chap, vii.] WALL-FRUIT TREES, 203 
being very rarely grown against a wall in 
England, In the neighbourhood of London, 
figs and grapes are grown against walls in 
the open ground, and in some parts of Devon¬ 
shire the orange tribe. 
Stone Fruits .—All kinds of stone fruits are 
more or less delicate at the time of forming 
their stones, or u stoning” as it is called; and 
the fruit requires thinning at that period to 
prevent the greater part of it being dropped. 
They all blossom early, and are delicate 
while their flowers are expanded. For these 
reasons their crops are more uncertain in a 
variable climate like that of England, than 
crops of the kernel fruits, and require more 
care and attention to bring them to per-* 
fection. 
Peaches and Nectarines.-— The peach and 
the nectarine are only varieties of one species 
of almond; and instances have been known 
of peaches and nectarines growing on the 
same tree without grafting. Both peaches 
and nectarines are divided into two kinds; 
the free stones, the flesh of which parts readily 
from the stone-—and the cling stones, the flesh 
of which adheres to the stone. Some of the 
