398 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[Dec. I, 1893. 
their winter's rest ; and if it be a light soil, and 
therefore readily parts with its moisture, lie mulches 
it with stable manure in sufficient quantity to prevent 
undue loss by evaporation, but not to seal it against 
the entrance of air. 
Loss of buds may arise from a crowded state of 
the shoots, in which case only those shoots which 
are least crowded, such as those at the extremiti es 
of the longer branches, would develop good fruit 
and wood Duds. The crowded shoots would produce 
buds small in size, deficient in vigour, and certain 
to be ill-matured at the end of the season, and this 
would be equally true of trees in houses and on 
walls. It will be obvious to anyone that crowding 
the shoots cannot pay, and the best growers have 
for many years past advocated a judicious thinning 
of the shoots, and an early commencement of the 
operation, together with its gradual performance. 
This year the lessening of the number of shoots 
on a Peach tree was begun, owing to the extreme 
earliness of growth, so early as the second week of 
April in southern parts of the country, and a iini.sh 
will be made of the heavier portion of the work 
before the end of the present month. Of course, 
there is some thinning and cutting back of over-strong 
shoots to be performed even so late as the beginning 
of August. 
Another cause we may advert to as affording a 
reason for bud-dropping, is a soil with inefficient 
drainage, or none at all. There, the excessive mois- 
ture present prevents the ingress of air, consequently 
keeps the soil cool, tends to prolong growth to a 
late period, and prevents its attaining to full maturity. 
In such soils the Peach seldom pays to grow, for 
unfrilitfulness is sure to intervene when the roots 
have penetrated to any depth; and in such cases, 
nothing short of thoroughly draining the border and 
replanting the trees, perhaps renewing some of the 
staple, is of any use. 
There is one aspect of the case which we may 
here say a few words about, and that is the stock 
on which the Peach and Nectarine should be budded 
when the tree is to occupy a place on a south wall 
on warm dry land, or in the peachery. The Peach 
and Nectarine differ from most other kinds of fruit 
in being " worked" on a plant which in many points 
differs greatly from themselves. In the case of the 
Apple, we make use of the crab, the progenitor of 
all Apples, or of the Doucin, the Burr Knot and 
seedling Apples taken from all s )rts of sources, 
without regard to suitability, because, perhaps with 
the exception of the Doucin, a " dwarfing stock." 
it does not much matter, they being all of them 
Apples trees, and, therefore, nearly related. It is 
the same with the Plum, only Plum stocks are 
employed ; and the Pear, with the exception of some 
score or two of varieties which grow on the Quince, 
is not happy it not united to another Pear. With 
the Peach this is different, for in this country it 
has become the mode, because found the best adapted 
to our climate in general culture, to work it on the 
Plum stoci, a near relation probably some long a^es 
since, but now widely dissimilar in fruit, foliage, 
root-fotmation, and many other points. 
The usual stocks for the out-of-doors culture of 
Peaches, &c., are the Muscle, which comes pretty 
true from seed, but is best raised from stools, the 
St. Julien and the Damson, this last the worst. 
As is well known, the Plum stock tends to fruitfulness 
in the Peach or Nectarine, and in our moist climate 
is preferred to the Almond of the wild Peach stock. 
It is, however, not so certain that in our Peach- 
houses, where artificial conditions necessarily pre- 
vail, that the Plum stock is as well suited as those 
stocks that are found to suit the plants in countries 
with climatic conditions, closely resembling those we 
maintain in our forcing-houses. And iray not this, 
under certain conditions of soil and treatment, ac- 
count for the untimely fall of wood and frnit-buds ? 
In the Plum we have a plant that possesses abun- 
dance of small roots, but these naturally lie in the 
greater number near to the surface, and good fruit- 
growers endeavour to have them there, and transplant 
or lift the trees at intervals of three or four years 
^ith that inteiit. So far so good, but the bringing 1 
up of the roots of the Plum aear to the surface of 
the ground where any drought prolonged for only a 
few weeks might act injuriously on tlie roots, and, 
consequently, ou the stepchild drawing its uourisb- 
jiient from them, seems to be a practice that is not 
without some elemeut of danger. It is a question 
whether tlie Peach or Almond would not, at least 
for trees in forcing-houses, and very warm poiuua 
Bails in the open air, be the more suitable stocks 
to make use of. Both of them are found to succeed 
better as sloika for the Peach iu J''rauce, where the 
hard-shelled sweet Almond, Anuxudirr duur u coijitt 
ihirr, is prefi-rred ; the warmer parts of the Peach- 
belt in the United States of North America, Auetna, 
Hungary, and soutli-eastern Europe generally, all of 
tlK-m countries in which the Peacli is grown as an 
orchard tree. 
The roots of the Peach and Almond are few in 
comparison with the Plum, and have a natural ten- 
dency to stretch downwards in search of moisture, 
hence tlieir greater adaptability for co'incries wi'h 
warm dry summer climates. In all of these the 
trees are cropped to their utmost capacity whilst 
they arc young and vigorous, and last but a few 
years, say, ten to twelve ; in the United States of 
America, not so long, on account of that much- 
dreaded disease, the yellows. At about that age the 
fruit crop becomes smaller, and the trees are cleared 
out, young plantations taking their place. Here, 
there are often qualms about destroying old trees, 
and in spite of the obvious incurability of the weak- 
ness of old age, trees are kept alive along after 
they should have found a place on the rubbisb-heap. 
In fact, the retention of old and worthless fruit 
trees amounts, in some gardens, to a superstition, 
and if any one who reads this note has doubts of 
its correctness, let him visit the old gaxdens iu his 
neighbourhood, and judge for himself. 
The roots of the Peach and Almond must not 
have their natural downward tendency curtailed by 
cutting off tap roots, as is practised with the Plum 
stock, or its capacity to support a tree in the com- 
pxratively dry soil and dry air of the Peacb-bouse 
would be reduced below that of the surface-rooting 
Plum, and ill-health follow.^': nor should it be done 
when the.se stocks are used in dry soil and sites 
out-of-doors, for the same reason. At the most, the 
tap roots whilst at a pliable age, may be bent ai 
much in a horizontal direction as may be without 
breaking them; but this will not effect much, and 
the points of tbese roots — of which there are always 
several on a tree, will again soon take a downward 
direction. This fact will determine the depth of the 
Peach border. It should not be less than .S feet 
where the trees stand ; although there is no reason 
that it should be so deep over the whole area, and 
it may slope off to 18 inches at the sides or front, 
or the top may be nearly level, and the bottom 
of the border slope downwards towards the wall, or 
that parts where the trees stand, and be provided 
with a drain at that side to carry off the water. 
In fact, in making borders for Peaches and Vines, 
there are good reasons for elevating the artificially 
made border-bottom at the point farthest from the 
plants, and placing the drains where the soil is the 
deepest, not where it is, in most cases, shallowest. 
By so doing, the extending roots, instead of ever 
tending downwards away from warmth and air 
would be kept at a short distance from the top of 
the border, a part in which gardeners mostly like 
to find them. — Gardeners' Chronick. 
FIBRES : EAMIE MACHINE TKIALS AT NEW 
ORLEANS. 
The latest information connected with the extrac- 
tion of fibre from Ramie (Boehmeria nii-m, Hk. and 
Boehmei-ia nixea, var. tenacusima. Gaud. ) is contained 
in a Report on the recent trials of Ramie decorti- 
cating machines held under the authority of the U.S. 
department of Agriculture at New Orleans. The 
trials took place on the 30th September last, and 
