October 17, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
331 
for the main crop, and in consequence they had careful attention, and 
as the result they produced crops of excellent fruit. Failures did occur 
then as now, but they were comparatively few, and taking a run of 
years the cultivator obtained an abundant supply. 
Let us pause to consider why the opinion of cultivators underwent 
so great a change that in many gardens it has long been considered an 
unsatisfactory if not a hopeless task to produce a dish of Peaches or 
Nectarines without the aid of glass. That glass is of immense service in 
fruit production no one could be more ready to acknowledge than 
myself, but I would submit that it does not necessarily follow that 
because Peaches and Nectarines can be successfully grown in an orchard 
or Peach house, that those who have no such convenience should not 
have their table supplied with these fruits during some part of the year. 
The fruit grower cannot wholly escape from the influence of fashion. 
Thirty years ago saw a great change in the decoration of the flower garden 
and the uprising of the bedding system, by which the hardy flowers 
were replaced by bands and masses of colour produced by plants more or 
less tender. The propagation and preparation of these comparatively 
large stocks of bedding plants diverted much attention from other 
departments, and the bedding out had to be done just at the time when 
the Peach trees require considerable attention. The bedding system 
undoubtedly exercised a material influence upon the outdoor culture of 
these fruits ; but the chief cause of the decline was not the fever 
engendered by the bands, crescents, circles, and stars of scarlet, yellow, 
and blue with which the flower garden was so liberally furnished. 
Rather may it be traced to the more general introduction of glass 
houses into gardens about twenty-five years ago. We were then told 
that to attempt to produce a dish of Peaches or Nectarines out of doors 
was an act of folly of which no gardener would be guilty. We were 
assured also that the seasons had so changed that to efficiently protect 
the flowers and young plants from the cold blasts of spring, or to pro¬ 
perly ripen the wood in the course of the season was an impossibility. 
But this was not all. For many years following the cheapening of 
glass by the removal of the duty and the adoption of improved processes 
of manufacture it was too much the practice to attach undue importance 
to the indoor department of the garden. Twenty years ago the ambition 
of the majority of young gardeners was to obtain charge of the con¬ 
servatory and plant stove. Work in the Peach house, Pine pit, and 
vinery was not particularly objected to, but the pruning and nailing of 
wall trees was done with reluctance, and the rougher operations of the 
kitchen garden under protest. In consequence of this combination of 
circumstances it is not surprising that the outdoor culture of the Peach 
and Nectarine should have almost become a lost art amongst us, or that 
the supplies should for a long period have been small and intermittent. 
Happily a great change for the better has taken place in the ideas of 
young gardeners, and the Peach and the Nectarine have shared in the 
improvement that has been effected in the management of the fruit 
garden as the result of the change. We may, indeed, congratulate our¬ 
selves upon the fact that they are now being grown against open walls 
with greater success than at any period during the past twenty years. 
Much, however, has yet to be done before their outdoor culture can be 
considered thoroughly satisfactory. Holding this view, I hope that 
there will be no relaxation on the part of those who take an interest in 
hardy fruits to complete this much needed reform. 
If I am asked what course we are to take to increase both the 
quantity and the quality of the fruit, I have no hesitation in saying 
that it must be in the direction of an improved system of management. 
I have been told, I am afraid to say on how many occasions, that it is 
simply a question of climate, and that if we could only change the 
climatic conditions which obtain, there would be no difficulty in obtain¬ 
ing an abundance of fruit. A change for the better in the climate 
would, no doubt, be an advantage ; but as that is beyond our control, 
we must endeavour to cheat it by adopting a course of culture suited to 
the peculiarities of the trees. 
As the Peach and Nectarine are natives of Persia, which has a much 
warmer and drier climate than that of the United Kingdom, it neces¬ 
sarily follows that they are comparatively tender and more susceptible 
to adverse influences than are the majority of fruits grown out of doors. 
