232 THE PEACH AUD NECTAEINE. 



flight o'clock in the morning, and are by no means to be oonfonnded with 

 the summer shower bath already commended. Such sprinklings have 

 been held by some to be uaefal in washing the pollen home. But their 

 potency, i£ any, is far more likely to arise from their refreshing effect on 

 the stigma and embryo fruit. Close observation over a series of years 

 shows that the finest sets of peaches have mostly followed a showery 

 flowering time. There seems, therefore, good reason for creating arti- 

 ficial showers when the clouds withhold them, and experience is in 

 favour of doing so. 



11. — Thinning. 



This, of necessity, follo-ws a free set of fruit ; for a peach tree fuUy 

 furnished with bearing wood will probably set ten or twenty times as many 

 fruit as should be allowed to swell. The French, who have a superior 

 climate in the southern parts, and are altogether more skilful and more 

 venturesome in peach-growing than British cultivators, boldly practise 

 bud-thinning to prevent such excessively profuse sets of fruit. But this 

 should not be indulged in in our climate. What with the frosts and the 

 birds, our fruit buds are not seldom over thinned. And even after the 

 fruit are set they are by no means out of danger. As seasons have 

 gone of late years, peaches should not be thinned till the end of May- 

 It is hardly possible to pronounce any of them safe till then. Neither 

 do the, young fruit drain the trees much at first. The severe cases of 

 overcrowding may be so much thinned as to prevent injury or malformation 

 from mechanical pressure. Beyond that, leave the young peaches till all 

 danger from killing frosts is past. During their earlier stages of growth 

 they perform functions analogous to leaves, and draw little strength out 

 of the trees. 



At the first thinning, towards the end of May, it is also wise to leave 

 almost a double crop, for peaches not seldom take the matter of the 

 final thinning into their own keeping. TTufortunately, too, our selection 

 and the trees' final selection after or during the stoning period is not 

 always identical. So that if we thin a crop before stoning, and the tree 

 — which is probable — casts some of our fruit in the process, we may be 

 left with a light crop at the last. As soon as the fruits are stoned the 

 oultivator should proceed with a firm hand to his final reduction. 



The exact distance to leave peaches apart can seldom be determined 

 or carried out with mathematical precision ; faults in the setting and 

 the chapter of accidents prevent that. Peaches also vary much in size 

 and weight ; at a rough guess it may be stated that a peach to every 

 three square inches is a heavy crop ; and from four to six is preferable. 

 With larger sorts 9in. or a foot apart would not prove excessive. Fine 



