PEACHES AND NECTARINES. 



317 



avoid sorts with this peculiarity if possible, as the orchard house 

 must necessarily be restricted as to room. The Stanwick Elruge 

 and the Early Beatrice peach are types of trees with fruit buds 

 thickly studded on the shoots, and generally with triple buds, 

 that is, a centre leaf bud and two side fruit buds, a highly 

 important property, and absolutely necessary for fruitful prun- 

 ing. 



I have also noticed that sorts such as the Noblesse and Royal 

 George, which have serrated leaves and no glands, are more 

 liable to be afflicted with mildew than the varieties which have 

 glands on the leaves. The Alexandra Noblesse is an instance of 

 this peculiarity ; almost identical with its parent with regard to 

 the fruit, it differs very considerably in the structure of the 

 leaves, which are crenate and have round glands, and is never, 

 as far as I know, affected by mildew ; this a very obvious advan- 

 tage. I do not think it is necessary to give a list of peaches and 

 nectarines for walls, as the number of sorts to be grown must be 

 more limited. A trained peach tree soon covering 20 feet of 

 the space to be occupied, the varieties for this purpose are well 

 known. 



The natural tendency of the peach tree is to make a low 

 standard, and the dwarf standard is perhaps the easiest form for 

 an orchard house. The skilful and intelligent cultivator will 

 derive an excessive pleasure if he can train his trees into perfect 

 pyramids not higher than 8 to 10 feet, and symmetrical from 

 base to the top. Attention, care, and the choice of sorts are 

 requisite for this perfection of training, but the result well repays 

 the labour. I regret very much that I cannot transport some of 

 my pyramid trees with ripe fruit attached to them to one of the 

 shows of the Royal Horticultural Society, but the distance is too 

 great and the fruit too heavy to arrive in good order and condi- 

 tion ; they need to be seen to be appreciated. The peach 

 requires a calcareous soil, and without lime it is hopeless to 

 expect success in cultivation, but even with a favourable soil the 

 climate of England generally does not give much encouragement 

 to the production of regular and certain crops, such as are 

 enjoyed by the peach-growers of Montreuil, near Paris, who 

 appear to have been settled there for centuries. There are 

 certain districts in England, in Oxfordshire and Yorkshire, 

 where the apricot has well-defined limits of growth ; but the 



