THE FRUIT GARDEN. 



433 



SEPTEMBER. 



PEACHES AND NECTARINES. 



These fruits will now require particular attention, many of 

 them will be ripe and ripening. The use of the engine should 

 now be withheld, until the crop be all gathered. Any shoots 

 that may have been displaced from the wall by winds or other- 

 wise, should be neatly nailed in, and all useless and ill-placed 

 shoots taken off. Where leaves hang over, and overshadow 

 the fruit, they should be taken off, as directed last month, so 

 that the fruit may derive all possible benefit from the sun, both 

 to improve its flavor and color. As most fruits swell best 

 when not too much exposed to the sun, this picking off of 

 the leaves should not take place until they show symptoms 

 of ripening; the influence of the sun for a few days will be 

 sufficient to effect the desired object. In gathering such as 

 are ripe, attend to the instructions given last month. 



VINES. 



The vines on the walls should be looked over, all use- 

 less lateral shoots pinched off, and all straggling branches 

 nailed in closely to the wall, both to allow the sun getting in to 

 the fruit, and also to ripen the wood for next year. Where 

 the bunches are too much shaded, some of the leaves should 

 be picked off, but in doing so, take great care not to overdo 

 it ; leave the whole or most part of the foot-stalk of the leaf 

 attached to the wood, and take as few as possible away, as 

 the vine suffers much from the loss of its leaves. Any shoots 

 that were not shortened before, should be now done, to allow 

 as much light as possible to the fruit and to avoid confusion. 

 The earlier grapes on favorable situations beginning to ripen, 

 should have the benefit of the sun as much as possible, and if 

 the wasps or birds attack them, they should be protected from 

 both by being put into thin crape, or gauze bags, putting one 



3 K 



