THE PEACH AND NECTARINE UNDER GLASS. 



5S5 



as steady as possible, and ventilation, syringing, and 

 damping should all tend to tlie relief of the tree and 

 provision for its wants before it has time to feel them. 

 If this is caiefuUy attended to, and plenty of time is 

 allowed, not by starving them through the day, but 

 by resting them, with a chink of air on, through the 

 night, tender trees will stone well, and split stones 

 will not be so plentiful as they otherwise would be. 

 After the final thinning an efiort should be made to 

 get every Peach and Nectarine on the upper side of 

 the trellis, where exposure to sun, light, and air will 

 insure colour and flavour. By the constant removal 

 of pendent fruits at every thinning, and the selection 

 of the best on the upper sides of the shoots, a crop of 

 properly-placed Peaches can often be obtained with- 

 out much trouble ; but when a fine fruit that cannot 

 be spared happens to be below the trellis, every effort 

 should be made to elevate it. This can best be 

 accomplished by placing short pieces of lath across the 

 wires, when by a little careful and dexterous man- 

 agement in turning and tying, the fruit can generally 

 be raised above the foliage. When this cannot be 

 done, the surrounding foliage should be turned aside 

 or tied back to let in the sun and air, in preference to 

 cutting away the leaves as is sometimes practised. 

 AU who admire and appreciate a dish of perfect 

 , Peaches, know that every fruit standing out with the 

 stalk downwards is in its proper position ; but if the 

 colour has been laid on near the stalk to be hidden 

 in the dish, and the apex of the fruit is pale, the 

 manipulation of that Peach by the grower has not 

 been so skUfully managed as it might have been. 

 There are some fruits on strong leaders that cannot 

 l)e turned apex upwards ; but a little skill and patience 

 devoted to this apparently trifling matter will pay 

 the producer and exhibitor, while it pleases the ob- 

 server and the consumer. 



Hipeuing, Gathering, and Preserving the 

 Fruit. — When the fruit on the earliest trees begins 

 to change for ripening, they must have a constant 

 circulation of dry, warm air, and fuU exposure to the 

 direct rays of the sun. In fine, warm, settled weather, 

 the lights may be run ofi mid-season and late houses 

 for a, few hours every day; but on no account 

 nrast a spot of rain fall on the fruit, neither must 

 it be pressed by the fingers to ascertain if it is 

 softening, as either of these will result in marks 

 when the Peaches are ripe. If there is any danger 

 of the surface roots of the late trees becoming too 

 dry before the crop is taken, and so hastening 

 maturity, a light covering of sweet hay placed 

 over the borders, while keeping in the moisture, 

 will form an elastic medium for catching any fruit 

 that through accident or oversight may be allowed 

 to fall from the trees. This, however, should not 



happen, as a Peach should never be left on the 

 tree until it is dead-ripe, even for home consump- 

 tion. For packing and sending to a distance, 

 either for private use or market purposes, they 

 should be gathered while they are yet hard to the 

 touch near the stalk, but not before they begin to 

 give off their delicious aroma. 



The following paper was contributed by me to 

 the Gardener's Chronicle some five years ago, and as it 

 fuUy exhausts the important subject of gathering 

 and packing, with the Editor's permission it is here- 

 with reproduced. 



Packing Peaches. — Under the false impression 

 that Peaches do not attain their full market value 

 until they are qvute ripe, eight out of ten private 

 growers of this valuable but perishable fruit allow 

 them to hang too long on the trees before they com- 

 mence gathering, and are considerable losers thereby. 

 As soon as a Peach has attained its full size 

 and colour, although quite hard to the touch, it is 

 in the best possible condition for sending to the 

 fruiterer. Risk of injury in packing and travelling 

 is then comparatively small; the gain of a single 

 week in the case of early Peaches often makes a 

 considerable difference in the price, and it arrives 

 in a fit state for storing away in the vaults, to 

 come out in its turn, instead of having to be thrown 

 into the market immediately upon delivery. By 

 way of illustration, I may state that it is no un- 

 usual thing for Covent Garden fruiterers to have 

 sixty to one hundred dozen of Peaches at one time 

 in July in their vaults, gradually ripening, and 

 these are the fruit for which thejf pay the highest 

 price to the growers, for the simple reason that 

 they can hasten or retard them to suit their trade. 

 Every private gardener, who is in the habit of send- 

 ing to his employer's town residence, knows that 

 it is not safe to be without ripe Peaches for imme- 

 diate use, and this fact soon teaches him that these 

 over-ripe fruit when sent to the market at the eleventh 

 hour are sold at a great loss to the grower and an- 

 noyance to the dealer, who is obliged to force them on 

 a glutted market, instead of storing for a few days to 

 meet a good order, which might enable him to give a 

 higher price. Having shown that the state of ripe- 

 ness is quite as important as the mode of packing, 

 the following remarks' may be of use to the young 

 beginner. 



Always have a good supply of dry moss in 

 store — the best and cheapest of all packing materials. 

 If properly beaten and prepared it is soft, elastic, 

 and never heats in the boxes. Be careful in the use 

 of bran, an excellent thing if pressed very tight ; but 

 having a tendency to sink in bulk when shaken on 

 the journey, the Peaches become loose, separate from 