It is not necessary to tell you that ihey are liable to suffer from the 
frosts and biting winds of spring, or from severe weather in winter, 
following a summer not particularly favourable to the ripening of the 
wood. But I would submit that their liability to injury in these two 
seasons is greatly overrated, and that it may be materially reduced by 
judicious management. Success or failure rests chiefly upon the con¬ 
dition of the wood at the end of the summer, and if that is fairly well 
ripened, it depends very much upon the activity of the cultivator in 
the spring following as to whether or not he gather a good crop of fruit 
in the course of the summer. To obtain well-ripened wood, excepting 
in seasons that are particularly favourable, is by many regarded as an 
impossibility. But I do not so regard it, for to do so would be to ignore 
the teaching of long experience and wide observation. It is simply a 
question of placing the roots under proper conditions, and we must 
obtain clearer views as to what these conditions are, and sweep away 
some of the cobwebs that hang about the practice which generally 
obtains at the present time before we can hope to see the culture of 
these fruits placed on a satisfactory basis. We must fully appreciate 
the importance of well-drained borders, and to show how necessary 
they are, I would say that with a superabundance of moisture about the 
roots, and especially in a stagnant state, the trees will make wood defi¬ 
cient in fibre, and continue in growth until so late a period that the 
completion of the ripening process is out of the question. Therefore, the 
steps necessary to prevent the water remaining in a stagnant condition 
about the roots must be taken either before or after the borders are 
formed. Anxious to avoid occupying time with more detail, I will 
content myself with saying that a drain laid down along the front of 
the border, 6 inches or so below the bottom of the border, will suffice 
to carry off superfluous water. In other cases it may be necessary to 
supplement the drain with a layer of brick rubble or broken stone 
underneath the border. On soils that are naturally cold and heavy it is 
a great advantage to raise the surface of the border from 12 to 18 
inches above the general level, and to separate the border from the cold 
subsoil by a layer of lime concrete. To provide a layer of drainage 
materials or of concrete will undoubtedly add to the cost. But I would 
submit that one of these provisions would be made by the experienced 
cultivator in forming a border for trees under g'ass when the soil is wet 
and cold. Then why not make a similar provision for trees in the open 
which are assuredly less favourably placed ? 
Referring briefly to the formation of the borders, permit me to say 
that a good strong loam is the most suitable for Peaches and Nectarines. 
But there are comparatively few gardens in which they will not thrive 
without any additions being made to the staple. Here it may be neces¬ 
sary to consolidate a light sandy soil by a liberal addition of loam 
brought in from the outside, or a moderate quantity of well-pulverised 
clay. There the staple may be so heavy and tenacious as to render a 
liberal dressing of some light material desirable. To break up the 
border to the depth of 2 feet or so will be advisable, but this must be 
done a sufficient length of time to enable the soil to settle down before 
the trees are planted. It is a good practice to trench the border in 
the winter, then crop it during the summer, and plant the trees in the 
autumn following. Not a scrap of manure should be added to the 
border when prepared. I know that we are told in the books and else¬ 
where that as the trees will in all probability occupy the same positions 
for many years, the borders must have fertilising matters added to them 
when under preparation. This mischievous teaching is not modern, and 
has much to answer for. Planted in a rich border the trees grow with 
excessive luxuriance, the knife is freely used in the removal of fat 
shoots, and gumming, with a whole train of evils, follows as a matter of 
course. To abolish the use of manure in the formation of the border 
will be a great gain, as we shall then obtain a firmer and more satis¬ 
factory growth from the first. Let it not be understood that I am 
advocating a starving system of culture. So far from this being the 
case I would suggest that when the trees have commenced to bear, and 
not until then, they should have whatever assistance from fertilising 
matters that may be necessary, for to obtain first-class fruit from trees 
that are not in a vigorous condition is impossible. 
Passing on to a reference to the trees, I would submit as the most 
suitable those that are in a moderately vigorous state, and have under¬ 
gone some amount of training in the nursery. I would also give a pre¬ 
ference to trees on the Mussel stock, and showing hut few signs of the 
knife. In pruning the trees during the first two or three years, a course 
intermediate between that generally adopted by the past generation of 
cultivators and that which now obtains will give the best results. The 
older growers cut the leading branches the first season back to about 
one-third of their length, and in subsequent seasons pruned severely. 
By this means they obtained trees well furnished from the base, but the 
work of filling the wall space was slow, and the production of fat 
shoots gave much troub'e. The cultivator of the present day contents 
himself the first and several subsequent years with merely taking off 
the tops of the leading shoots. Under this course of procedure large 
wall spaces are quickly covered, but in the majority of cases the trees 
are indifferently furnished with bearing wood in the centre. From 
the first overcrowding of the growth must be avoided, as it is only 
