THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 143 



DRAINAGE, DEPTH, AND WIDTH OF BORDER. 



When the peach-house occupies a site where the 

 soil and subsoil are uncongenial, such as poor sand, 

 an irony gravel, or a cold stiff clay, the whole should 

 be removed to the depth of 3 feet, and the entire site 

 surfaced with a 3 -inch layer of concrete, giving it an 

 even slope from the back wall to the front of the out- 

 side border in the case of lean-to houses ; the slope 

 to be from the middle of span-roofed houses to the 

 front on each side, as shown in span-roofed vinery, 

 fig. 7. Over the concrete run tile-drains at right 

 angles across the border, 8 feet apart, into a main 

 drain in front, below the level of the cross drains. 

 Over these drains and the whole concrete lay 8 or 

 9 inches deep of broken bricks, or coarse gravel with 

 the sand sifted out of it, and blind the whole with 

 finer gravel; over this lay a thin turf, grassy side 

 downwards, and the site is ready for the soil. This 

 leaves about 2 J feet up to 3 inches above the front 

 lintels or arches of the house for soil, and allowing 

 for the necessary slope of the border, at the extremity 

 or front it will be a little less than 2 feet. I am 

 not an advocate for very shallow borders, when the 

 drainage is as efficient as has been described. This 

 matter should, however, be decided to a certain ex- 

 tent by the amount of rain that falls in the locality. 

 When very wet, the borders will be deep enough at 

 2 feet. Their width should be regulated by the 

 width of the house. A lean-to house 16 feet wide 

 will require an outside border 16 feet wide, thus giv- 

 ing 16 feet for each of the two sets of trees, the one 

 set on the back wall and the other on the front trellis. 



Where the subsoil consists of a clean open graVel, 



