498 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



be taken as a pretty fair average of its profit- 

 able existence in this country. When the peach 

 begins to indicate decided decay by the larger 

 branches dying off one after another, it is much 

 better to root it out at once, and remake the 

 border for the reception of its successor. ^In 

 strong loamy soils it flourishes best ; in light 

 sandy soils it often declines in ten or twelve 

 years. Such is the case at Dalkeith ; and to 

 keep up a supply, we plant a certain number of 

 young trees annually, placing them in the spaces 

 between the old ones, but always preparing a 

 fresh body of soil for them. As these young 

 trees advance in growth, the older ones are re- 

 duced in size year after year until they are 

 totally removed. There is no advantage in re- 

 taining diseased or worn-out peach trees, and 

 that the less so as the finest fruit is produced 

 on those that are young. 



Protecting the blossom, is an important part of 

 peach-culture ; so much so, indeed, that in few 

 places in Britain can a crop be safely calculated 

 upon without some sort of protection during 

 the period of the trees coming into blossom, and 

 until the fruit is fairly set. There are, however, 

 judicious and injudicious modes of protection 

 employed ; the bad effects of the latter have 

 led some, of late years, to question the propriety 

 of covering at all. Any covering, excepting 

 glass, put on at the period of the buds beginning 

 to swell, and allowed to remain on until the 

 fruit is set, must rank in the category of the 

 latter ; while such as is capable of being con- 

 veniently placed and replaced, according to the 

 state of the weather, will rank with the former, 

 and the more so, in proportion to the amount 

 of light which is admitted to the trees through 

 it. Therefore, sticking in branches of trees 

 and fronds of fern amongst the branches, cover- 

 ing with bast mats, thick canvass, two or three 

 courses of netting, of whatever kind or quality, 

 must be bad, as excluding both light and air, 

 and preventing the exhilarating effects of sun, 

 light, and heat from acting on the young and 

 tender buds. If put on sufficiently thick to 

 ward off a sharp spring-frost, they, in the 

 same ratio, prevent the heat of the sun from 

 acting on the trees. They exclude light and 

 air, and, therefore, the young buds and blossoms 

 forced into development under such conditions 

 become attenuated and weak ; and when the 

 covering is removed, which is in general all 

 at once, neither the one nor the other are in a 

 condition to stand unscathed either the power- 

 ful sun during the day, or, peradventure, 5° 

 or 6° of frost during the night. The tender 

 leaves and young shoots of the peach and nec- 

 tarine require protection from late spring- 

 frosts, and also from the cold evaporating effects 

 of an east wind, which we believe to be one 

 of the most serious evils those trees are sub- 

 jected to when grown on the open walls ; and 

 this the more so in exposed situations, and 

 along the eastern coasts of Britain, which are 

 so much subject to east and north-easterly 

 winds. The most effective, and at the same 

 time the most economic protection we have 

 found for all fruit trees on open walls, is 9-inch 

 wooden projecting portable coping, secured to 



permanent iron brackets, built in the walls 

 close under the stone coping (vide vol. i. p. 70, 

 figs. 40 and 41). This coping is of inch deal, 

 and in 21-feet lengths, or the lengths of ordinary 

 battens ; the brackets are placed so that the ends 

 of the boarding shall meet exactly over them, 

 and two other brackets are placed at equal dis- 

 tances — viz., 7 feet between — to stiffen and sup- 

 port them towards the middle. Each bracket 

 is perforated with two holes, through each of 

 which an inch screw is introduced, and screwed 

 upwards into the boarding. When the season 

 of spring protection is over, these screws are 

 withdrawn, and the boarding removed and 

 placed under cover until again required. Were 

 we operating on the west coast of Scotland, with 

 its 50 or 60 inches of rain per annum, we would 

 assuredly allow these copings to remain on peach 

 and apricot walls during the whole summer 

 and autumn ; but in a locality where the annual 

 fall of rain rarely reaches 20 inches, we remove 

 them .during the growing season of the trees, 

 that they may enjoy both the rain and dew 

 which fall upon them, and which we have no 

 permanent projecting copings of stone to inter- 

 cept. As soon as the fruit of the peach and 

 nectarine begins to change colour toward ripen- 

 ing, these wooden copings are again put on to 

 keep the trees, and particularly the fruit, dry, 

 and also to prevent its being driven off by the 

 heavy rains we periodically experience during 

 August and September, as well as to assist in 

 ripening the wood. The screen covering we 

 use is thin semi-transparent canvass, manufac- 

 tured at Dunfermline under the name scrim 

 cloth, 40 inches in breadth. Three courses of 

 this sewed together, forming a sheet 10 feet 

 wide, is quite sufficient for a 12-feet wall, as 

 the fruit within 2 feet of the bottom is of less 

 consequence, and even that is greatly protected 

 by the canvass above it. Keeping it this dis- 

 tance from the gi'ound secures the canvass from 

 damp from the soil, and renders its fastening to 

 the wall more convenient. Around the edges 

 and ends of our sheets of canvass is sewed on a 

 strong tape, which greatly prevents tearing; and 

 they are in pieces in length equal to that of the 

 wall they are to cover. These sheets are fastened 

 to the front edge of the wooden coping with 

 tin tacks, with very broad heads, and these are 

 driven in 7 inches apart. Along the bottom and 

 up the ends are sewed on pieces of twine 10 inches 

 in length and 1 0 feet apart, by which the screen 

 is secured (when down) to the bottom part of 

 the wall, to the eyed studs we use for fastening 

 the branches of the trees to the wall by. When 

 the wall is to be uncovered, a boy goes along the 

 bottom and unties the cords, while a man walks 

 along the top of the wall and draws the canvass up, 

 which, with a slight turn of the hand, he throws 

 into a loose roll, and as he proceeds he fastens 

 it to the top of the wooden coping by means of 

 twine nailed to the boarding. It may be thought 

 that this covering and uncovering is attended 

 with the loss of much time ; such, however, is 

 not the case. A wall 1100 feet in length is usually 

 covered and uncovered on both sides in half an 

 hour. In cold windy days this covering is often 

 left on for days together ; but when the weather 



