I 



March 16, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS* MAGAZINE. 



217 



OUTDOOR PEACHES. 



Some regard the peach as the king of 

 rruits. and, though other fruits may equal 

 it. most will admit that none beats it when 

 It is at its best. To obtain it in this con- 

 dition, however, entails more labour and 

 attention than the growing of any other 

 liardy fruity except, of course, the closely- 

 allied nectarine; but some may say that 

 its superiority to a well-ripened gage plum 

 is not suBSciently marked — if, indeed, it 

 rxists at all — to repay the extra attention 

 required. The lengthened period of protec- 

 tion from frost which is necessary owing 

 to the earliness of its flowering, the inces- 

 sant struggle with apbis, the disbudding of 

 the shoots, and the thinning of the fruits, 

 with the annual taking down of the whole 

 tree from the wall, and replacing it, to say 

 nothing of the renewal of the soil and ne- 

 cessary surface feeding, constitute a for- 

 midable list of operations, some of which 

 scarcely exist, or only in a very modified 

 degree, with most other liardy fruits. 



Winter Pruning;. 



Let us begin with the operation which 

 IS either the beginning or the end of the 

 vear's routine, according to the system 

 adopted, that of the winter pruning, as it 

 is usually called. Some defer this till the 

 Mossom buds are getting alaiost ready to 

 '•nrst in March ^ keeping the trees unnailed 

 and tied away from the wall, so that they 

 shall not be hastened into flowering by 

 the radiation of the sun's heat. It is doubt- 

 ful if tlie gain by this method outweighs 

 the advantages of doing the work in Sep- 

 tember, or as soon after as the fruit is 

 gathered. For one thing, there is less work 

 to do at the latter season, but the principal 

 recommendation of autumn pruning is that 

 l>y cutting out the old w^ood at that season 

 the young wood has the maximum benefit 

 tVom the autumn sunshne, while the 



and then, after the foliage begins to ex- 

 pand, syringe with plain water every even^ 

 mg, m addition to the periodical spraying 

 with insectcide. 



Disbudding. 



People sometimes speak of peaches and 

 other stone fruits as being of such superior 

 quality when eaten direct from the tree, 

 but this is at least open to question. If 

 peaches are laid caretullv on a dish as 



The work of disbudding Ihe shoots and T^"^' T^f layer; and kept for a 



tliinning the fruits should not be done all "^J ^ 1 "l V," "!- "^"^^'i- 



at one time, but spread over two or three A?^"^ '^^""^ T^- fi^'^- " 



weeks, or even linger, especially in the ' ! L ^^f^^l^!^ 



case of the former, as no shock is then given 

 to the tree, and the energy set free by the 

 removal of useless shoots is gradually tvs} 

 ferred to those which are to form next 

 year's fruiting wood, while better oppor- 

 tunity is given to select the best shoots for 

 the purpose. 



A preliminary thinning of the fruit 

 shoidd be made as soon as thev are becom- 



ripening process, which is a preliminary to 

 decay, continuing after the fruits have left 



the tree. Alger Petts. 



BORDER AURICULAS. 



There are three well-marked groups of 

 auriculas — namely^ show, alpine^ and bolder 

 varieties--and to those wlio do not possess 

 the necessary appliances for the cultivation 

 of the first two^ the latter will be 

 most useful. Theauricidas which are listed 



ing visible, taking off all the badly placed 

 ones and some of those which are thickly 

 placed together^ and leaving the major part 



of the thinning till it can be seen which under the heading of l)orcler varieties are 

 are going to take the lead, though even bighly appreciated for the fragrance" and 

 then it should not be all done, as there are bnglit colouring of their blassoms. Beau- 

 various possibilities of injury to the young 

 fruits, besides the probable loss of some 

 during the stoning process. 



Watering: a.nd Feeding:. 



titul effects are obtained in the spring by 

 massing them in beds, either in separate 

 colours or mixed. 



Raising a batch of plants from seeds is 



If the old soil over the roots within three '''' interesting proceedmg and at the same 



c 



or four feet of the stem was removed dur- 

 ing the previous autumn or winter, and 

 some fresh rich soil, with plenty of bone- 

 meal in it, put in its place, the trees will 

 scarcely need any helj) during the stoning 

 period, assuming the soil has a sufficiency 

 of lime, or has been well dressed with basi 

 slag, mortar rubble, etc. If the season is 

 a dry one, the trees should have a good 

 soaking occasionally with plain water^ as 

 the peach is a wilding in growth, and has 

 the fondness of the willow for water so 

 long as it is not stagnant. 



When the stoning period is drawing to 

 an end. and the fruits are seen to be in- 



wounds heal up more quickly then than at ^^^^^sing in size, it is time to begin feeding. 



any other +ime, and so the risk of gum- 

 ining is lessened. 



The retarding of flowering by tying the 

 tne away from the wall is probably less 

 than a week at best, and as preparations 

 Have to be made for protecting the blossom 

 i»i any case, there does not seem to be 

 nnich gain. Of course, no one should nail 

 ^ip peaches with shreds, for not only is 

 tiiere the trouble of detaching the branches 

 |iom the wall at some time between Sep- 

 tember and March, but the shreds harbour 

 J " sect pests. 



Pests. 



