THE PEACH AND NECTARINE UNDER GLASS. 



35 



feet, and the whole width of the interior, as the 

 border for the trees against the back wall will be 

 confined to the interior of the house. Having 

 decided upon the level of the top of the border, it 

 will be necessary to excavate three feet below the 

 surface line, and put in the front drain running- 

 parallel with the house. Then the whole of the 

 bottom must be covered with three inches of concrete 

 beaten firm and trowelled over to make it smooth. 

 When dry and hard it will be ready for the drainage, 

 consisting of clean broken stones or brickbats, the 

 largest pieces at the bottom, and the smallest on 

 the surface to prevent the compost from being- 

 carried down when the fibre in the turf has decayed. 

 Allowing a clear two feet for compost, the excava- 

 tion will take nine inches of drainage all over the 

 concrete ; but as the piecemeal system of making the 

 borders is the best, the drainage at the outset need 

 not be wider than the first moiety of the border ; 

 say six feet inwards from the front piers for good 

 trees that have been two or three years trained 

 on preparatory walls, and four feet in width for 

 younger trees direct from the nursery. 



Compost. — The Peach and Nectarine, indeed all 

 stone fruit-trees, succeed best in a rather strong cal- 

 careous soil, naturally sound, rich and sweet. In 

 calcareous districts, where the Rose, Strawberry, and 

 Oak flourish, a sound upland sheep-pasture will afford 

 the main staple of the compost. This should be cut 

 when dry from two to four inches in thickness, carted 

 home, and thrown into aheap just before it is wanted 

 for use. After it has lain for a few weeks, if time 

 admits, chop it up roughly with spades, and again 

 leave it lying in a long rough ridge to sweeten. If 

 at hand, use tarpaulins for keeping out wet, but 

 remove them on bright windy days and frosty nights. 

 In the meantime prepare the corrective agents, which 

 may consist of old plaster containing hair, old lime 

 and brick rubble, burnt earth, scrapings from lime- 

 stone roads, if dry — one or all, as may be most conve- 

 nient. To every four cart-loads of loam add one load 

 of these materials evenly all over the top of the heap, 

 thoroughly mix by turning, and again protect from 

 wet. When the time arrives for making the border, 

 take thin sods of turf, place them grass side down- 

 wards all over the drainage, and keep a supply in re- 

 serve for building up the retaining wall as the ma- 

 terial is wheeled in. As no manure will be needed, 

 half a bushel of crushed bones and a peck of soot may 

 be added to every load of the compost, the latter to 

 free it from wire or other worms that may have been 

 brought in from the pasture. The bone-dust is not, 

 however, indispensable, as a sound compost like this 

 will not unlikely force a stronger growth at first than 

 is desirable. Having raised the border some four 



inches above the ultimate level, to allow for settling, 

 ventilate the house, and prepare the trees for 

 planting. 



The compost here recommended, all other con- 

 ditions being right, is not likely to 'disappoint ,• but 

 there are hundreds of would-be Peach -growers who 

 cannot get calcareous loam. They need not, however, 

 despair, as other soils if fresh and sweet, including 

 lighter sandy loams, or the edging from roads, will 

 grow good Peaches, provided any stiff garden soil or 

 marl be substituted for the burnt earth and road 

 scrapings. Lime in some form being necessary, the 

 rubble and crushed bones in this case will become 

 essentials, and a mulch of thoroughly rotted cow- 

 manure may be placed on the surface after the trees 

 are planted. 



In cold low-lying places, where the subsoil is 

 difficult to drain, Peach borders should be partially or 

 entirely raised above the ground-line (see Fig. 4) to 

 allow the ingress of warmth and air, and the quick 

 escape of water, as the roots never ripen in a cold 

 saturated compost, but continue throwing crude 

 matter into the trees when they should be at compa- 

 rative rest. Trees under these conditions make gross 

 watery growth, which rarely ripens to the point, and, 

 the flower-buds being imperfectly formed, the fruit 

 cannot set. 



PROPAGATION, SELECTION, AND PLANTING. 



Propagation. — Though the private fruit-grower 

 does not often prepare his own stone-fruit trees, includ- 

 ing the Peach, Plum, Apricot, and Cherry, he will find 

 it greatly to his interest to select them for his own spe- 

 cial purposes when they are ready to leave the nursery. 

 When considerable distance divides the producer from 

 the future grower, and he is unable to reach the nur- 

 sery, he cannot do better than entrust his orders to a 

 respectable firm as early as may be convenient, and 

 leave the selection to the proprietor. Gardeners as a 

 rule do not attempt the propagation, budding, and 

 training of their young stocks, for the simple reason 

 that it is a special and important branch of the 

 nurseryman's business, which he can manage much 

 better and cheaper than the grower ; but this should 

 not prevent every cultivator of fruit-trees from 

 knowing how they are manufactured ; therefore a 

 few lines on this subject may not be out of place, the 

 more so as Maidens, Dwarfs, Cordons, and Riders 

 will henceforth be referred to in these pages. 



Notwithstanding the fact that Peach-stones produce 

 Nectarines, and Nectarine-stones produce Peaches, 

 early varieties produce late varieties, and vice versa, 

 all the members of this extraordinary family do 

 not succeed alike well when budded on one kind of 

 stock. 



The stocks generally used for the Peach and 



