JULY. 
147 
February or March occurred. Of course, when put up for that purpose, the 
sun is the object to be sheltered from : hence the protectors should be kept on 
during the day. No doubt other modes of shelter might be devised; but the 
object should be kept in view of not retaining them on in mild weather during 
the day, nor too late in the season. 
Disbudding. —I have alread} 7, incidentally mentioned this part of the 
summer treatment under the head of training, I need only repeat here that 
disbudding can hardly be done too soon. If the superfluous shoots are left on 
too long they absorb that nutriment which should be given to the needful 
shoots, and also the scars that are made in removing them are injurious to the 
branches. The leading shoots must be left on to draw up the sap to feed the 
fruit; but they should have the end nipped off when about 8 inches to a foot 
in length. The shoots for bearing the fruit the following season should be 
retained their full length, and as soon as they are long enough should be nailed 
in. Give them as much space as possible, so that every leaf will have its due 
share of light. In this place let me warn the young grower against laying in 
too many summer shoots. Those growers that do so are under the erroneous 
idea that thereby they multiply the chances of a crop of fruit, whilst, in fact, 
the effect is the reverse. Crowded shoots injure each other ; the leaves cannot 
perform their functions; the buds are all, or nearly all, wood-buds; and for 
want of light and air the wood in the autumn is crude and unripe; all these 
fatal evils may be avoided by keeping the trees thin of wood during the sum¬ 
mer, and also keeping the shoots retained regularly nailed or tied close to the 
wall. Be careful, however, not to enclose the shoots too tightly with the shreds 
or string. 
Thinning the Fruit. —The Peach tree when healthy, and its annual 
shoots properly ripened, is very fruitful, and will set, as it is called, more fruit 
than will expand to full size and perfection: hence the advantage of thinning. 
The number of fruit that it may be advisable to leave on to ripen depends in 
some measure on the vigour of the tree. If very strong and healthy, the final 
thinning may leave a fruit to every 6 inches square of the wall that the tree may 
cover ; if moderately strong, extend the space for each fruit to 9 inches square; 
and if weak, thin them to a foot square. These distances may not be kept 
mathematically correct, for the fruit may be rather thicker in one part of the 
tree than another ; but the number of fruit that is left should be such as would, 
if regularly and exactly placed, amount to the same quantity. At the first 
thinning, which should take place as soon as the fruit are the size of a boy’s 
marble, take away all that are of a bad form or are badly placed. At the 
second thinning remove such as are near the base of the bearing-shoot or near 
the top of it; and after the fruit has stoned thin them according to the above- 
mentioned distance, for then it inav be considered certain that no more will 
drop off naturally. 
Watering. —In dry seasons a good soaking of soft rain or river water will 
be necessary in order to swell off the fruit to the highest perfection. Some 
years ago I visited a place in North Wales where there was a Peach-wall of 
considerable length. A new gardener whom I knew well had been engaged 
there. The owner told him that the Peaches and Nectarines were fruitful 
enough, but were always small and deficient in juice and flavour. His new 
gardener told him he could remedy that, providing the trees were left to his 
judgment to do what he thought proper to them. To this reasonable proposi¬ 
tion the gentleman (who, by-the-by, was an amateur gardener himself, and 
perhaps had previously interfered too much), consented. The gardener then 
at the thinning time took away what he thought necessary ; and when those 
that he left had stoned he opened hollows in front of each tree, and filled these 
