Historical Notices of the Peach Tree. 409 



houses after three o'clock in the afternoon. If air be admitted 

 until the house is completely cooled, a large fire may be neces- 

 sary to support the requisite temperature ; and it is evident that 

 sun heat is better and cheaper than fire heat. In cold dull 

 weather, when there is no sunshine, unless the day should be 

 stormy, a little air, although only for a quarter of an hour in the 

 middle of the day, will be beneficial. This will be unnecessary 

 in dull weather, before the buds of the vines are well swelled. 

 From this stage, until the first leaves of the vines are fully ex- 

 panded, plenty of air should be given during the day, in clear 

 weather ; but, as the plants become covered with foliage, less air 

 will be requisite, until the grapes are nearly ripe; when air 

 should be more copiously admitted, so that the fruit may be well 

 flavoured. The details of watering, &c, are generally known to 

 gardeners. Those who want grapes early in the season must, of 

 course? commence earlier than I do ; and, perhaps, give a little 

 more heat during the day, in dull weather, than I have recom- 

 mended ; but the temperature I keep my vines at, during the 

 night, is quite sufficient for a vinery. Vines in pine stoves 

 must, of necessity, be subjected to different treatment ; but in 

 vine-houses where grapes are not required until the end of 

 July, or beginning of August, the plan that I have recom- 

 mended will be found an easy, economical, and successful mode 

 of obtaining a good crop. 



Cranston Hill Gardens, Sept. 22. 1838. 



Art. IX. Historical Notices respecting the Training and Pruning of 

 the Peach Tree in France. Extracted from a Report made to the 

 Horticultural Society of Paris in July, 1836, and published in the 

 " Annales d'Horticulture," vol. xix. 



Since the age of Louis XIV., the commune of Montreuil has 

 been celebrated for the culture and training of the peach ; and its 

 industrious and laborious inhabitants are almost all exclusively de- 

 voted to the same pursuit, and v/ith equal success. The fame of 

 Montreuil attracted the attention of the famous La Quintinie, the 

 founder and director of the fruit and kitchen garden at Versailles. 

 La Quintinie, who was then considered the first trainer of trees 

 in Europe, was astonished to hear that these simple villagers 

 were successful, by following principles different from his own. 

 He therefore engaged the son of Pepin, one of the most dis- 

 tinguished persons employed in training the peach in Montreuil, 

 to leave his native village and come to Versailles, and train the 

 trees in the royal gardens under his immediate inspection. It 

 is unnecessary to mention the disputes that arose between young 

 Pepin and his master, and we need only say that they did not 

 agree; that the young Pepin returned to train his father's trees 



