PEA 



PEA 



hind the shoots, may be taken away. 

 The remaining, if too thick, must he 

 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, 

 talcing away a few where crowded ; and 

 now the remainder may be reserved 

 until the stoning 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 swell- 

 ing, 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 rest period. Do 

 not brush off the foliage of peaches in 

 the autumn; the practice is not only 

 unscientific, but really absurd. If the 

 summer'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 shortening back as much of the 

 point of each shoot as appears imma- 

 ture, this is readily told by its colour 

 and general character. These things 

 done, the trees must be neatly trained, 

 and such should be completed by the 

 beginning of February, about which 

 time we cover ours to retard the blos- 

 som-bud. Before covering them, we 

 apply a sulphur-paint, as a preventive 

 of the red spider. This is simply sul- 

 phur beat up in soap-water, four 

 ounces of soft soap to a gallon, adding 

 nearly as much sulphur as it will carry, 

 and plenty of clay to give it a body. 

 This is applied in all directions, be- 

 tween 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 G-um is the principal, 

 and as a 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. Rich soils, 



also, must be avoided, and mammal 

 matters applied for the most part on 

 the surface. The Mildew 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. Blistered leaves 

 are said to be caused by cold at the 

 germinating period, but this we much 

 doubt. It probably arises from imper- 

 fect ripening of the wood in the pre- 

 ceding 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 

 described 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 sufficiently high to permit the 

 tallest person to walk with perfect con- 

 venience 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 conve- 

 nient, 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 direc- 

 tion either east or west, and goes out 

 at the point at which it entered. The 

 house takes two rows of peach or nec- 

 tai-ine trees, one of which is trained on 

 trellises, with intervals between for the 

 gardener to pass, parallel with the 

 dotted line'c. These trees must be 

 planted betAveen the flue and the front 



