208 THE KITCHEN-GARDEN, [chap. vii. 
and wet, with but little sun, some cultivators 
remove a few of the leaves to admit more air 
and light to the fruit; but this should be 
done very sparingly, as unless a sufficient 
quantity of leaves are left to carry on the 
proper circulation of the sap, the skin of the 
fruit will become tough and withered, and 
the flesh insipid. When the fruit is ripe, it 
is customary, in large gardens, to suspend a 
net under the branches to catch any fruit 
that may fall, and thus to save it from being 
bruised. The peach is supposed to be a 
native of Persia, and to have been introduced 
into England about the middle of the six¬ 
teenth century. Peaches and nectarines on 
a wall ten or twelve feet high, should be 
planted about twenty feet apart; with riders 
of some kind of plum, or peach, till the 
permanent trees spread. 
The Apricot is a native of Armenia, intro¬ 
duced about 1562. The culture is the same 
as that of the peach, excepting that it is not 
trained quite so much in the fan manner, 
but somewhat horizontally. It also bears, 
not only on the side-shoots of the last year, 
but on close spurs formed on the two-years’ 
