J()r grotinng the finer Fruits. 361 



management of some peach and nectarine trees trained upon 

 an inclined wall, or, more properly, paved bank, that forms part 

 of the beautiful grounds of Henry Dawkins, Esq., of Encombe, 

 Kent; and I confess that I entered upon the task brimful of all 

 the prejudices that had been advanced upon the subject. The 

 wall for the trees in question was formed by paving the lower 

 part of a high steep bank, forming a natural crescent-like con- 

 cavity, the middle of which faces due south ; the ends, conse- 

 quently, giving a somewhat east and west aspect. The whole 

 was perfectly sheltered by the precipitous bank, densely covered 

 with pinasters above, and equally so by shrubs of lower growth 

 in front ; so that a more favoured spot could not possibly be 

 selected for the growth of plants requiring intense heat to perfect 

 their fruits ; so favourable, indeed, that I should have supposed 

 trees so situated, planted upon common or perpendicular walls, 

 would have equally succeeded, had I not been shown the con- 

 trary, by a wall, in every respect the counterpart of the sloping 

 one (the slope excepted), invariably ripening the fruit upon it 

 from a month to nearly six weeks later. The fruit upon the 

 perpendicular wall, from its truly favoured locality, is excellent 

 and early, but still, in every respect, inferior to that benefited by 

 an inclined surface ; a fact more apparent in seasons deficient in 

 summer heat, when the fruit upon the common wall has, in 

 some cases, ripened partially ; but in no instance, during the 

 seven years that it has been under my observation, has there 

 ever been a failure upon the sloping one. 



Thus the so much talked of moisture, the baneful effect of 

 hoarfrost and dew, upon the upturned blossoms, are only so 

 many bugbears conjured up to deter from making such erec- 

 tions. (Why.^) The supposition that they are damp, or inju- 

 riously moist, is a positive mistake. The fact is, the heat caused 

 by the action of perpendicular solar rays upon them is often 

 such, that ample supplies of water are indispensable to keep the 

 foliage from being scorched up ; nor does this wall, although 

 now of considerable age, exhibit a single speck of fungus of any 

 sort, or any of the invariable concomitants of damp. Should 

 the position of the blossoms in such cases be more than a fancied 

 evil, it is evidently more than counterbalanced by some positive 

 good. 



Amongst the advantages plants derive from their position on 

 inclined surfaces, light must hold a prominent place; its influ- 

 ence extends to every vegetable production, and is even bene- 

 ficial to the soil in which they grow. Trees naturally grow 

 with greatest vigour at their extremities ; placed upright, the 

 evil is aggravated, and the ill-placed luxuriance goes far to 

 deprive the lower parts of the plant of all perpendicular light ; 

 an evil that cannot affect them in an inclined position, where the 



