JUNE. 
119 
soil. In the course of my experience I have observed that all stone fruit, with¬ 
out any exception, thrive best and are most fruitful in calcareous soils. In the 
limestone districts of Yorkshire the Peach trees against walls, where properly 
attended to, are healthy and fruitful; and round the town of Sherborne, where 
limestone abounds, that excellent preserving Plum, the Winesour, grows in the 
hedges and bears profusely, and also the Damson Plum is still more common. 
Almost every cottage has its garden hedge formed of these excellent fruits. 
I mention these as a proof of my maxim that stone fruits thrive best in the 
limestone districts, where the subsoil is formed entirely of that material. The 
garden at Womersley Hall, the seat of Lord Hawke, has a subsoil of limestone ; 
and there Peach trees live to a great age and bear fruit plentifully. Also 
near there is Byram Hall, the seat of Sir John Ramsden, and the garden is also 
similar to Womersley as to its soil. In that, garden some years ago there was 
the finest Peach wall in the kingdom. I forget the length, but it was con¬ 
siderable, and eight trees completely covered it, not a sickly branch to be seen. 
They were trained in what was termed the Seymour method, which I shall 
describe presently. 
Well, what does all this amount to? Why, that whoever has the oppor¬ 
tunity should form his Peach-borders with soil containing calcareous matter. 
Let me, however, begin at the beginning. Supposing it is determined to 
make a Peach-border, either in a new garden or an old one, begin first by 
excavating the soil; the necessary width for ordinary walls need not exceed 
12 feet. In general, as a useful rule, let the border be the same width as the 
wall is high. Then as to depth, 18 to 20 inches will be amply sufficient. The 
width being set out, then cut a main drain deeper than the bottom of the 
border: this main drain should be built with bricks laid flat and covered with 
flags the exact size of the drain. It should be placed at the side of the border 
the farthest from the wall, then form transverse drains across the border. If 
the subsoil is wet these cross-drains should only be 10 feet apart; if mode¬ 
rately dry then 12 or even 15 feet apart would do. Lay earthen tiles at 
the bottom, connecting them with the main drain in front; of course, these 
cross-drains should have a gentle fall to carry off the superfluous water; next 
fill up the drain above the tiles with open rubble or scoriae from which the 
smaller particles have been sifted out; then, if it can possibly be procured, 
lay all over the border a layer of broken unburnt limestone. If this, however^ 
cannot be obtained, then, instead, cover the bottom of the border with brickbats 
mixed with rough pieces of lime rubbish. This completes the drainage. 
These trees require, in order to produce healthy, fruitful, and long-lived 
specimens, a strong pu,re loamy soil of an adhesive character, such as an upland 
good pasture would furnish. Take it off in turves about 3 inches thick, and 
cart it home near to the garden. Lay it in a long heap, and when sufficient is 
procured commence at one end to chop it into small pieces, and whilst that is 
going on mix it thoroughly with some old lime rubbish, unless you are so for¬ 
tunately situated as to obtain the turf from a pasture on a limestone basis, 
then the lime rubbish will not be needed. Whilst the chopping and mixing 
process is going on procure some thinner turves, and with them cover the 
drainage grass side downwards. This will prevent the finer particles of the 
soil from falling into and choking up the dfainage. When that is done lay 
some boards or planks, and wheel in the soil to one end, forming the border 
with a very gentle slope to rather more than the full height to allow for settling. 
From 18 inches to 2 feet will be ample depth. If the garden is situated on a 
level country, I would advise the border to be raised a foot higher.than the 
general level; but if the garden is on a gentle eminence, as recommended 
above, then it may be nearly level with the rest of the garden. 
