Catalogue of Works on Gardening, Sfc. 311 



affording a quiet shelter, and inducing a general warmth, they are calculated 

 to encourage so many eddies and sudden gusts of wind, that cold and bleak- 

 ness are induced." " The best line for a garden wall is most certaiidy a straight 

 line ; and the best aspect for the peach the south, or the S., with but little 

 inchnation to either E. or W., especially the latter." (p. 62.) " The height 

 of the wall may vary from 8 ft. to 14 ft. Walls in cold bleak situations 

 may be sunk below the general surface of the garden, as they are at Walton, 

 the marine residence of R. D. Alexander, Esq., near Felixtow in Suffolk," 

 [and at Silverton Park (p. 2-t2.) in Devonshire]. Great care is requisite in 

 this case thoroughly to drain the border. " A border only 6 or 8 feet wide, 

 entirely devoted to the peach, is much better than one twice that width not 

 so devoted, that is cropped with deep-rooted and strong-growing vegetables." 

 (p. 67.) Wherever peach trees are worn out, the soil will be found to be no 

 less so, and the one requires to be renewed no less than the other. The 

 wavy fan mode of training " embraces one very good principle, and at the 

 same time one of the very worst which can possibly exist. The good is that 

 of elongating and elevating the under leader ; the evil is that of encouraging 

 a number of shoots upon the upper side of this leader, within the bosom of 

 the curve, to be produced and reproduced one above another ; every one, as 

 it is encouraged, becoming stronger than its producer, until the leader's 

 life is sucked away by them, and its amputation rendered unavoidable." The 

 common fan mode of training, so universally practised, is v/hat Mr. Smith 

 prefers to all other modes, elevating occasionally the extremities of the lower 

 shoots when it is necessarj' to add to their strength. 



Copious and frequent watering Mr. Smith considers essential to the growth 

 and fruitfulness of the peach, and this, we believe, is also the opinion of Mr. 

 Smith of Hopeton House Gardens. " The very finest and best Grosse Mig- 

 nonne peaches I ever saw were grown by my friend and neighbour, Mr. 

 William M'Credie, some years since, in a garden at that time occupied by him ; 

 and their superiority, it is certain, arose from the constancy of the supply of 

 moisture, communicated by means of a considerable-sized stream of water, 

 which ran immediately at, and in close contact with, the north side of the 

 wall against which the tree was planted. Again, the Barrington peach, cul- 

 tivated under circumstances differing from the above, by the water being at 

 the back of the wall, and stagnant, foul, and rising considerably above the 

 surface of the soil on the south side, but removed in the latter end of the 

 season, has been known to succeed admirably. 



" There is in the mind of many gardeners an idea that dry, very dry situ- 

 ations are most favourable to the growth of the peach, and especially that 

 there they are not liable to the attack of mildew ; this, however, is a mistake, 

 for in such places, and without a good supply of water being afforded, this 

 tree is as liable to infection from that disease as in any situation whatsoever ; 

 and indeed I have witnessed its existence upon a lofty and dry situation to a 

 most deplorable extent, even while under the care of gardeners of no mean 

 talent. I have also known one who, differing from them on the cause of 

 mildew, ventured to recommend copious watering as the principal means of 

 removing the pest. This course they adopted, and the result has been most 

 satisfactory. That the application of an abundance of water to cold soils, &c., 

 or in seasons which are unusually dull and cool, would be proper, let not any 

 one suppose, for this would indeed be the extreme of absurdity. There 

 should, under every circumstance connected with human operations, be che- 

 rished in the mind of the operator a due regard to that equilibrium which is 

 so essential to the well-being of all created things." (p. 97 — 100.) 



" Were it needful still to enlarge upon the propriety of administering large 

 quantities of water in a skilful manner, and on the beneficial effects thereof, the 

 trees upon the walls of R. N. Shawe, Esq., of Kesgrave, between Ipswich and 

 Woodbridge, under the management of my friend Garrod, gardener at that 

 place, might be referred to as an undeniable proof; for there the element 

 exists in abundance, and runs in a large stream continuously just in front of, 

 and at a few feet distance from, one of the principal south walls ; the peach 



