thinned, if too thick, 

 and this may be done at three different 

 periods ; the first, when the fruit is as 

 large as a marble, when all malforma- 

 tions, and those crowded behind the 

 shoots, may be taken away. The re- 

 maining, if too thick, must be singled 

 out, leaving none in pairs or touching 

 each other. At this period, they may 

 average three inches apart all over the 

 tree. In about three weeks, another 

 slight thinning may be made, taking away 

 a few where crowded ; and now the re- 

 mainder may be reserved until the ston- 

 ing is nearly completed, which will be in 

 the course of July, when all not wanted 

 may be plucked away. It is difficult to 

 give any set rule as to distance, so much 

 depends on the powers of the trees ; from 

 six to eight inches apart, finally, may be 

 considered a fair crop. Water should be 

 liberally supplied during their swelling, 

 if the weather is dry. All gross shoots, 

 or robbers, should be pinched when 

 about six inches in length, throughout 

 all the growing season. 



Culture during the Eest Period Do not 

 brush off the foliage of peaches in the 

 autumn ; the practice is not only unsci- 

 entific, but really absurd. If the sum- 

 mer's management has been right, the 

 pruning will be but a small affair. It 

 consists of thinning out the shoots which 

 had escaped notice in summer, and short- 

 ening back as much of the point of each 

 shoot as appears immature : this is rea- 

 dily told by its colour and general cha- 

 racter. These things done, the trees 

 must be neatly trained, and such should 

 be completed by the beginning of Febru- 

 ary, about which time we cover ours to 

 retard the blossom-bud. Before cover- 

 ing them we apply a sulphur-paint, as a 

 preventive of the red spider. This is 

 simply sulphur beat up in soap-water, 

 four ounces of soft soap to a gallon, add- 

 ing nearly as much sulphur as it will 

 carry, and plenty of clay to give it a body. 

 This is applied in all directions, between 

 the shoots, with a painter's brush. In 

 order to soften the colour, it is well to 

 add plenty of soot to the mixture. 



Diseases. -The Gum is the principal ; 



and as & gumming habit is readily in- 

 duced by wounds, especially if the tree 

 be growing in a deep and rich soil, great 

 care must be exercised at all times not to 

 wound them. Eich soils, also, must be 

 avoided, and manurial matters applied, 

 for the most part, on the surface. The 

 Idildew is a great annoyance to some 

 cultivators. Sulphur is the best remedy, 

 and an avoidance of extremes of wet and 

 dry at the root the best preventive. Blis- 

 tered leaves are said to be caused by cold 

 at the germinating period ; but this we 

 much doubt. It probably arises from 

 imperfect ripening of the wood in the 

 preceding season, caused by ungenial 

 soil and ill-training ; indeed, it would 

 not be difficult to trace three-fourths of 

 the evils to which the peach is liable to 

 ill-conditioned wood. 



Insects. See APHIS and ACARUS. 



Forcing: Form of House. The best 

 form for a peach-house is that thus de- 

 scribed by the late T. E. Knight, Esq. : 



As the lights, to be moved to the re- 

 quired extent with facility, must neces- 

 sarily be short, the back wall of the house 

 must scarcely extend nine feet in height, 

 and this height raises the rafters suffi- 

 ciently high to permit the tallest person 

 to walk with perfect convenience under 

 them. The lights are divided in the 

 middle at the point A, and the lower are 

 made to slide down to the D, and the 

 upper to the point A. The flue, or hot- 

 water pipe, enters on the east or west 

 end as most convenient, and passes 

 within six inches of the east and west 

 wall, but not within less than two feet of 

 the low front wall, and it returns in a 

 parallel line through the middle of the 

 house, in the direction either east or 

 west, and goes out at the point at which 

 it entered. The house takes two rows of 

 peach or nectarine trees, one of which is 

 trained on trellises, with intervals be- 

 tween for the gardener to pass, parallel 

 with the dotted line c. These trees must 

 be planted between the flue and the 



