164 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



more safely than by beginning them very early the first 

 and second years. Tt may be said of plants and trees in 

 this respect that "use is second nature;" for unless 

 violently pushed they will have their period of repose, 

 and the peach most particularly should never be subject 

 to hard forcing. 



DRESSING THE TREES AND BORDERS. 



Let it be supposed that the earliest trees have 

 been pruned and the woodwork and glass of the house 

 thoroughly cleansed. If there has been any red-spider 

 about the trees the previous season, let the whole of 

 them be first washed by means of a hair-brush and 

 soft water, in which about an ounce of soft-soap to 

 every gallon has been mixed. After the trees are dry, 

 coat them over with a mixture of sulphur, cow-dung, and 

 soot, in equal proportions, and reduced to the consist- 

 ency of thick paint with hot water. To a gallon of this 

 add 2 oz. of soft-soap. In painting the trees over with 

 this, care should be taken always to draw the brush 

 upwards towards the points of the shoots, to prevent the 

 prominent buds from being rubbed off. I have often 

 started peaches without this dressing, and only consider 

 it necessary when the trees have been attacked by red- 

 spider the previous season. In tying the trees, care must 

 be taken to rub ofi" as little of the dressing as possible. 



The surface-soil should be removed from the border 

 to the depth of 2 inches, and replaced with pure fresh 

 loam in the case of young vigorous trees in new borders. 

 In the case of old trees that have borne heavily for a 

 succession of years, remove the soil down to the first 

 roots, and replace it with an equal amount of loam. 



