496 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
April 4, 1891. 
for them is a cold pit or frame, plunging them in short 
manure to prevent too rapid evaporation, and so main¬ 
taining a genial humid and growing atmosphere, by 
frequently sprinkling and syringing, removing the 
lights when the weather is favourable, and exposing 
them to the night dews. To those well acquainted 
with the cultivation of Solanum hyhridum, we would 
say, apply the same treatment to the Melon Pear. 
Early in September the plants will require the pro¬ 
tection of a greenhouse or some other convenient 
structure where the temperature does not fall below 
40°, they will then begin to set and ripen their fruit 
from October to March ; or if desirable to push on the 
ripening process, place the plants in a little higher 
temperature. A compost composed of good fibrous 
loam, with the addition of rough sand and well- 
decomposed manure, and one small thumb-potful of 
Standen’s Manure to each peck of compost should be 
given with the last potting.— R. E. Vertegans <£■ Co., 
Chad Valley Nurseries , Edgbaston, Birmingham. 
-->$<-- 
PEACH CULTURE 200 YEARS 
AGO.* 
When I promised our secretary to read a paper on 
Peach culture, my intention was to write one on the 
present day culture of the Peach ; but it occurred to 
me that a contribution of mine on the subject to The 
Gardening World was pretty widely circulated, and 
the temptation would be strong to reproduce it here ; 
and again, having by me a copy of Pomona, or the Fruit 
Garden Illustrated, by Batty Langley, published in 
1729, 1 thought it might interest the members of this 
society to hear what one of the old school had to say 
upon the subject. I have had to bring much that he 
says into a narrower compass, and at the same time 
have endeavoured to keep to his own phraseology. 
Much that he says is eminently practical, and good 
sound advice. He was an amateur by choice, and by 
profession an architect, and seems to have had a some¬ 
what poor opinion of the professional gardeners of his 
day. He says “ there is no sort of people breathing so 
vastly conceited and ignorant as most of our English 
gardeners are, and who therefore imagine all like them¬ 
selves.” 
It would seem that the seasons then were more 
forward than now ; for allowing the difference of eleven 
days in the old style which was in use then, and our 
present style, and comparing the dates he gives for the 
ripening of various fruit trees which are extant now, 
with the dates given in Hogg’s Fruit Manual, we find 
a difference of some days in the following instances :— 
Ann Peach, July 10th, Hogg says early in August; 
Early Admirable, August 10th, Hogg, beginning of 
September ; Newington Peach, July 25th, Hogg, end of 
August and beginning of September; Roman Nectarine, 
July 30th, Hogg, beginning of September ; Noblesse 
Peach, July 20th, Hogg, end of August and beginning 
of September ; Teton de Venus, July 20th, Hogg, end 
of September. 
Soil and Manure. 
If we are so happy as to have the liberty of making 
our own choice of soil for our plantation, Langley 
advises that it be land which has not been disturbed by 
spade or plough within the space of fifty or sixty years, 
and continually fed off by cattle ; that it be a kind of 
moderate sandy loam of two spits in depth, its bottom 
inclining to a brick earth, with a moderate inclination 
towards the south, and the springs about 12 ft. below 
the surface. 
Lands that are very light are best manured with clay, 
mud of rivers, ponds, &c., ; and those which are stiff, 
with sand, coal-ashes, street’ dirt and horse-dung well 
mixed together. Pigeon’s dung is also a good manure 
for cold lands, if used with discretion. All kinds 
of loam require less help than either sand or clay. 
The best compost for manuring a moderate loam is 
horse-dung, cow-dung, and a small quantity of coal- 
ashes, rotten leaves, and the bottom of wood-piles. 
The best season for preparing land for plantations of 
fruit trees is October. If the land is deep it is best to 
trench it to the depth of two spits and the crumbs, 
laying it in ridges that the winter frosts and rains may 
mellow it. If the soil is shallow, dig it one spit only, 
laying it in ridges ; if not over fresh or rich, work in a 
good coating of well-rotted horse-dung, but on no 
account any fresh manure, it being perfect poison to the 
roots of newly-planted trees. In the trenching of land, 
care should be taken that the workmen leave no ‘ ‘ cores ” 
of undisturbed earth between the bottom spits of each 
trench, and that the spits are of moderate size. 
