THE PEACH AND NECTAEINE. 



167 



but not by cold, unless actually frozen; there- 

 fore no warmer coverings than are just sufficient 

 to keep out frost are necessary. 



Open-air Culture. 



Soil and Situation. — In the British Islands the 

 Peach requires a wall. In the southern parts of 



Fig. 965.— Peach. Walburton Admirable. 



the kingdom it will succeed on an east or west 

 aspect, if the locality is not too elevated and 

 exposed to cold winds, nor, on the other hand, 

 too low and subject to damp and fogs, in conse- 

 quence of which the wood does not become per- 

 fectly ripened. But the most favourable situation 

 is a wall with a southern aspect. As the Peach 

 requires to be trained against a wall, it follows 

 that its roots must occupy a border in front. If 

 this is made as recommended in the chapters on 

 the formation of the fruit and kitchen garden, 

 it will be fit for the reception of the Peach. In 

 old gardens, or others in which the borders have 

 been formed, some improvements ought to be 

 made before young trees are planted. It will 

 therefore be necessary to point out, first, the 

 soils, subsoils, and other circumstances which 

 are unfavourable to healthy growth, so that 

 they may be avoided or remedied. 



The subsoil should be first examined as to its 

 condition with regard to moisture. If it is too 

 wet, the trees will not thrive so long as their 

 roots are in a saturated medium, especially whilst 

 this remains in a cold state, neither will the 

 fruit, under such circumstances, progress favour- 

 ably. If, however, after midsummer, the mois- 

 ture should become warm, the trees will not 

 unlikely grow rapidly, but so late in the season 



that the shoots will be imperfectly ripened; 

 therefore draining must be effected, if possible, 

 in order to carry off all moisture that would 

 otherwise be stagnant. If this is impossible for 

 want of fall or outlet, then the level above which 

 drainage may be carried out should be ascer- 

 tained, and a moderate depth of soil raised above 

 that level; for it is better to raise the border at 

 the expense of losing say 1 foot of 

 height of wall, than to plunge the 

 roots to that depth in a medium 

 which will prove injurious. In the 

 one case, they would absorb nourish- 

 ment conducive to the health of the 

 whole tree, by encroaching only on 

 the height of the wall to the extent 

 of space for a pair of lower branches: 

 in the other, being situated in stag- 

 nant moisture, they would, draw 

 watery vitiated nourishment, and 

 supply it to the whole tree. It is 

 therefore better that two branches 

 be entirely dispensed with, in order 

 to have the rest well fed, than that 

 all should be improperly nourished, 

 and consequently the fruit deterio- 

 rated. 



Having adverted to subsoils that 

 are too wet for the Peach, and the most obvious 

 remedy, it will now be necessary to direct atten- 

 tion to those which are too dry, "Where the soil 

 is naturally shallow and resting on a subsoil that 



Fig. 966.— Fruit, part Peach, part Nectarine. 



is dry and gravelly, it often happens that the 

 tree suffers much from want of moisture in dry 

 weather. Exposed to the accumulated heat of 

 the sun's rays, often above 100 c , the leaves 

 evaporate an astonishing amount of moisture 



