June 20, 1865. ] 



JOTJBNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



469 







WEEKLY CALENDAR. 















Day 



ot 



M'nth 



"o? 



Week. 



JUNE 20-26. ,865. A^er^^r l^-nron^'"" 



Rain in 



last 

 28 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Snn 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Seta. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 



before 

 San. 



Day of 

 Year. 



20 

 21 

 22 

 23 

 24 

 25 

 26 



Tn 

 Vf 

 Th 



F 



8 



Son 



M 



Day. 

 Queen Victobia. Access., 1837. 72.1 

 Qo. Vrcr. Proclaimkd. Longest 73.8 

 Sun's declination 2i>' 27' N. l.Day. 73.4 

 Foxglove flowers. i 72.3 

 MiDs. D«. N.\T. Jons BiPTHT. 73.8 

 2 Sunday after Trinity. i 72.7 

 St, John's Wort flowers. 1 73.8 



Night. 

 49.1 

 51.0 

 49,5 

 47,3 

 49.3 

 49.6 

 50.2 



Mean. 



60.6 

 62.4 

 61.5 

 69.8 

 61.'i 

 61.1 

 62.0 



Dav«. 

 18 

 16 

 16 

 15 

 15 

 19 

 19 



m. h 

 44af3 

 45 3 

 45 3 

 45 3 



45 3 

 •16 3 



46 3 



m. h. 

 18af3 



18 H 



19 8 

 19 8 

 19 8 

 19 8 

 19 8 



m. h. 



47 1 

 28 2 

 17 S 

 14 4 

 17 5 

 24 6 

 31 7 



m. h. 



4 5 

 13 6 

 13 7 



4 8 



47 8 

 22 9 

 52 9 



27 



21 



29 



• 



1 



2 



3 



m. 6. 

 1 13 

 1 26 

 1 39 



1 52 

 ■2 5 



2 IS 

 2 31 



171 

 172 

 173 

 174 

 175 

 17S 

 177 



From obaenations taken near London durin» the la.st tliirtr-eiifht vears, the aver.iie day temperatare of the week is 73.1°, and Iti night 

 temperature 49.4'. The greatest heat was 9J' on the 22iid, 1846; and the lowest cold, ii°, on the SSrd, 1851. The greatest fall of rain was 

 0.72 Inch. 





I 



THE MODEEN PEACH-PEUiSrEE. 

 No. 11. 



THEOET OP LONG PKCNING. 



HE object of all piiming is not to 

 increase the rigour of the entire 

 tree, but to control and niodif}' 

 that vigour, and so accelerate 

 and regulate the fruiting period. 

 Pruning, conjointly with appro- 

 priate training, claims to be able 

 to add to the longevity of fruit 

 trees. This is eifected by balanc- 

 ing the separate parts. More 

 than this ought not to be expected from any 

 system of pruning. This, to be successful, 

 must be based on an accurate knowledge of 

 the habits of each kind, which knowledge is 

 the result of observation and experience. It is here that 

 the recorded opinions of men eminent in their profession 

 are valuable ; for, though the Peach tree adapts itself to 

 many varying conditions of culture, there are certain 

 principles which should be ever kept in mind. 



Those who have seen the Peach-orchards of the south 

 of Europe, and of America, know how little care is gene- 

 rally bestowed on them beyond manuring the roots. In 

 these favourable climates standards, three years old are 

 laden with fruit. They bear thus, exhaust themselves, 

 and decay, without more than a casual attention being 

 paid to them. This is culture reduced to its simplest 

 elements ; but even in such cases experience has shown 

 the value of some kind of pruning. This, according to 

 Downing, consist in cutting out one-half of the shoots 

 of last year's growth. The crop is diminished by one- 

 half, but the size of the remainder is doubled. In the 

 more northern states espalier training is in vogue, re- 

 quiring far more care. The attention paid to Peach 

 culture in northern and mid-France equals that required 

 in England. Superb fruit is grown in America in nearly 

 every part, but. in France, only where scientific training 

 is employed ; for the standard-grown Peaches of the 

 southern districts are valueless. In England, therefore, 

 it is useless to expect success without labour and skill, 

 and foreigners do well to admire the great results pro- 

 duced imder such difficult conditions. 



