THE PEACH AND NECTARINE 97 



should be fixed horizontally, 9 inches apart, and fastened to iron pegs driven in 

 the wall at a distance from it of 2 inches. The front trellis should be made 

 of curved iron, should be fixed far enough from the front wall, so as to leave 

 room for a narrow path, wide enough only to admit of the person in charge 

 being able to attend to the trees in the way of tying, disbudding, syringing, 

 and gathering the fruit, &c. The wires of the trellis should be the same 

 distance apart, namely, 9 inches, and the trellis should be distant from the glass 

 at the centre 3 feet or more according to the size of the house, so that ample 

 light may be afforded the back wall trees. Where the one trellis system is 

 adopted, then 2 feet from the glass will be the proper distance for the trellis 

 to be fixed. 



Root-Pruning. — Do not order the trees until everything has been made 

 quite ready for planting, for the young roots are liable to serious injury if left 

 exposed for any length of time ; and even if carefully placed in soil to wait 

 some convenient time for planting, damage to some of the roots is sure to 

 follow. The trees I would recommend are fan-trained and three years old. 

 They should have five or six shoots of moderate size, and well ripened ; those 

 with gross and unripe growth are unsatisfactory. See also that the stem is 

 free from knots and bruises. Before planting carefully examine the roots, and 

 if any strong tap roots immediately below the stem are found, cut off to 

 within 7 inches of their bases. The difference in the mode of carrying out 

 this simple operation indicated will exercise a more or less controlling influence 

 on the tree for years afterwards. For instance, if the cut is made straight 

 across, or obliquely with the cut surface beneath, new roots which form may 

 grow down into the subsoil, thus aggravating the trouble it is desired to avoid. 

 An oblique upward cut will obviate this more or less, as the roots emanating from 

 such a cut will be more likely to extend in a horizontal or upward direction, 

 and, as a consequence, form useful surface roots, that all good cultivators 

 aim to secure. Some growers advocate the practice of bending the tap 

 root, without cutting at all, mamtaining that by this method tap roots are 

 altogether got rid of, and that surface roots form from the tap roots when 

 so treated. Roots of secondary strength should be served in the same way 

 as advised for the tap roots, but leaving them about 15 inches long. From 

 these cut roots a number of new fibrous roots will arise. If strong roots 

 are not restricted and made to produce quantities of fibrous and useful roots, 

 they will soon ruin the best-formed tree by producing strong, succulent, and 

 barren branches ; branches, moreover, which will be subject to gumming and 

 canker, two dreaded maladies. Besides the tap and secondary roots which have 

 been considered, there should be a number of small healthy fibrous ones. 

 These must not be interfered with further than to cut out any which are 

 damaged. 



Planting. — In filling up the narrow borders between the turf walls I 

 advised that the soil should be placed rather loosely and heaped up, so that at 

 planting time when pressed down it would fill the border to within about 2 

 inches of the surface of the turf wall. Presuming that the soil is neither 

 very wet nor very drj', it should be trodden down firmly, and the trees 



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