August 
TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
227 
son : many of their young plants were injured, if not 
killed, with the wet and chilly nights up to midsum¬ 
mer, and then by a sudden drought, which parched 
up the leaves, notwithstanding all the care that 
could be given them.” 
THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 
The Peach. —The period has arrived when a very 
general stopping of the shoots of peaches and nec¬ 
tarines should take place. We do not mean to say 
that this is the most general practice, for many good 
gardeners do not stop at all, or but very little. We, 
however, have practised thus for years, and we are 
perfectly satisfied that it is a most essential point of 
culture, having a direct tendency to moderate that 
extreme vigour of root, which at this period of the 
year, through the influence of a high ground tem¬ 
perature, is apt to produce late growths; especially 
if the soil is rich, and the roots are at a considerable 
depth. 
Another object is accomplished by stopping; rapid 
growth is inimical to both size and flavour in the fruit, 
both which qualities are enhanced by what we may 
term a concentration of the elaborated juices, which 
at this period should be in full power. Those juices 
should not be suffered to expend themselves in the 
production of an excess of immature leaves, which 
can never fully repay back the stores used in their 
production. A third reason exists for this proce¬ 
dure : it affords one more chance, before the growing 
season is finally completed, of making farther ad¬ 
vances towards an equalization of the sap ; a matter of 
the utmost importance in the case of all trained 
trees, more especially the peach and nectarine, 
which are but too apt to run riot in some branches 
at the expense of the others. Our rules of stopping 
at this period are as follows:—Wo commence as soon 
as we perceive the last swelling of the fruit begin¬ 
ning ; and this will, in most parts of England, be 
about the first week in August. We do not complete 
all the stopping at once, but, generally, go over the 
trees three times. In the first stopping, we com¬ 
mence at the extremities, pinching oft' the mere 
growing point of every shoot that may be considered 
a leading one, or inclined to be rather rampant. 
Not a shoot do we touch on all the subordinate 
parts of the tree which have acquired, or are likely 
soon to acquire, the character of leaders; such 
breast-wood, or, rather, back shoots, as obstruct the 
light from those ahead of them, by overtaking 
and overlapping them, we stop without hesitation. 
Amongst the latter will be found many shoots not 
far from the collar of the tree, which we described 
in former Cottage Gardeners as being a sort of 
nursery for successional wood. With many of these 
it is merely necessary to reserve two or three leaves 
or joints: that is to say, provided they are rushing 
past and shading the true-bearing shoots of the next 
year. All axillary shoots, too, we stop at this time. 
Our readers will remember, that what we term 
axillary shoots are those which spring forth from 
the sides of the young shoots of the current year ; 
the term axillary, therefore, we would beg them to 
bear in mind: it is in general use amongst practical 
men of any repute, and is sufficiently expressive of 
the character of such wood. We do not like the use 
of such terms as watery wood ; it does not, in many 
cases, express clearly what is intended; such terms, 
therefore, should be used and received with some 
caution. We could ourselves soon coin more ex¬ 
pressive terms for many of our operations; but 
we consider it better to content ourselves with the 
terms already existing, which, being conventionally 
settled, should not be disturbed without very strong 
reasons. Most of these axillary shoots, then, will 
by this period be six inches in length at least; and 
where more walling or fence remains still to be co¬ 
vered, such will be required to remain at the winter’s 
forming, although many foolishly cut them away; 
indeed, many gardeners cannot fancy them, their 
appearance differing so much from the fruitful wood. 
Nevertheless, although by no means fruitful them¬ 
selves, they aro capable of producing fruitful shoots 
in the ensuing year, in the course of which then- 
character will become totally altered. These, then, 
may all be stopped at this dressing, and it will im¬ 
part a woody firmness to them, which will enable 
them to endure the winter and to avoid being 
gummed in the succeeding spring. 
At this stopping, then, we will suppose (in order 
to convey some definite idea) one-third of the supe¬ 
rior or stronger-growing shoots all over the tree are 
stopped, besides the axillary shoots, &c. In another 
fortnight we go over again, and stop about another 
third portion, on precisely similar principles; and, 
in addition, many of those stopped only a fortnight 
before will have commenced growing again; these 
we stop at every point. The other third remaining, 
and which will comprise all the weaker shoots 
wherever situate, we do not stop at all. These con 
tinue growing until the end of the season, and, of 
course, appropriating a portion of that ascending 
sap of which their stronger neighbours were deprived 
by stopping. There can be little doubt, moreover, 
that a portion of the descending sap, elaborated by 
the superior shoots (which will soon, under these 
circumstances, produce a surplus) becomes appro¬ 
priated by these inferior shoots in its passage clown- 
ward to the roots; for we have repeatedly found, 
during the last twenty years, that, by a systematic 
and severe course of stopping on the principles here 
laid down, it is perfectly easy to cause the lower 
portion of tire tree to become stronger than the prin¬ 
cipal branches. We have reared trees on this system, 
commencing operations the year after planting, which 
have astonished old practitioners; trees possessing 
two powerful arms or branches, the one right the 
other left, at the lower part of the wall, and almost 
parallel with the surface of the soil, whilst all the 
centre of the tree, usually the strongest, was under 
complete subjection,—in fact, not half the strength 
of the lower shoots. This was not done, however, 
by winter pruning; such could never have accom¬ 
plished it. To use a nautical phrase, we like best to 
“ trim the vessel when she is in full sail.” 
It will be understood here that, in speaking of 
stopping a third of the shoots at one time, we do not 
intend such dry rules to be of too stringent a cha¬ 
racter. We have supposed a case in which a large, 
fine, and strong-growing peach, covers two-thirds of 
the space of wall allotted to it; one, in fact, which 
has been planted some five or six years. Much 
deviation from such a case will be necessary under a 
variety of circumstances : weak trees require no 
stopping at all. R. Errington. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 
Messrs. Paul and Sons’ Rose Nursery, Ches- 
hunt (Continued from page 209).—We left off our 
account of this interesting nursery at the point when 
