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THE CULTUEE OP WALL-PRUITS.—CHAPTER VI. 
59 
replanted at once, in the following March it may be headed back nearly close to 
the ground, and there will be a reasonable prospect of a strong and healthy 
shoot on which to bud for dwarf trees. The stocks for Standard trees, or riders, 
as the old gardeners called them, require more preparation, and a longer time to 
bring them ready for -budding, from which point the after-treatment will be 
precisely alike in both. 
In budding for dwarf trees for training, it is best to insert the bud near to 
the surface of the ground, so that as little as possible of the stock should be ex¬ 
posed ; the less the better, as it is undoubtedly true that many stocks are much 
less free in growth than the scions, and in the course of time, an overgrown 
excrescence at the point of junction is formed which is in no case ornamental, 
and may, to a great extent, be avoided by budding as near to the root as possible, 
so as to enable the planter, without any detriment to the well-doing of the tree, 
to cover the stock with earth, thereby sheltering it from the scorching heat of 
the sun in summer, and by its shade inducing the swelling-out of the stock in a 
ratio corresponding to the growth above. It seems clear to me, and it is only reason¬ 
able to suppose, that this action of the burning sun upon the exposed stocks of 
trees planted against walls, and especially those in a southern aspect, cannot but 
be injurious to the welfare of the trees, because opposed to natural conditions. 
No tree in a state of nature, and having free room for development, ever exposes 
the main stem; on the contrary, every tendency appears to be to dispose the 
branches in such a manner as to give it all the shelter possible. Are we not, 
therefore, acting in direct opposition to natural laws when we expose the stems 
of our peach-trees on south walls to the burning heat of summer without any 
shelter ? It may be urged that they are under artificial treatment, but art is 
always the more perfect the nearer it approaches to nature, and nature points to 
shelter. Now, during the great heat of summer the branches are all protected 
by the foliage which droops over them, but the exposed parts of the main stems 
near the stock are always in some degree excoriated, rough, and contracted, and 
always more or less so in proportion as the stock is of a free habit of growth or 
contracted. For this reason, I recommend budding as near the surface as possible, 
so that when planted in its place the stock should not be visible. Of course, a 
little latitude must be allowed in this, as in all cases where strict rules cannot 
always be adhered to ; and if the stock must be above the surface, something should 
be placed before it, such as a slate, or a half-round old-fashioned drain-tile, or a 
ridge-tile, to give it artificial shade. In the case of standards, the evil of exposing 
their long stems to the burning sun becomes far more glaring, and I have found 
that the best method to counteract this is to swathe them in tightly-twisted 
hay-bands, or to bind them up in long green moss, which is the neatest of the 
two. During drought or burning heat, it is good practice to saturate this bind¬ 
ing with water occasionally, and I have known instances where stems so bound-up 
and kept moist have thrown out rootlets all the way up—a result which may be of 
benefit or injurious, physiologists must determine which—but I do know that 
