28 



GLEANINGS ON HORTICULTURE. 



tect plants in frames from frost (instead of expensive mats) 

 during the winter season. My calico coverings are always fixed 

 up at the end of February, when the blossom-buds are advanced 

 on the wall-trees, to keep them from intense sun-light, as well as 

 from frosts, for the former exhausts the juices of the tree faster 

 than the roots can supply fresh sap.* 



Galvanized iron coping prevents radiation also ; the wall 

 having become warmed by the sun during the day, parts with 

 the heat again during the early part of the night, and any sub- 

 stance (however thin) which accomplishes this object is desir- 

 able, as it arrests the departure of the heat, on the same 

 principle that mats and calico coverings are found to be beneficial. 

 The walls are preserved dry by this coping during the spring and 

 autumn rains, and during the summer it wards off that intensity 

 of sunshine which is too exciting, and in some cases positively 

 injurious: it also, during frosty nights in March, after a bright 

 sunshine during the day, moderates such extremes of tempe- 

 rature. 



As soon as the fruit is set on peach-trees, or nectarines, and 

 the young shoots are about an inch long, these coverings may be 

 entirely taken away, and the trees disbudded. This latter opera- 

 tion should be performed with the hand ; and care should be 

 taken to leave the bud nearest the base of the shoot, as this, in 

 most cases, will be the one to depend upon for next season's 

 bearing. A second disbudding will be necessary three or four 

 weeks later, when the minimum number of shoots required must 

 be determined upon. As the season advances, and during the 

 progress of growth, I would recommend copious syringings with 

 soft tepid water. When the evenings are cold, this should be, 

 done in the morning, but the afternoon is preferable in warm 

 weather. This may be repeated twice every week in dry seasons, 

 until the fruit approaches maturity, when all waterings should be 

 suspended. 



An important item in the culture of the peach, and too fre- 

 quently overlooked, is never to overload the trees; if this be done, 

 the quality of the fruit will always be inferior in size and flavour. 

 The fruit should be regulated to about six inches from each 

 other. Under all circumstances, this will be an ample crop. 

 The thinning should be effected at two different periods — the 

 first when the fruit is about the size of cherry-stones, and the 

 second immediately after stoning. 



* The calico has lasted three years, and is as good as new. 



