150 WHYTOCK—THE CULTIVATION OF 
such places, it is best to make a concrete floor (one of cement to 
six of sandy gravel), the surface of which should be three feet 
below the ground-level. This floor should slope from the back 
wall to the outside of the front border, with a good drain running 
outside and parallel with the outer edge of the front border. On 
the concrete floor lay lines of tile drains eight feet apart running 
at right angles to the main drain in front, then cover the whole 
floor and tile drains with nine inches broken stones or rough 
screened gravel, and over the gravel put a layer of sods, grass- 
side down. That would leave a depth of border of two-and-a- 
half feet, because we usually raise our borders a few inches above 
the ground-level. The width of the outside border should be the 
same as the width of house. In making up new borders for 
peach-trees they should be made as for vines. Give just breadth 
enough for the trees for two years, three feet inside and the 
same outside, then add three feet more to serve for another two 
years. Peach-trees do best in every way in a heavy marly soil. 
They live much longer in it and give much larger fruit than in a 
light soil. Indeed, peach-trees never thrive right, however well 
manured, in a poor soil. The soil should be taken fresh from an 
old pasture, chopped in pieces six inches square, and if of the 
right kind, the only mixture wanted is well broken lime-rubbish. 
If the soil is of a light nature I would mix one spadeful of bone- 
meal with every barrowful of soil, and with the last six inches of 
soil on the top I would mix a good fertiliser. I have proved 
Thomson’s vine-manure an excellent manure for peach-trees on 
poor soils. 
In planting a new peach-house with young trees, I should 
plant double the number of trees required eventually to fill it, 
and, adhering to my conviction that training against the roof is 
the best, I should plant along the front of the house dwarf- 
trained trees, and along the middle and half way up the roof I 
should plant standard-trained trees with long clean stems, thus 
covering the whole roof in very quick time. In a year or two 
some of these will need removing to give the remaining ones room 
to grow. This removing will be a benefit rather than otherwise 
to the trees removed, and in gardens of fair extent there are 
always some worn-out trees to be replaced or vacancies to fill up. 
Young peach-trees, when planted in a good well-made border, 
