December 7, 1912. 



VI 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



939 



POT CULTURE OF PEACHES 



AND NECTARINES. 



Probably more peaches and nectarines 

 are grown in pots than any other of the 

 kinds of dessert fruits. It is a most con- 

 venient method of cultivation, and has 

 much to recommend it. We often hear of 

 very large trained trees of both of these 

 fruits with immense crops upon them, 

 which, when ripe, provide an abundance of 

 useful material for the dessert ; but there 

 is such a thing as having a glut, with 

 little prospect of successional supplies in 

 the immediate future. It is not of such 

 moment, of course, when the surplus is 

 disposed of xipon the market. It is pos- 

 sible to grow a greater variety of both 

 pea<?hes and nectarines under the pot sys- 

 tem of culture than can be reasonably 

 expected from trained trees in the same 

 amount of space. As with plums and 

 cherries, so with the fruits now imder 

 notice, the longevity of the trees when 

 grown in pots is most remarkable, and the 

 average of life will compare favourably 

 with trained trees. Pot culture is advan- 

 tageous both for early forcing and for the 

 latest of the supplies in the autumn. 



Early Forced Trees. 



In making a comparison between the 

 peach and the nectarine, I find that the 

 latter is really the better of the two for 

 early forcing. The fruit, as a rule, sets 

 better, and certainly there is not the same 

 amount of bud-dropping at the starting 

 time. This failing with some of the first 

 early peaches is, to say the least, somewhat 

 disconcerting. There was more than usual 

 of this failing last season— .the result, no 

 doubt, of the excessive heat and the over- 

 ripened wood of the previous summer. I 

 do not anticipate seeing so much bud- 

 dropping this time. The trees are well 

 ripened, the wood looks all that one could 

 wish, and the buds are already somewhat 

 prominent. Before these lines are in print 

 our earliest house will be started. 



Nectarines to Force. 



For first early uses there is no nectarine 

 at present upon the market to equal 

 Rivers' Cardinal. The tree is of good con- 

 stitution and habit, and the set of fruit 

 is almost invariably good, too. The flowers 

 are of medium size, somewhat pale in 

 colour, but strong. The colour of the 

 fruit is indicated by its name. Though it 

 belongs to the clingstone section to some 

 extent, it is very juicy and rich. It should 

 be used before it becomes at all over-ripe, 

 for when in this stage it becomes somewhat 

 woolly. There is a tendency to split when 

 the fruits are taking their final swelling. 

 To obviate this, it is not advisable to 

 syrmge so much during the sunless weather 

 that niay intervene. I do not recommend 

 this variety for planting out. For that 

 purpose Early Rivers is excellent, and some 

 very fine fruits are so produced. This is 

 also the case from pot trees when not 

 overcropped. Early Rivers is about ten 



in ripening than Cardinal ; hence 

 it Ls a good plan to have some trees of each 

 variety in the early house, and to re- 

 peat it in the second as well. The fruit 

 of Early Rivers, I find, will remain in good 

 ^^ondition somewhat longer than Cardinal 

 when fully ripe. The tree is of equally 

 ^ood constitution, but not of such erect 

 habit as the first-named— in fact, I find 

 |t has a tendency to assume a pendulous 

 habit. The flowers are larger in this case, 

 and it sets quite as freely. The next to 

 ^ipen is Lord Napier, if we except one 

 called Advance, which does not, with us at 

 any rate, set freelv. Lord Napier is a 

 well-proved variety, and needs no further 

 comment. After these we have such as 



Humboldt, Pine Apple, Dryden, and for the 

 latest in pots Victoria. 



The first three varieties now 'lamed aie 

 simply gorgeous when in flower, and are 

 well worth growing from that standpoint 

 alone. Victoria, on the other hand, belongs 

 to the small-flowered section, like Crimson 

 Galande peach; it sets freely, however, 

 and is an 



llent nectarine to grow for 

 later forcing. It ripens with us towards 

 the end of July in our third house of pot* 

 grown trees. 



Peaches to Force. 



Of the first early peaches I prefer Duchess 



through. True, we grow both the Nectarine 

 I'each and Sen Eagle. These, for July use, 

 are excellent. They hang well, too. 



General Treatment. 



As regards temperatures, we make but 

 slight variation from the ortho<lox routine 

 in dealing with traine<l trees. The only 

 alteration of any nioment, in my opinion, 

 is that the mininnmi teni})eratnro until the 

 flowering }>erio<l is r<';u-luHl is lower on the 

 average. 1 do not niin<l even a tem])eraturo 

 of 3() <legrees InMiig rcHonUMl in the early 

 morning; this is l)etter than too much 

 fire heat at this early stage. As for 



NECTAEIXE CARDINAL. 

 An early-ripening nectarine raised by Messrs, T, Eiyers and Son, and remarkable for its 



rioli flavmir and brilliant cardinal-red skin. 



of Ck>rnwall and Duke of York to either 

 Amsden June, Alexander, AVaterloo, or 



Hales Early— the last four are, I believe, 

 American varieties. With us they are bad 

 bud-droppers, and not nearly so good or 

 dependable as the two first-named, both of 

 which set well, on the whole, and swell iip 

 to quite large fruit. To follow these, in 

 my opinion, there is but one choice, and 

 that is Peregrine, one of the best varieties 

 raised at Sawbridgewortli. It is an all- 



cherries, so with peaches, nectarines, and 

 plums, we depeml upon our l^ees for fer- 

 tilisation purposes. We do not prune our 

 tiees at the commencement, as pruning is 

 generally understood, but depend more 

 upon disbudding and pinching, with the 

 object of forming short, spur-bearing wood. 

 After tho trees have set their fruit, we 

 .shorten the wood hack wherever it is de- 

 sirable to do so. As soon as a house is 

 arranged in order for forcing, we always 



round excellent })eacli. 1 am also fond of give one application of nicotine insecticide 



• ■ ■ in the form of a va])our, and then again 



Crimson (ialnndc for use a little later on; 

 hut I'ort'urine. if started at <lifFerent times, 



will carry the seas<ui of forcing almost about to open. 



one more application just as the flowers are 



Jas. Hudson, V.M.H. 