I 



Aphis IS the great trouble in peach grow- 

 ig, masses of curled leaves past all hope 

 f eure being only too familiar to all. The 

 "<'lay of syringing until it ?s seen that the 

 ^■ives are beginning to curl is perhaps the 

 P 'me mistake of the amateur and even 

 'J the professional gardener sometimes. If 

 l e blossom is carefully examined aphis 

 I he found among it, and, as soon as ever 

 hlnssom hi,s been fertilised, even before 

 V,. n set. the tree should be 



yd, there being still nothing more 

 ""'less and more effective than the old- 

 ^ loned mixture of soft soap and quassia 



mnv ^ \ ^V*'Se is very sensitive, and, 

 '»<'.^ W added, rather erratic or fickle 



always remembering to soak the soil tho- 

 roughly wth clear water first. A dressing 

 of rich guano is one of the best things to 

 apply, six or eight ounces to the square 

 yard being xised and well watered in. If 

 one of the highly concentrated artificial fer- 

 tilisers is used, a quarter of a pound to the 

 square yard would be as much as it woidd 

 be safe to apply, and this should be given 

 in two doses, with an interval of a fort- 

 night between them. Feeding and water- 

 ing should alike cease when the fruits 

 begin to show signs of ripening, for not only 

 may the manure impair the flavour, but a 

 wet soil, by excluding air from the roots, 

 and in other ways, may produce the same 

 effect. A fairly dry soil at the time of 

 ripening appears to be necessary if the 

 finest flavour is to be obtained. 



Gathering: the Fruit. 



This is a little art in itself. Some put 

 a net under the tree to catch the falling 

 fruits, but few should fall if they are pro- 

 perly looked after. When the earliest 

 fruits are getting ripe each shoukl be gently 

 tried by touching it with the fingers at the 

 back so that if it leaves the branch it may 

 lightly drop into the open palm. Tins 

 should be done alternate days in very hot 



' ee ' 



t.me a very sunple one. Like all the other 

 members of the Primuln faniilv, the seeds 

 of auriculas germinate best when sown as 

 soon as tlu'v are ripe ; but when seeds have 

 to be purcliased, the most suital)le time for 

 sowing them is during the second half of 

 March or early in April. Pots or pans 

 should be filled with a mixture of two-thirds 

 loanij one-third leaf soil, and a small quan- 

 tity of sand. Sow the seeds th.nly. and 

 cover them lightly with the soil^ affording 

 them a gentle watering, and placing them 

 in a frame to germinate. To prevent a 

 too rapid evaporation^ a piece of glass nnist 

 l)e placed over the receptacles^ and this 

 should be shaded with paj^er. Immediately 

 germination is noticed, remove the glass 

 and paper, and shade the frame lightly. 

 The seedlings appear very irregularly, and 

 often slowlv therefore it is advisable to 



• 7 



,1 ■ . , 'cciifi fiiauic or rifKle, weatuer, or every luret^ uuvs lh^ ^^../cv. 



I Oleum and soft soap emulsion, how- Fruits are sometimes puslietl off the hranch 



well made, will sometimes cause in- 



first we«Tr sprayed twice in the 



. n nn . '^""y^ ^fter flowering, and 

 ; n one ^^^^.^ midsumme;, the 



'te whipr'"'"?=;'^""s^"g ^-'ti^ 



ive ' ^11 always re- 



' nZ l^I^^^^^y k^^P ^^^^ ^lean for 

 ust .LZJ^^ summer, though the tree 



iist ilu-.., - -""""CI, luougn tne tree 

 u„n ^^^^ f'ai-efnl okserva- 



" - ^""'^ T'^^ommend giving peaches 



wfore the blossoms open. 



bj their own swelling, but more often by 

 earwigs, woodlice, ants, etc.. eating the 

 fruit just against the stalk. This is espe- 

 cially the case when a wall needs pointing, 

 ants' sometimes beginning to eat the fruit 

 when it is the size of a wood nut. Holes 

 in an old wall should be stopped up with 

 cement, a job which can be done by any 

 handy man without that damage to all sur- 



recommend giving peaches rounding objects which often results from laden atmosphere. 



retain the seed pans for some time after 

 the first comers have been transplanted. 

 Seed l>oxes are used for the pui*pase of 

 transplanting, and the young plants mused 

 along for a time in the frame. 



When the seedlings attain fair size, they 

 are best transferred to open nursery beds, 

 where thev will be allowed to bloom. The 

 idea of flowering the plants in nursery beds 

 for the first time is that it allows the culti- 

 vator to weed out all the undesirables, and 

 to make a selection of those considei-ed the 

 finest varieties. The folowing season the 

 selected ones shoidd be planted in their 

 frame shelter until early in spring. 



AVhen a good strain has been selected, and 

 the jdants become large, propagation may 

 be effected by division, and a good time to 

 divide is in the spring, wlu^n flowering is 

 over, and the ])lants are lifted from the 

 l>eds to make room fo]- other subjects. A 

 fairly shaded and moist situation should 

 be selected for their summer quarters, and 

 the divided portions put out about 

 inches apart. When a good strain has been 

 selected^ it is a goo<l plan te save seeds 

 and sow them as soon as they are ripe. 

 T^sually the seeds ripen in July, and con- 

 sequently the yoimg plants raised from them 

 are small for wintering in open l>eds, there- 

 fore it is advisable to provide them with 

 frame shelter until early in spring. 



For town gardens the border auricidas 

 are amongst the most useful of plants. 

 Fogs and soot seem to have no eSeet on 

 them; in fact, they thrive in the smoke- 



the employment of a builder's man. 



Gnaton (hardens. 



E. C POOLEY. 



