332 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. [March 1895. 



has been reported upon in some detail by the United States 

 Consul at Liege. 



Before planting peach trees, it is, it appears, the practice of 

 the 'Belgian grower to thoroughly fertilise the soil with guano 

 or chicken manure. After the tree is planted, a peck of lime is 

 added to every cubic yard of earth, placing it near the surface. 

 As it is necessary to loosen the earth for at least 6 feet square 

 and 3 feet deep, this quantity — a bushel to the tree — may seem 

 large, but the authorities are said to be all agreed that more 

 rather than less would be better. 



As the standard tree too often failed to be profitable in Bel- 

 gium, experiments were made with espaliers (wooden railings), 

 but these were found to be so open and exposed that the young 

 trees fared very little better upon them than in the orchard. 

 The wall was then tried, not, it is observed, as in England, where 

 mural enclosures are built at great expense for the special pro- 

 tection of delicate fruit, but the sunny sides of the houses, and 

 the system met with such astonishing success that there are few 

 houses to-day in Belgium upon whose southern exposures trees 

 are not trained. 



At the time of flowering, various methods are adopted to 

 shield the buds from the action of frost. Experience has shown 

 that the best method is to place branches cut from other trees 

 among the upper boughs of the peach trees. This plan is said 

 to have been attended by good results, though great caution is 

 needed in its application, as too much shade is apt to stifle the 

 buds by excluding the rays of the sun. Another method, until 

 recently very much in vogae, and stated to be always effective, 

 is the employment of mosquito netting or other cheap material, 

 with meshes large enough to admit the free passage of light and 

 air. The old custom of using closely woven cloch, like table or 

 bed linen, at night and removing it in the morning, is said to 

 be more dangerous than the frost itself, as the trees at this 

 season cannot be deprived of air without serious injury; besides, 

 this artificial heat at night, succeeded by the warmth of the sun, 

 hastens their blowing, when the object is to delay it as loug as 

 possible. Shading at noon is, it seems, sometimes as essential 

 as covering at night. Small growers are said to succeed very 

 well in protecting their fruit by placing a number of horizontal 

 poles about 18 inches apart, and from 4 to 6 inches from the 

 trees, and covering them with light wisps of straw, but this 

 device is unsightly and makes much litter. 



In good situations, penthouses (sheds of wood, thatch, or straw 

 projecting 18 or 20 inches from the wall and covering the tops 

 of the trees) have sometimes been found suflScient to protect the 

 fruit, and are reported to be extremely useful in checking the 

 flow of the sap. An addition to this method, which was intro- 

 duced in 1876 and found to afford increased protection, consists in 

 providing a curtain made of unthrashed rye straw. This is made 