" Read at a recent meeting of the Croydon Gardeners’ Im¬ 
provement Society. 
If, in trenching, a hungry, raw, or sharp bottom 
comes up, it is better to trench to a less depth. When 
lands are of a very unkind nature, we must at proper 
distances sink holes 5 ft. or 8 ft. square and 2 ft. deep. 
If the land is dry, but cold, raise a quantity of earth 
of the same dimensions on the surface of the natural 
soil. Langley advocates paving the bottom of these 
stations with tile shreds, brick bats, &c., to prevent 
the roots from penetrating the uncongenial subsoil. 
Time for Planting. 
In warm soils, October is the month for planting if the 
season admits ; in cold soils, February, because trees 
planted in such soils may have their roots rotted, or 
so much chilled that they seldom recover. Langley 
advocates reducing the heads of the trees at planting 
time, because in the operation of lifting them from the 
ground the root-action will be considerably reduced and 
made unequal to the demand that the branches, if left 
entire, will make upon it. He also gives details of 
curious experiments he made in reference to this subject, 
and comments severely upon the rule-of-thumb principle 
by which trees were treated exactly alike because father 
or old master did so, his idea being that every tree should 
be pruned with an eye to its own individuality. All 
newly planted trees should, if the weather prove dry 
during March and April, be watered, and he recom¬ 
mends the mulching of newly planted trees in much 
the same way as practised at the present day. 
In planting fruit trees, says Langley, place the roots 
from 9 ins. to 12 ins. from the wall, and their heads 
withiu an inch of it. The heads should at planting be 
reduced to the first four side buds, because from these 
four shoots we may form a good tree. All forward 
buds should be displaced as soon as they begin to shoot, 
so that those which lie parallel to the wall may receive 
the full benefit of the nourishment. If the first shoots 
appear very strong and luxuriant when they have 
formed four buds, nip off their ends, which will oblige 
nature to force out a branch at every bud, and so by 
distributing the sap of each branch to four small ones, 
they will become fruitful and not so over luxuriant as 
they would have been had the sap been wholly 
employed in one shoot only. He insists upon the tree 
being planted with the bud or scion outwards, that is, 
with the cut part of the stock to the wall, because it 
will then be protected from wet, which this cut part 
imbibes, causing the stock to decay. He also says it is 
very advantageous to cover the wounds of trees when cut 
with a salve consisting of ^ lb. resin, 4 lb. beeswax, 
4 lb. pitch, 2 oz. mutton suet, melted together, and 
when moderately cooled, but still liquid, applied to the 
wounds with a brush or feather. 
All wall trees that have been grafted or budded very 
low should have their grafts 2 ins. or 3 ins. above 
ground, and on no account be planted too deep. 
Langley condemns the practice of planting Peach trees 
in autumn with the head entire, and then in spring 
heading them down. His own words are, “The roots do 
not only imbibe more than ordinary crudities through 
the winter, occasioned by the attractive force of the 
head ; but in spring, when gardeners head them down, 
the tree is disturbed in its roots, which are then pre¬ 
paring to or are penetrating the earth, and are thereby 
destroyed.” 
Management of Roots in Planting. 
The whole care in the management of these is that 
they be bruised and diminished as little as possible in 
taking them up, that the number of small fibres 
be thinned diseretionally so far as to let the earth 
freely about all their parts, that all bruises be cut 
entirely away with a sharp knife, and that every root be 
regularly placed with the earth well closed about it. 
The distance apart is given from 12 ft. to 16 ft. 
The following rules are given for the management of 
fruit trees after planting :—1, Displace all forward buds 
by rubbing them off when they first appear. 2, When 
luxuriant branches only are produced, and each branch 
contains four or five buds, nip off the leading bud 
with the finger nail. If this rule is well observed we 
need never be troubled with luxuriant wood. 3, If, 
when headed back, a tree produces three or four shoots, 
and those weakly, displace the two weaker ones, that 
the whole nourishment may be imbibed by the stronger, 
which will enable it to form a good head. 
