CULTURE OF PEACHES AND NECTARINES ON THE OPEN WALL. 
307 
some suggestions which will at once be preferable to recognised principles, and bear also 
the severe test of long experience ; such I am indeed prepared to do. 
Soils and Subsoils. — Everybody knows that unctuous, but not adhesive, loam is the 
soil for the Peach and Nectarine. Such soils are not to be met with everywhere : 
they may, nevertheless, be imitated in cases of necessity. Subsoils have as much to 
do with the fate of the Peach and Nectarine as even the soil — or, at least, are but 
second in import. Thus a border may be formed on an impervious substratum of clay 
or marl, the surface of which is a dead level, or nearly so. Rubble or bricks may be 
placed on this, and, it may be, a drain in front : nevertheless, “ while the grass grows the 
horse starves ; ” and here, in extremely wet periods, before the superfluous waters can 
escape, the soil about the tender fibres is at the point of saturation. It should always be 
borne in mind that, even where the incline beneath the rubble stratum is considerable, a 
continual tendency exists at the outer margin of the incline to tilt up ; for humus and other 
matters, escaping through disintegrations, are continually making their way, through the 
conjoint influences of descending moisture and gravitation ; and being out of the “ ken” of 
ordinary calculation, accumulate, in many cases, much faster than may be imagined. 
The fair inference from these positions, then, is that the inclining surface of the subsoil 
should, in most cases, be considerable, in order that the impetus arising from water gravi- 
tation should be of sufficient power, at all times, to keep a clear course. 
These preliminaries bring me, as I wished, to a recommendation of what I have called 
the “ platform ” system of planting. In the Auctarium of Mr. Maund, botanist and 
fruitist, the practice is fully described ; but as very many persons do not subscribe to that 
work, I would, as a part of the present subject, beg leave to refer to it here. I have 
before stated that I consider a very great waste has occurred in the making of borders, as 
practised in former days, when the only notion entertained was, that a whole border of 
some 12 or 15 feet in width, must, of necessity, be made at once. This I hold to be by 
no means the case, for it is a waste of both materials and labour ; and this I have proved 
for many years. 
By platforms, then, I mean the forming a station, or plot, some six or eight feet 
square, instead of improving or attempting to alter the staple of the whole border. 
This of itself is no small matter (as to the economical bearing of the affair) to the 
amateur, or those who do not possess the facilities offered in our larger garden establish- 
ments in Britain. Nevertheless, let it be understood that where the subsoil is of a 
retentive character, a general drainage of the whole border is requisite, previous to forming 
the platform. Such, then, being accomplished, and “ the stations ” marked out, the 
original soil for about six or eight feet square must be completely excavated to the depth 
of about thirty inches. The surface of the subsoil should be sloped from the wall con- 
siderably, and if any danger from water exists, a straight drain at right angles with the 
wall should issue from the bottom of each excavation, leading directly into a main, which 
in all cases should run parallel with the wall at the edge of the border next the walk. I 
before stated thirty inches as the depth of the excavation ; my practice is then to place ten 
inches of rubble, stone, bricks, clinkers, or other imperishable materials, in the bottom of 
the excavation, thus leaving twenty inches for a pure maiden soil or compost. 
I am, of course, now speaking with regard to Peach and Nectarine culture. Now for 
soil or compost. As before observed, a good, sound, mellow loam is the prime material, 
such as our nurserymen select for general potting purposes, and the more coarse herbage 
with it the better. I generally blend some half-decomposed leaves with the mass, the 
amount of these depending on the amount of organic matter in the soil. When the loam 
is more adhesive than I desire, I introduce new straw in layers all through the mass ; this 
serves to keep the compost elastic until the young tree is fully established. Manure, if 
used at all, should be used with a sparing hand, and when I use any, it is fresh manure 
from the stable door ; this decomposes slowly, and, consequently, endures the longer. 
Now by the practice here described, it will be seen that some five or six barrows of the 
loam is abundantly sufficient for any wall tree ; whereas, by the old mode of what is termed 
border making,” nearly as many cartloads are required. I have trees thus planted, 
