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set in holes amid untrenched ground, have come to the end 

 of their possibilities. The increasing compactness of the 

 soil, drenched and dried alternately, and the clogging of 

 what natural drainage existed along the water-table slope, 

 has slowly killed out the roots, and the topmost branches, 

 with the imperfectly ripened late wood of the year, die 

 back to the usual stag-horn pattern. Then follow attempts 

 to revive the tree, hot manure to the collar, and excessive 

 flooding by irrigation. The whole root-system becomes 

 involved in the mischief, and we have a case of what we 

 may term " Cape Peach Yellows." It is such a pity that 

 the art and mystery of tree-growing is treated so differ- 

 ently from other arts and mysteries. ISTo man pretends 

 that with a piece of leather, an awl, and a few wax-ends, 

 lie can make a shoe, on the strength of having seen and 

 worn shoes all his life. A man who pretends to cure dis- 

 eases without having passed through the severe study and 

 practice of the medical schools is we all know a quack, 

 that is a mixture of rogue and fool in varying proportions. 

 Yet every third man you meet in the country will under- 

 take to plant an orchard and grow peaches without having 

 learned the first principles of the gardener's art. It is but 

 to dig holes and put trees in-- what more would you have ! 

 The trees do the best they can for him as long as possible. 

 At length they succumb. Even their exceptional vigour 

 and hardiness gives in at last. If we are going to do things 

 light and act fairly by our trees we must study their special 

 wants and provide for them. The peach demands one thing 

 above all, that is a thorough and free drainage. The actual 

 content of the soil itself is of much less import than the 

 great requirement of unchecked respiration of the roots, 

 and that can only be got by ensuring the rapid escape 

 downward and away of all the natural rain, and still more 

 of the artificial irrigation water, sucking in the vital air 

 it holds in solution. No planned drainage then no veteran 

 peach trees, nothing but short-lived invalids cut off before 

 their prime. The soil must be a sandy loam, with a 

 tendency to dry out rather than to retain moisture. Sodden 

 clay is not worth the labour required to bring it by liming 

 and vegetable manure to anything like the proper soil for 

 the peach. Just as your soil gets further away from the 



