252 
SPRING PRUNING OF THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 
from the axils of which grow the flowers, having a narrow taper-lohed calyx ; and a corolla with a slender hairy 
tube, and an obliquely-spreading five-lohed limb, about an inch in diameter, of a bright rose-purple, paler beneath, 
the eye yellow, slightly spotted with brown. A Continental garden variety. Introduced in 1849. Flowers in 
summer. Mr. Salter of Hammersmith. 
Rhodoleia championi, lIooTcer. Captain Champion’s Khodoleia (Bot. May., t. 4509),—Hat. Ord., Hammeli- 
(lea 3 .—A beautiful greenhouse shrub, rivalling the Camellia, hut of very curious structure. It forms a small ever¬ 
green tree, hut would probably blossom freely as a shrub. The leaves are alternate, elliptic-ovate, bright-green 
above, glaucous beneath. The flower heads grow at the ends of the branches, and are two inches and a half in 
diameter, of a beautiful rose colour, enclosing a large tuft of stamens. These heads, however, consist of about five 
flowers, which are destitute of corolla, the conspicuous portion consisting of the leaflets of an inner involucre, which 
are about eighteen in number, and of an obovate-lanceolate form ; an outer involucre consists of about a dozen 
more obtuse, silky, fuscous leaflets : the latter appear like sepals, the former like petals. From China: woods 
about Hong Kong. Introduced in 1850. Flowers (in China) in February. Messrs. Standish and Noble of Bagshot. 
SPRING PRUNING OF THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 
By Mr. J. TOWERS, C. M. H. S. 
■HI HIS question has been much agitated of late, but before any direct or satisfactory answer can be 
H returned, which can guide the practice of the amateur, or inexperienced tyro, we must take into 
consideration certain causes that are likely to influence the constitution and habits of the trees. If a 
Peach or Nectarine-stone be inserted at a moderate depth into a bed of sound, yet free-working hazel 
loam, which lias received no manure whatever, excepting it be that of its own decaying turf, the seed 
will germinate, send down a tap-root to the full depth of the good soil, and gradually produce a strong 
and luxuriant standard tree. On the other hand, a tree in a pot that has been worked (budded), if 
turned out into an open border, four feet in front of a warm south-east garden wall, will, as I have 
proved, produce an equally fine standard, but wfliich, however it might blossom, I never knew to bear 
a ripe fruit. 
I have now under immediate observation a low wall of alternate Peach and Nectarine trees, planted 
in the autumn of 1846' the soil is the maiden earth of a pasture that had not been previously disturbed 
till it was excavated for building; it is a blackish very light vegetable earth, sufficiently so for the 
growth of Kalmia, Heath, Azalea, and Rhododendron, but still combined with some loam—enough to 
enable it to absorb and fix ammonia, humus, and a portion of potash. The surface soil so constituted 
(and here I solicit the attention of the enquiring reader), might be fully eighteen inches deep, resting 
upon a bed of fine gravel, that it became an object to excavate and dispose of it to purchasers. The 
spaces so cleared, were filled partially with rubbish of all sorts, and over that was returned the natural 
surface earth, with its turf, which, including the quantity taken from the spaces now occupied by the 
buildings, increased the depth of the labourable earth to thirty inches or more. This kind of earth is 
not exactly such as I should prefer; nevertheless, the trees have flourished in it, and several have 
produced excellent fruit (their first crop), in the present year. As direct practical experience, in three 
comities, with soils of various qualities, present the means of comparison to a great extent, especially 
as the treatment of the trees here, since their planting in 1847, has devolved on myself alone, I feel 
authorized to offer the following remarks with some degree of confidence. In the first place, however, 
it will be useful to refer to able authorities, in order to understand what is expected from a well-trained 
tree, and upon what principles that training is conducted. 
The late Mr. George Lindley says:—“ The principal object to be kept in view, is a constant succes¬ 
sion of young wood throughout every part of the tree ; this is effected by pruning alone, and a judicious 
distribution of its young wood. The first rule to be laid down is, to shorten (at the winter pruning) 
every shoot according to its strength, and to prune to where the wood is firm and well-ripened. In 
May, the season for disbudding the tree, all fore-right shoots, as well as those from the back, must be 
carefully removed with a sharp small-bladed knife, taking care to cut close to the branch. Should 
young shoots of extraordinary vigour anywhere make then’ appearance, they should immediately be 
cut out, unless where a vacant part of the wall can be filled up, because an excess of vigour in one part 
of the tree cannot he supported without detriment to the other. When the trees are seen to throw out 
laterals from their stronger shoots, these should not be cut off close, but shortened to the last eye 
nearest the branch; and, if there is room, one or two of those first produced may be nailed to the wall; 
or the middle shoot may be cut out, leaving the two lowest laterals to take its place; thus frequently 
obtaining two fruit-bearing branches, when the former one would probably have been wholly unfruitful 
hi the following year.” ( Lindley’s Guide to the Orchard, 8fc., pp. 301-3). I have selected and abre- 
