504 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



will only indicate itself, and give warning of what 

 ought to be seen to, in autumn; the others can 

 only be guarded against by close vigilance. The 

 temperature during this period may be elevated 

 to the extent of 5° or 6° during the day by sun 

 heat, but no alteration should take place in the 

 artificial temperature, more especially during 

 night. Nature requires time in perfecting her 

 works ; and it is to violating this law, by forcing 

 her to go on faster than she wills, that most of 

 the disasters in forcing-houses are to be traced. 

 Indeed, in the hands of many, much of our 

 cultivation under glass may well be called forced 

 in the true sense of the word, which, according 

 to our dictionaries, means " to compel, to over- 

 power, to drive by violence," &c. To accelerate 

 would be a word much nearer the proper 

 meaning. Syringing over the leaves may be 

 now more freely indulged in for the prevention, 

 not the suppression, as too often recommended, of 

 the red- spider. The borders must at this time 

 be frequently examined ; either too much mois- 

 ture or too little will be equally fatal. Mr R. 

 Errington concludes a very sensible article 

 with the following maxims, which we hesitate 

 not to call the golden rules of peach-forcing : 

 " Heat. — Through every part of the process 

 only use artificial heat as necessary. Let all 

 real advances be made under the influence of 

 increased light. Beware of high night-tempera- 

 tures ; we have had a thermometer at from 

 38° to 45° during the first swelling without any 

 perceptible harm. Air and moisture. — Never 

 permit the atmosphere to become dry at any 

 time. A somewhat dry and mellow state of 

 air is requisite at blooming time, and more 

 especially when the fruit is ripening. A dry 

 air, long continued, will be almost certain to 

 produce red-spider. Beware, however, of much 

 moisture with very low night - temperatures. 

 Disbudding. — Not only disbud frequently, but 

 at all times pinch off the points of shoots which 

 are growing too luxuriantly. Disbudding should 

 be completed by the time the stoning process 

 commences, if possible. Ripening process. — 

 The slower peaches are ripened, the finer and 

 higher flavoured will be the fruit. Those who 

 think to increase the size and appearance of 

 their fruit by a close course of treatment will 

 find themselves miserably mistaken." 



Ventilation in all the growing stages of peach 

 culture is of the greatest importance. In former 

 times it was thought of only during the day, 

 and admitted not only directly upon the trees, 

 but in a few places only, and those of consider- 

 able size, and often so ill arranged that, while 

 one part of the house was chilled, and the trees 

 subjected to a strong current of cold air blow- 

 ing with force upon them, other parts were 

 scarcely affected, and that purity of atmosphere 

 so essential to success was in a very great degree 

 denied them. The case is different now in all 

 well-constructed peach-houses ; and not only is 

 air admitted night and day, but it is let into 

 the house by means of many small apertures, 

 and those placed either close to the ground or 

 brought entirely upwards through the flooring, 

 thus diffusing a uniformity of ventilation in all 

 parts, and during the night as well as during 



the day. Examples of ventilation upon this 

 principle will be seen illustrated in vol. i. 

 When the fruit has fully swelled, and is begin- 

 ning to change colour prior to ripening, too 

 much air cannot be admitted. Indeed, of so 

 much importance was this thought by the late 

 Mr Knight and others of his day, that they 

 practised and recommended the total removal 

 of the roof-sashes during a great part of the 

 day, so that no interruption should prevent the 

 fruit enjoying the full force of the sun ; and 

 in this way the flavour and colour of their 

 fruit was made to approximate nearly to that 

 grown on the open walls. Neither peaches nor 

 nectarines acquire such perfection, either in 

 richness or in flavour, when grown under glass, 

 as they do when grown in the open air. No 

 doubt, in consequence of our modern hothouses 

 being much more transparent than those of 

 other days, the fruit produced in |them are 

 much better in this respect than formerly ; and 

 although the operation of removing part of the 

 roof is impracticable in the case of houses with 

 fixed roofs, still the greater admission of light 

 through large plates of glass, and thorough 

 ventilation day and night, renders such removal 

 unnecessary. One great objection to the re- 

 moval of a portion of the roof is the sudden 

 transition to which the foliage is exposed, from 

 the modified and often insufficient amount of 

 light to its brightest rays direct from the sun. 

 Some also entertained the opinion that the 

 roofs of all peach-houses should be removed 

 during the period of the trees' rest — that is, 

 from the time the wood and buds were ripened 

 until the time when they were to be brought 

 into excitement again. This also is now looked 

 upon as unnecessary ; the amount of ventila- 

 tion, when properly applied, being found quite 

 sufficient to prevent the trees becoming excited 

 before the desired time. During the period 

 of rest, the trees should be kept at a low tem- 

 perature, and water only applied should the 

 soil become very dry. Plants are often kept 

 in the peach-house during winter, and lettuce, 

 endive, and cauliflower are as often planted, 

 when fully grown, in the borders, to insure 

 their preservation from frost. This should not 

 be — the peach withstanding, even in its native 

 country, a degree of frost during winter which 

 would kill any of these intruders; and trees 

 subjected to such a low temperature are known 

 to break much stronger and freer when excited, 

 than such as are wintered at a higher tempera- 

 ture. When the fruit begins to ripen, the same 

 precaution should be taken regarding gathering 

 it, and preventing it from falling to the ground, 

 as noticed for trees on the open walls. The 

 French generally, and some pomologists of our 

 own country, assert that the fruit should be 

 plucked from twenty-four hours to two days 

 before it is to be eaten, and during that time 

 recommend its being placed in the fruit-room. 

 This may be very judicious in the case of fruit 

 grown in the open air in wet seasons, but as 

 regards fruit ripened under glass it is wholly 

 unnecessary. One grand feature in peach- 

 forcing is to insure the proper ripening of the 

 wood in autumn. In general, the glass is found 



