May 8, 1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
373 
ON COLOURING PEACHES i 
AND NECTARINES. j 
W IIAl'ETER maybe said as to the relative qualities of coloured 
and uncoloured fruit, there cannot be two opinions as to which 
may be considered the most appreciated generally. Not merely are 
highly coloured fruits the most preferred, either for home dessert 
or exhibition purposes, but their greater value is even more 
strikingly apparent when they are consigned to the markets. As a 
matter of fact more importance is attached to high colour by 
■Covent Garden salesmen than to any other quality, not even ex¬ 
cepting great size, the fruit may possess. As a proof of this I have 
only to state that as late as July in the past year inquiries were 
made and tempting prices were offered in this and various other 
districts for highly coloured fruit, and that too when there was 
abundance, of Peaches especially, in the markets. Badly or only 
slightly coloured fruit, perfect in every other respect, •wo'uld hardly 
fetch Gs. per dozen at that time, whereas highly coloured samples, 
no matter what the variety might be, were worth from 9s. to 12s. 
per dozen. There is no necessity to enlarge upon the greater 
attractiveness of richly coloured fruits on the dining table, while 
but few need to be told how much better chance they stand of 
winning a first prize at an exhibition than equally well grown or it 
may be much larger fruits. I am not prepared to assert that the 
most highly coloured fruits are the best in point of quality, but it 
is very certain they cannot be said to be coloured at the expense of 
flavour and lusciousness generally. 
There being no disputing the truth of what I have just 
advanced, the question will or ought to arise, Why are highly 
coloured fruits comparatively scarce throughout the greater part of 
the season ? All good gardeners are most anxious to colour their 
Grapes to the best of their ability, and why should they not be 
equally solicitious about Peaches and Nectarines? And echo 
answers. Why indeed ? Probably, most probably I think, they are 
not so remiss in the matter as might at first sight appear, the 
failures to colour the fruit being more often due to misdirected 
efforts than to any want of zeal. Much depends upon the selection 
of varieties, some being naturally almost devoid of rich colours, 
others will not under any circumstances take much colour, while 
there are a few that under ordinarily good treatment are almost 
certain to be richly coloured. Noblesse and Princess of Wales are 
well known yellow Peaches, while the Alexandra Noblesse will 
only colour very slightly. Grosse Mignonne and its many 
synonyms, A Bee, Barrington, and Walburton Admirable, are not 
often seen well coloured, while the three varieties most frequently 
seen in perfection are Crimson Galande, Bellegarde, and Royal 
George. Among the best known Nectarines the most difficult to 
colour satisfactorily are Victoria, Lord Napier, and Pitmaston 
Orange, Pine Apple being more often seen good, but no one ought 
to fail with either Elruge, and especially Stanwick Elruge, Hunts 
Tawny, and Downton. A grower may, however, have good healthy 
trees of the most surely coloured forms and yet fail to do justice 
to them. Sometimes this may be due to the art of colouring not 
being studied or the necessity for it recognised ; but more often 
than not it may be attributed to being too late with what steps are 
taken to accomplish the desired end. After repeated experiments I 
have arrived at the conclusion that the colouring ought to commence 
before the stoning period, and that, therefore, the fruit must be 
well exposed to the light in advance rather than after either the 
No. 515.— VoL. XX., Tried Series. 
stoning or final swelling has (aken place or has commenced re¬ 
spectively. Especially is this necessary in the case of the more 
green or badly colouring Nectarines, notably Victoria and Lord 
Napier, as these ought to have a good tinge of colour in them 
when no larger than small Walnuts ; in fact it is my belief the only 
variety of Nectarine that will colour really well without early 
exposure is the Stanwick Elruge, the same remark applying to the 
Crimson Galande Peach. 
With the view, then, of growing highly coloured Peaches and 
Nectarines, close attention must be paid from the outset to duly 
thinning first the buds, then the fruits when set, and also the 
disbudding, stopping and early removal of superfluous leaves, or 
any which unduly shade the reserved fruit. Only the best placed 
fruits, where there is any choice, ought to be left, these being on 
the upper side of the branches of trees covering either roofs or 
semicircular trellises, and which face outwards on wall trees. I 
annually remove thousands of the under or back buds on the trees 
in our heated houses, having no doubt about or difficulty in effect¬ 
ing a good set, but in a large unheated house no early removal of 
flower buds has been carried out since we once lost nearly the whole 
of the uppermost or most exposed flowers by a severe frost in 
March. In all cases directly it is seen abundance of fruit is set 
the thinning should be commenced and completed before the 
stoning process begins. This early completion of the thinning 
may appear a somewhat risky proceeding, and in any case to have 
no direct bearing upon the colouring process, but I beg to differ 
from such a thought expressed or otherwise. When far too many 
fruits are left on a tree in anticipation of a portion of them failing 
to stone or swell, this is simply a sure means of inviting the 
occurrence, avhereas if the thinning has been done early and 
in a judicious manner few or no fruits will fall, and the trees will 
not have'weakened themselves in their effort to perfect more fruit 
than they prove capable of doing. I do not positively assert that 
a moderately heavy crop of fruit is the most likely to be well 
coloured, but we invariably gather our handsomest fruits from the 
trees under glass which are in the most healthy state, and over¬ 
cropping has plenty to answer for without being saddled with yet 
another failure. 
During April and May there are so many matters to attend to 
that few gardeners have much time to devote to the Peach and 
Nectarine trees, and this may be another reason why exposing the 
fruit is delayed longer than it ought to be. We find, however, 
that unless this important detail is attended to before the final 
swelling commences there is a likelihood of many fruits being 
scalded and much disfigured during the first hot day following 
upon their sudden exposure. The skins of Peaches and Nectarines, 
the latter especially so, if unduly shaded, are very tender, and 
therefore most susceptible of injury by scalding. They will not 
endure strong sunshine, and for a time at least after sudden exposure 
the glass over them should be temporarily and lightly shaded. A 
light shading is necessary in some houses to prevent the Pine Apple 
and Lord Napier Nectarines from being scarred, even though they 
have been fully exposed from the first, and is, therefore, doubly 
needed where this precaution has not been taken. As it happens, 
abundance of light rather than strong sunshine is required, both to 
harden the skins and develop colouring matter generally, and there 
is yet another element to be taken into consideration. As a rule, 
the fruits grown on open walls are the most richly coloured and 
tempting in appearance, although not equal in quality to those 
grown under glass. This justifies me in assuming that plenty of 
air has much to do with the colouring of fruit. It is a well-known 
fact that some kinds of Grapes, notably Black Hamburghs, will 
not colour properly in a heated close atmosphere, and judging 
from what that eminent novelist and pomologist Mr. R. D. Black- 
more puts into the mouth of a prominent character in a most 
interesting book entitled “ Christowel,” he also is of opinion that 
wind is an important factor in the colouring of Apples and Pears. 
No. 2171.—VOL. LXXXIL, OLD Sebies, 
