32 THE MODERN PEACH PRUNER. 



walls if it can be avoided. At Montreuil so power- 

 ful is even the early sun, that trees flourish which 

 have no sun after 10 a.m. In such aspects, how- 

 ever, the trees make very long shoots, and give 

 extra trouble to the pruner. 



The proper height for a good Peach wall must 

 be regulated in some measure by the situation. 

 Where the ground is level, and the aspect south, 

 the wall may be the highest. Very splendid fruit 

 can be grown even on walls 6 feet high ; indeed, 

 many are greatly in favour of low walls, as pro- 

 moting free circulation of air in low and confined 

 situations. The Montreuil walls are only 8 or 9 

 feet high; but then the form of training there 

 admits of no riders, and favours considerable 

 lateral extension of the branches. If low walls 

 are adopted — that is, about the height of those 

 at Montreuil — about 20 feet horizontally will 

 be requisite for the trees to develope themselves 

 laterally. If, on the contrary, the garden wall be 

 12 feet high, the trees may be planted at 15 feet 

 intervals from stem to stem, with riders placed 

 midway between them to cover the upper parts 

 of the wall, which the dwarf- trained trees below 

 could not ascend to. In favourable soil and 

 climates the Peach tree, when doing well, will, 

 however, greatly exceed these limits, but there is 

 nothing gained by these immense trees. It must 



