JANUARY, 1907 
of straw, or other coarse material, to prevent 
the soil from working into the drainage, and 
then fill with soil. The most suitable is 
a friable clay or sandy loam. The surface 
soil from an old pasture is the best for 
making the border but is not absolutely 
necessary. Ii the original soil is of good 
character, it may be utilized. Return it in 
layers of about six inches. Upon each layer 
put a dressing of good manure about one inch 
thick. Also one pound of coarse bone meal 
to four square yards of surface and fork this 
into the soil, continuing layer by layer until 
the border is from six inches to one foot 
higher than the surrounding level. 
For trees to be grown in pots or tubs the 
best soil is friable loam from the surface of a 
pasture field to which are added one-fifth of 
its bulk of some kind of well decomposed 
animal manure (preferably cow manure) and 
two pounds of bone meal to each cubic yard 
of compost. Ample drainage must be pro- 
vided and the trees taken from the earth 
carefully without damaging the roots, planted 
in such size of pot or tub as will accomodate 
the roots without crowding. 
THE ART OF TRAINING AND PRUNING 
Some method of training must be adopted, 
so at to economize the space. The most 
practical method is the simple fan training. 
That means that the branches are disposed 
intheformofanopenfan. The best arrange- 
ment of the trellises for training the trees, is 
to have them extend latterly across the house. 
Stretch wires from six to eight inches apart, 
beginning about eighteen inches above the 
soil and as the young shoots extend in growth 
during the season, tie them into position, 
bearing in mind that as the tendency of 
growth is constantly upward, the shoots 
must be tied downward, otherwise the lower 
parts of the trellis will be left vacant. 
Pinching out the points of strong growing 
shoots will induce lateral growths, thus help- 
ing to distribute the branches more evenly. 
The branches should never be tied in so 
closely as to crowd the leaves together, and 
toward the end of the season should be left 
free, allowing the sun and air to do the 
work of ripening the wood for winter. 
During the period of active growth in the 
first season do not cut out any branches, but 
THE GARDEN 
First crop on a two-year old (budded) tree of Victoria 
nectarine in a 12-inch pot. 
pruning may be done after the leaves have 
fallen, should there be any crowding of the 
branches, removing the weaker ones, and 
cutting back the others to such buds as will 
make growth where it is most needed 
for the ensuing season. If the strong 
branches are then tied down leaving the 
weaker ones free the growth in all will be 
more even. 
In future training follow the same _prin- 
ciples. When the trees begin to bear fruit 
some of the young grow ths of some of the 
branches may be removed, always leaving a 
growth at the extremity of the branch, and 
generally one at the base to make a branch 
for another year. 
HOW TO FORCE 
Forcing must begin very gently. For 
early fruit (June) heat should be given as 
soon as possible after the leaves have fallen 
and the trees have been subjected to some 
frost, usually in December or January. A 
temperature of 45 degrees at night with a 
rise of 10 or 15 degrees during bright 
MAGAZINE 
Photographed in March . 
293 
days will be as high as is safe for the first 
month or six weeks, after which there may be 
a rise to 45 or 50 degrees at night, and 60 to 
70 degrees on bright days with sun heat. 
During all this time the trees should be 
sprayed freely with water from the hose until 
the flowers begin to open. After this the 
house must be kept reasonably dry and the 
flowers must be gone over every day with a 
soft camel’s-hair brush to pollinate the pistils. 
Abundant ventilation must be provided at all 
times, and particularly when the trees are in 
flower. After the fruit is set the trees may 
again be sprayed or syringed with water 
from the hose, to prevent red spider and 
other insects from getting afoothold. Ap- 
hides or plant lice will probably put in an 
appearance, when fumigating with some 
form of tobacco becomes necessary. 
As soon as the fruit has passed through 
what is termed the “‘stoning period” (or 
when it is about half grown and begins to 
enlarge rapidly) the temperature may be 
raised to 55 degrees at night and 60 to 70 
degrees during cloudy weather or 75 to 80 
degrees with bright sunshine, keeping the 
ventilators open as much as possible. Abun- 
dance of bright sunshine and a free circulation 
of air are the principal factors in putting 
flavor into the fruit. 
HOW MUCH FRUIT ON A TREE 
I have seen peach trees with fruits that 
would average thirteen ounces each, but that 
result comes only fromthinning. Everybody 
agrees that a few large handsome fruits are 
worth more than four times as many small, in- 
ferior specimens, yet the tendency with almost 
everyone is to allow more fruit than the tree 
can mature. Begin thinning as soon as the 
fruits are the size of peas. At that time they 
appear so small that to thin as much as 
should be done makes one feel that there will 
be no fruit left. Six weeks later you will 
wonder how you could have been so stupid as 
to leave so many. If the fruit has set freely, 
remove two-thirds or even three-fourths. 
Twelve fruits of a large growing variety are 
enough for a tree in a rs-inch tub to 
perfect; for a large tree in a 24-inch tub, 
twenty-five to thirty fruits are enough. 
Trees trained on trellises, and in vigorous 
condition, can carry one fruit to each square. 
These two pictures show the same branch of a peach just before 
and just after the first thinning in March. 
Remove at least three-fourths of the set 
