90 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
the wood has not been well ripened no skill will cause them to set freety, the 
flowers all, or nearly all, generally dropping oft* without setting, the few 
that do set being on the weaker and consequently the better ripened shoots. 
In luxuriant-growing young Peach and Nectarine trees in our northern 
climate, except when forced early, it is often, in wet autumns, next to 
impossible thoroughly to ripen this young wood. Under these circum¬ 
stances abundance of blossom is formed, the flowering stage is passed 
through successfully, and the fruit sets abundantly so that a full crop is 
anticipated; they swell many of them to the size of peas, after which no 
progress is made for a week or two, and eventually here and there a fruit 
swells off while the rest drop, so that by the time the stoning process has 
been completed, instead of a full crop, a sprinkling only remains. Many 
reasons are assigned for the failure. I believe the true one to be imper¬ 
fectly ripened wood. 
A safe course to pursue where Peaches are forced early, and where 
doubts are entertained of their setting well, is to gently touch the stamens 
and pistils of the flowers with a camel’s hair brush, repeating the operatipn 
daily while the pollen is in condition. This entails a considerable amount 
of trouble, and after all if not carefully performed, disappointment and 
annoyance is the result. 
To prevent all this trouble and the risk of work badly done, I have had 
all the trellises here placed so as to stand from 16 to 20 inches from the 
glass, but totally unconnected with the roof, and made so as to vibrate 
rapidly with a stroke of the hand, thus dispersing the pollen of Vines or 
Peaches, and sending it in clouds around the flowers. This repeated two 
or three times during each day, in passing through the houses, saves 
much valuable time, and the process of impregnation is as surely and 
successfully aided as when each cluster or flower is separately attended to. 
Peaches and Vines can thus all be assisted in setting their fruit, whether 
free-setters or not, at a small cost of time, and in a manner not unlike what 
occurs in a state of nature, when the soft zephyrs fan their fragrant shades. 
The trellis is thus formed:—Suppose a lean-to house 16 feet in width, 
85 feet in length, with upright front sashes. Flat iron rods 1 inch in 
depth, and a quarter of an inch in thickness are placed below each rafter, 
and screwed at the front to the inside of the wall plate, curving out from it, 
and rising in proportion to the height of the front sash, turning with a knee, 
and following the line of the rafter, parallel to it at 10 or 12 inches belov/ 
it, and screwed to the back wall at the upper end. At each end of the 
house a rod 1 inch deep and three-quarters of an inch thick, of the same 
shape as the others, is screwed to the wall plate, end uprights, and back wall. 
All the rods are bored to admit wires at 10 or 12 inches asunder, the wires 
being passed through the rods below the rafters, and screwed at each end 