ISTo one can now reasonably doubt the immense boon 

 which the introduction of orchard-houses has been to 

 lovers of the Peach. We, who are conversant with the 

 best prod'ictious of foreign climates, know that fruit 

 grown in well-managed orchard-houses is UteraUy un- 

 equalled ; but to do this is not in the power of every one. 

 To simplify, then, as much as possible the process of 

 learning must be our object, and no system, however 

 sound, can be really useful if it be complicated. For 

 this reason alone more than one excellent teacher has 

 failed. 



Peach culture is not really difficult to practise ; it may 

 become so by injudicious treatment. When we read the 

 No. 221.— Vol. Till., New Series. 



works of the best writers on this subject we cannot fail 

 to see how simple the whole process seemed to be to the 

 minds of some of them. In several the whole instruction 

 for the summer and winter is contained in a dozen lines. 

 To keep the roots well drained, to lay in a good supply 

 of bearing wood, to remove that whieli had fruited, and 

 not to shorten-in too much, were almost the only in- 

 junctions given. ^NTo indication.^ were thought necessary 

 by which the amateur could distinguish the various classes 

 of shoots ; some vague and general directions as to dis- 

 budding were added. It is evident that instructions of 

 this brief and general nature presupposed a larger ac- 

 quaintance with the subject than usually occurs with 

 amateurs, and, being unaccompanied by illustrations, 

 they, though written by first-class growers, failed to 

 teach much. On the other hand, in such a plain matter 

 as pruning the Peach, it is really absurd to attempt to 

 teach it by elaborate and complicated rules. Much of 

 the xjresent style is of this kind (especially on the con- 

 tinent), and, on this account, will never be acceptable to 

 English gardeners. The excessively-long pruning prac- 

 tised in the days of our fathers was, however, almost as 

 pedantic and as strange to read of now. Here we find 

 the traditional " good supply of .young shoots, and thin- 

 ning out the old and unproductive ones as soon as they 

 appear naked," &c. Then comes the direction to lay in 

 the " shoots of medium size, and full of flower-buds, at full 

 length, from 2 to 3 inches apart." " All forerights and 

 supernumeraries to be rubbed off during the summer 

 months, as soon as they have reached an inch in length." 

 In this case no cluster-spurs could be retained, and it is 

 evident that, there being no mention of disbudding in 

 this case, the long shoots, laid in closelj-, must have 

 crowded the tree, and caused much overgrowth. What 

 the tree must have looked like at the winter pruning it 

 is impossible to say. Other later writers of eminence 

 recommend the shoots to be shortened to 14 inches, if 

 strong, and weak shoots to about 6. At Montreuil about 

 13 inches, in general, is the ride as to length of shoot. 



The unnatural and needless system of disbudding 

 seems to have manj" advocates in the authors before us. 

 Indeed, with one author it constitutes the chief part of 

 his recommendations. To laj' in a shoot (the length not 

 stated), but evidently at its fullest extent, and to disbud 

 it in three times — (ihere is great stress laid upon this 

 number) — to leave only the tei'minal bud, and one at the 

 base — (for a replacing shoot) — and to allow one or more 

 Peaches to grow on the naked shoot between them, is 

 really the whole that is stated. Another wi'iter considers 

 disbudding a " most important consideration." It wUl, 

 however, be seen that later practice prefers the judicious 

 summer stopping of the shoot, whereby the same result 

 is obtainable by more simple and natural means. 



The result of such a style of long pruning almost 

 always is, that far more wood is grown than is wanted. 

 The tree exhausts itself, especially in our humid climate, 

 in the production of long unripened shoots, and the 

 pruner, at the winter season, sees before him three times 

 as much wood as he requires for fruiting. If he be one 

 No. STo.-Vot. XXXIII., Old Series. 



