626 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



upon a slate bench or upon the ground ; some cinders should be placed 

 underneath them to insure proper drainage. If on a bench, a good bed 

 of tine cinder ashes is essential to prevent undue evaporation. If the 

 pots are on the ground, a thin layer of cinder ashes all over the surface of 

 the beds gives the house a neat appearance. They are easily raked over 

 and kept clean. 



All fruit-trees in pots require repotting every year ; this may be done 

 directly the leaves begin to fall in October. The tree is taken out of its 

 pot and the outer soil raked away with a two-pronged claw, till a ball of 

 earth containing the larger roots is left. If the tree is healthy and doing 

 well, the soil which is removed will be full of rootlets, which answer to 

 the leaves on the part of the tree above ground and do duty for one 

 season only. A clean pot, of the same size or of one size larger if 

 necessary, is crocked and filled with soil, rammed fairly tight, to a height 

 which will bring the tree to the same level with the pot rim as it was 

 before. The tree is then placed in the pot, held so that the stem is in 

 the middle and keeps vertical, whilst soil is rammed firmly in all round 

 the ball, and the pot filled up to within about half an inch of the top of 

 the rim. In potting, a little soil should be used at a time and rammed 

 firm with a wooden truncheon before adding more. The soil to be used 

 is a good turfy, fibrous loam, or as near this as is obtainable, three 

 quarters, mixed with one quarter of rotten stable manure ; for stone 

 fruits some lime or old mortar rubble should be added. It should be 

 mixed a little time before using and kept under cover, so as not to be 

 sodden with rain when it is required ; on the other hand, it should not 

 be allowed to get over dry and dusty. After they have been repotted the 

 trees should be given some water, and may be stood close up together in 

 the house or outside. 



In severe weather, outside or in, barley straw should be packed round 

 and over the pots to keep the frost out. Little or no water need be given 

 the trees in the house during November and December. Early in 

 February the trees may be pruned, and in the end of the month the house 

 set out, the trees being placed about three feet apart. A good smoking 

 with tobacco paper should be given, and it is desirable to brush the 

 trunks and larger branches with a mixture of quassia and soft soap, using 

 a hard paint-brush. If the trees have been properly pinched during 

 the summer, pruning is a simple matter of shortening the last season's 

 growth to behind the point at which it was first pinched. Dead wood and 

 that not required to furnish the tree must be cut out. In pruning 

 Peaches and Nectarines the shoots must always be cut to a wood-bud, 

 either contained in a triple eye or solitary, easily distinguished at this 

 time when the flower-buds are rounded and plump. Often they have 

 slender shoots with flower-buds all up them and one wood-bud only, at 

 the tip. These are left intact to carry a fruit or two, and are cut right 

 out the following spring. Supposing the flowers all fall and no fruit set 

 on such a shoot, it should be cut right out at once. If they cannot be 

 properly spaced by pruning, the shoots should be tied into position with 

 a piece of raffia. By March, in a cold house, the Peach-trees will be in 

 full Mower ; the Pears rather later than the stone fruits, and Apples last 

 of all. 



