200 



REPORT ON THE 



the bend, and trained straight to the left in a direction a little 

 above the horizontal. Where the stem shoot is again turned 

 from right to left, another branch is extended to the right ; and 

 so branches are intended to proceed alternately, on either side, 

 from every outward bend of the stem till the wall is covered. 



Trees were trained in the Society's Garden with wavy stems, 

 according to the systems of Hitt and of Hay ward ; the former 

 having strictly horizontal branches from the bends, with perpen- 

 dicular bearing shoots ; the latter with gently curved branches, 

 with the bearing shoots inclined. But each tree, in both systems, 

 had two straight naked stems, elevated at an angle of 45°, and 

 4 J feet in length, before they took an upright wavy direction. 

 These naked stems invariably became scorched on the sides 

 exposed to the sun, and the upper portions of the bends were 

 also more or less affected in the same way. Professor Du 

 Breuil's mode is unquestionably far preferable to either of the 

 above, inasmuch as the tree has only a single stem, from which 

 the wall is furnished from bottom to top, instead of being un- 

 furnished to the height of 4 feet, above which the naked stems 

 only begin to branch, according to the systems of Hitt and 

 Hayward. In Professor Du Breuil's tree there are no long 

 naked stems exposed to the scorching influence of the sun's 

 rays, and even the bends can be protected by foliage. On the 

 whole this mode is considered highly deserving of trial in 

 Britain. 



Another mode of training the Peach seems to have no claim 

 to such recommendation as has been given to the preceding. 

 Two stems are trained horizontally, and from these branches 

 are trained perpendicular at sufficient distances to admit of the 

 bearing wood being laid in between them. The danger is that 

 these horizontal stems being more liable to accident, such as 

 gumming and scorching, than the other parts of the tree, there 

 is constant risk of losing the whole. It is not natural for the 

 Peach to support a number of perpendicular branches on a 

 horizontal stem. The mode here disapproved of is called Can- 

 delabre d branches droites. 



Some maiden plants of Peaches have been recently planted, in 

 rather poor soil, 2^ feet apart, and trained, without heading back, 

 at an angle of 45°, on an eastern aspect. The inclination of 

 the whole is accordingly equal ; and northward. By this mode 

 the wall is speedily covered, and a modification of it might be 

 advantageously adopted in richer soils ; on this principle a wall 

 could be completely covered in a very few years — even before 

 a shoot to form a branch could be safely permitted to grow, lest 

 it should form a gourmand, in the centre of a tree laid off in the 

 V form. Can there be any objection against planting Peach- 



