PEACH-HOUSES. 



t 



347 



principle of the house. Our own opinion, 

 however, is, that uncovering peaches, 

 whether early or late forced, is of little 

 advantage to them in England, and cer- 

 tainly much less so in Scotland, where we 

 require all the sun we have to mature the 

 wood and buds properly. 



The Dutch, who are great economists 

 in most things, have adopted the most 

 temporary of all structures for forcing the 

 peach. A triangular heap of warm dung 

 is formed, against the south side of which 

 a wooden frame, about 15 inches deep, 

 and of a length and breadth sufficient to 

 cover the tree intended to be introduced, 

 is placed. A tree is selected from the 

 walls of the garden, taken up, and planted 

 at the base of this hotbed, the branches 

 being trained to a trellis fastened within 

 the frame. Sometimes this frame has a 

 partition of thin boarding placed between 

 the tree and the dung heap; at other 

 times a partition of thick coarse paper, 

 supported on a frame made of laths. The 

 object, in either case, is to prevent the 

 steam from the dung injuring the blossom. 

 A glass roof is put on, and all is left to 

 the effects of the sun and the warmth 

 from behind, which is kept up by con- 

 stantly turning and renewing the mass of 

 fermenting matter. When the fruit is 

 gathered, the tree is again removed to the 

 wall from whence it was taken, and in two 

 or three years it is again in a condition to 

 undergo a similar process. And, in the 

 same country, peaches are forced so as to 

 ripen by the middle of May, in deep 

 frames. The tree is taken from the wall 

 when in a bearing state, and planted in a 

 box; the branches are trained to a trellis, 

 close on the bed, which is formed of tan, 

 and brought to within 18 inches of the 

 glass. When the heat of this bed declines, 

 it is revived by exterior linings of dung. 

 Sometimes dung is used instead of tan; 

 but, in the latter case, the surface of the 

 bed is covered with earth or tan during 

 the time the trees are in flower, to keep 

 down the steam. 



Fig. 466 is a peach-house heated by 

 solar heat, and by the fermentation of 

 tan, or stable manure placed in the pit, 

 a, upon which lettuce or strawberry plants 

 are set in pots, and often planted in soil 

 laid over the fermenting material. Rasp- 

 berries or currants are usually planted 

 on the wall behind, outside, and the 



peach trees,'which are permanent, are 

 Fig. 466. trained _ on 



the inside. 

 Ventilation 

 is sparing- 

 ly admitted 

 — and that 

 only on 

 warm days, 

 by opening 

 the doors, 

 or by draw- 

 ing down a 

 part of the 

 roof sashes. 

 Fig. 467 exhibits the section of an early 

 forcing peach-house very much used in 



Fig. 467. 



Denmark. This 

 is an improve- 

 ment on the two 

 preceding ones, 

 and is heated by 

 smoke-flues, the 

 undermost sunk 

 into a chamber, 

 the depth of 

 which is equal 

 to the height of 

 the flue. This 

 is, no doubt, in- 

 tended to warm 

 the border in 

 which the roots are, as the trees are planted 

 within the house — a verynecessaryprecau- 

 tion in a climate so intensely cold during 

 winter. These flues are very properly built 

 detached from the walls and soil, as well 

 as from each other. The part of the roof 

 sloping towards the north is opaque, being 

 either slated, or more frequently thatched, 

 to keep out the cold, and also to give head 

 room within, and greater space for the 

 foliage, neither of which could be effected 

 were the roof to rest on the top of the wall. 

 The trees are, in this case, trained to a 

 trellis near to the glass — an improvement 

 also on the last example. Another mode 

 of peach- forcing practised in Denmark is 

 described by the late Mr Lindegaard in 

 " Horticultural Society's Transactions," 

 vol. v. p. 320. In this mode the forcing 

 is by dung heat, the trees being planted 

 against the back wall, which is heated by 

 a lining of dung, and the roots being sti- 

 mulated by similar means in the area of 

 the house. 



Fig. 468 is a section of peach-houses 



