CULTURE UNDEK GLiSS. 253 



nile, require double or three times the quantity that would suffice for 

 the former ; disbudding and the thinning of the fruit may also be set 

 about earlier and carried to greater lengths under glass than outside. 

 In the open air these operations are often, perforce, delayed, for fear of 

 the climate. The latter being under our control inside; the well-being 

 «nd strength of the trees may be more studied in the early and prompt 

 thinning of the shoots and the fmit. 



Glass, too, affords, greater facilities for dealing with insects, and it 

 ■ought, and generally does, prevent disease. Aphides can be at once 

 destroyed by a strong dose of tobacco smoke, red spiders kept down by 

 sulphur fumes and sprinklings, and mildew and other evils should scarcely 

 show themselves under the genial influences of glass. The young wood 

 ought to be kept rather thin and carefully trained as it grows. These 

 brief hints may suffice here, as it is purposed to enter more fully into 

 cultural matters in the following chapter on the pot culture and forcing 

 of the peach. 



VII. — Cultivation in Pots. 



Standaeds, pyramids, bushes are the best for pot culture. Pew 

 fruits do BO well' in pots as peaches. Trees of considerable size, 

 bearing from one to six dozen fruits, may readily be grown in pots. 

 12in., I'Sin., and 18in, pots are those best suited for peaches and 

 nectarines. Various modes of cultivation are practised. Some growers 

 prefer rather small pots, and allow the roots to run through into rich 

 composts. Many of the roots thus feed outside the pots during the 

 growing and fruiting stages. In the autumn or early winter the trees 

 are removed, and all roots that have run through are thus destroyed. 

 This system sometimes answers exceedingly well. Still, it la a rude, 

 barbarous mode of culture, and full of risks. Not seldom almost the 

 "whole of the best roots are destroyed. Others adopt quite a different 

 system. They place the pots on a shelf or stage, or a base of concrete or 

 slate, so 9,3 to prevent the possibility of the roots passing through the 

 "bottom of the pots. They then entice the roots up above the rims of the 

 pots by top dressing with rich compost or manure, supporting the latter 

 with a band of turfy loam or a sheet of zinc about 4in. or 6in. deep. This 

 plan is preferable to the other, as the whole of the roots are preserved 

 intact, and the best of them, those nearest the surface, are provided with 

 the most and the richest food. Still, neither system is pot culture pure 

 and simple, inasmuch as the one feeds the roots beneath and the other 

 above the pots. Neither is either plan needful, for capital peaches 



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