Book I. 



CULTURR OF THE PEACH-HOUSE. 



561 



S098. M'Phail directs to keep the border moist by watering ; and after the fruit are as Wg as nuts, sprinkle 

 the flues now and tlien with water to raise steam, and wash the trees about once a-weelc with clean water, 

 not too cold. It is better not to wash all over the top till the fruit are set. A sunshine morning is to be 

 preferred, and tlie water may be about 65". Do not water after the fruit begin to ripen, but re-commence 

 when all are gathered. {Gard. Rem. 148. 191.) 



3099. Nicol says, " newly planted i)cach.trees should be freely supplied with water at the root throughout 

 the season, in order to promote their growth ; and the engine must be applied with force to the branches, for 

 the suppression of the red spider, and refreshing the foliage, generally once in two or three days." In a 

 fruit-bearing house, after the fruit is set, " water should be given pretty freely to the plants at root, once 

 in two or three days ; increasing the quantity as the fruit begins to swell, and as the shoots advance in 

 growth. Also, continue the operations of the engine regularly ; and do not be sparing, or be afraid to hurt 

 the foliage, if the red spider appear on it. Hit hardest at, or near to the top of the house ; as it is there he 

 preys most, being fostered by the extreme heat, in which he delights. In looking out for this enemy, there- 

 fore, keep your eye particularly on this part. "Withhold water from the border, and cease to exercise the 

 engine on the foliage when the fruit is swelling off." {Kal. 358. 401.) 



3100. Flanagan, whilst the trees are in bloom, neither sprinkles nor steams the house, for he " considers 

 that sufficient moisture arises from the earth in the house at this stage of forcing." (Hort. Trans, v. 60.) 

 When the fruit is set, he gives the trees a gentle syringing on a fine morning with clean water, and 

 waters the borders within the house occasionally after the stoning, until the fruit is arrived at full size, and 

 begins to change color, then all watering should be left ofFboth with the syringe and on the borders. 



3101. Insects and diseases. The red spider is the grand enemy to peach-trees; but 

 they are also attacked by blight, mildew, the aphis, thrips, and sometimes even the coccus. 

 " The blight," Abercrombie says, " is caused by small insects, very pernicious both to 

 the trees and fruit in their growth ; this is apparent by the leaves curling up, and often 

 by the ends of the shoots being bunched and clammy, which retards their shooting. In 

 this case, it is advisable to pick off the infected leaves, and cut away the distempered part 

 of the shoots. Further to check the mischief, if the weather be hot and dry, give the trees 

 a smart watering all over the branches. A garden-engine will perform the watering much 

 more effectually than a common watering-pot, as it discharges the water in a full stream 

 against the trees. Apply it two or three times a week ; the best time of the day is the 

 afternoon, when the power of the sun is declining. These waterings will clear the leaves, 

 branches, and fruit, from any contracted foulness ; refresh and revive the whole consider- 

 ably ; and conduce greatly to exterminate the vermin." 



3102. M^Phail directs, when the plants have begun to expand their blossoms and leaves, and the aphis, or 

 green insect, makes its appearance, to fill the house full of tobacco-smoke once a week, or oftener. If there 

 be any appearance of mildew, dust a little sulphur on the infected parts ; and if the gum or canker be seen 

 on the shoots on any part of the trees, open the bark, and cut out the dying wood. Inspect the trees in 

 every part minutely, and if you perceive the bark dying, or the gum oozing out of any part of them, cut off 

 the bark as far as it is dead or decaying ; and if the branches be strong, that you cannot well effect it with 

 your knife, take a chisel with a semicircular edge, and a mallet, and cut out the wood as far as you see it is 

 affected ; you need not be afraid of hurting the tree, even if the branches or main stem are cut half away. 

 I have cut sometimes more than half of the stems of standard trees away from the ground farther up than 

 where the branches began to separate, which was the means of saving them alive. This method exposes 

 the old wood to the sun and air, by which it is dried, and the tree is thereby assisted in casting off the 

 unwholesome juices, or those kept in it too long for want of a more dry, genial climate. {Gard. Rem. 131.) 



3103. Mitchel, of Montcrieff House, Perthshire, hangs on his peach-trees, when the fruit are ripe, " large 

 white glass phials, with a little jam or jelly in them, in order to entice large black flies, which he finds 

 very destructive to peaches. Wasps he destroys by finding out their nests in the day, marking them with 

 a stick ; and going in the evening with a lantern and candle, he introduces a burning stick, smeared with 

 wet gunpowder, which stupifies the wasps. He then pours water over them, and with a spade works up the 

 nest, earth, and water, into a sort of mortar. Nests on trees or hedges he stupifies by the wet gunpowder, 

 which causes the wasps to faU nearly dead, when he crushes them, &c." {Caled. Hort. Trans, vol. i. 194.) 



3104. Isicol strongly recommends watering for keeping down insects, especially the red spider. If the green 

 fly or thrips make their appearance, recourse must be had to fumigation. Shut the house close up at 

 night, and fill it so full of tobacco-smoke that one person cannot see another. If this should be rejpeated 

 the next evening, they will be completely destroyed. Calm weather is most favorable for this op^^tion. 

 " The coccus and chermes," he says, " are not so immediately hurtful, and unless very numerous,' need 

 not be much minded at this season ; but they must be more particularly attended to at the time of pruning 

 in November. The males, which have wings, and are active, will be dislodged by the operations of the 

 engine ; and the females, v/hich are stationary, and adhere to the shoots and branches, if very numerous, 

 may readily be crushed by the finger, or by a small flatfish stick, that can easily be insinuated into the 

 angles of the branches, where they often lodge." {Kal. 340 — 358.) 



3105. Nicol and Abercrombie recommend that in November, when the winter pruning is finished, the 

 pknts end trellis should be anointed with the composition recommended for vines, (3061,) 



3106. Rijwning the fruit. Knight finds that neither peaches nor nectarines ac- 

 quire pjifection either in richness or in flavor, unless they be exposed to the full in- 

 fluence of the sun during their last swelling, without the intervention of the glass. In 

 consequence, he says, some gardeners lake off the lights wholly before the fruit begins 

 to ripen ; but he recommends taking them off only in bright sunshine, and putting them 

 on during rain, and at night to protect the fruit from dews, &c. " When the fruit 

 begins to ripen, which will be about the second week in July, I gradually expose the 

 house to the open air on fine and dry days, by drawing down the lights as much as 

 convenient in the day, and shutting them again in the evening. It is this which gives 

 the fruit both flavor and color." (Hort. Trans, v. 61.) 



3107. Gathering the fruit. M'Phail advises laying moss or some soft material over 

 the borders, to save those which drop off of themselves. Nicol recommends the peach- 

 gatherer. (Jig. 148.) Sir Joseph Banks, quoting from a French author, states, that 

 " Peaches are never eaten in perfection,, if suffered to ripen on the tree ; they should 

 be gathered just before they are quite soft, and kept at least twenty-four hours in 