The observations on the fourth rule are so good 
that we give them entire in his own words : 4, “As 
the growths of the several branches advance keep them 
nailed to the wall, but be sure that the distances 
between branch and branch are never less than the 
length of their leaves when fully grown ; therefore as 
the leaves do not come to maturity in the spring, you 
must at that time nail them at a greater distance than 
aforesaid, so that when they are fully grown they may 
in general possess a free drying air, and not shade each 
other to their almost total ruin for want of perspiration. 
Upon this very point depends the whole success of our 
labour, for when fruit trees are loaded with great 
quantities of branches nailed very close a large number 
of them are saturated and clogged with the crudities of 
their sap for the want of a free circulation of air to 
perspire in, and thereby become barren and useless. 
Besides, the advantage of having fruit trees fruitful in 
all their parts is not the only one, for by this method 
of thin nailing there will not be half the quantity of 
wood for the roots to maintain, and consequently those 
fruit 3 which are produced will be much better supplied 
with nourishment and in greater perfection than when 
a multitude of wood and fruit is fed with the same 
amount of nutriment; hence it follows that as fruit 
trees differ in the length of their leaves, so will the 
distances of their several branches also be different, so 
that the general rule hitherto practised by gardeners in 
laying the several kinds of Peaches and other fruit 
trees all at one distance appears to be a great mistake. 
There are, he says, many excellent kinds of fruits which 
produce a great quantity of blossom, but very little 
fruit. This sterility is caused by the too great abund¬ 
ance of wood, which, when covered over with blossom, 
requires a greater amount of nourishment than the roots 
are at that time able to communicate ; and thereby, 
for want of proper nourishment the embryo fruits are 
starved, more especially when the soil and spring are 
both dry, their perspiration being then greatest, and if 
east winds happen to blow at that time their very 
drying exhaling nature is a further help to the des¬ 
truction of the fruit.” He instances the old Newington 
Peach as being full of blossom, yet under careless 
management a shy bearer, but it will, he says, if the 
branches are kept the length of their leaves apart, produce 
plentiful crops ; for by observing this distance there 
will not be one-third of the wood to support as when 
nailed in too thickly. 
The nearer the branches are laid to a horizontal 
position so is the velocity of the sap retarded, and the 
nearer to a perpendicular one the more free ; therefore 
branches that are inclined to luxuriancy may be checked 
by being nailed horizontally, and those that are weak, 
perpendicularly. Now, he says, these extremes being 
fit for the two aforesaid kinds of wood, we must make 
choice of a mean situation for our best and most fruitful 
branches, and therefore they should be so laid as to 
make an angle of 45° or thereabouts with the horizon.— 
IF. B. Glasscock. • (To be continued.) 
-- 
THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTRIC 
LIGHT ON PLANTS. 
Since the late Sir W. Siemens carried on experi¬ 
ments with the electric light upon cultivated plants, 
no one in this country, either in a public or 
private capacity, seems to have done anything for 
science with a view to benefit or advance horticulture 
by the aid of that powerful agent. There are no doubt 
many with a will, but without the means of attempting 
what must, as a matter of course, be an expensive 
experiment in obtaining the necessary machinery and 
supplying the cost of fuel and labour attached to the 
proper working of the same. What we require in this 
country is an experimental station supported by the 
nation, or, to simplify matters, existing institutions 
would be quite sufficient for stations, while machinery 
and the means of working it should be supplied. In 
the matter of enterprise and imitation we are far behind 
several other nations ; nor does there seem to be that 
activity which at an earlier period in our history pre¬ 
vailed in various spheres of action. 
Our cousins in America seem as eager to press forward 
in the march of progress as our continental neighbours, 
and lend practical aid to their wishes in the shape of 
experimental stations to assist and improve agriculture 
and horticulture in all their branches. In the report 
of the Horticulturist attached to the Cornell Uni¬ 
versity Agricultural Station, is, amongst other items, a 
short account of the experiments that have been made 
with a view to determine “ what influence the electric 
light has upon the growth of plants.” During the 
winter of 1889—90 two houses were filled with plants, 
such as Peas, Spinach, Radishes, Endives, and Lettuce, 
as well as some flowering subjects. One of the houses 
was lighted by electricity during the night in January, 
February, March, and part of April. In other respects, 
both houses were subjected to the ordinary conditions 
of sunlight during the day. A very marked difference 
was observable between the plants grown in one house 
compared with those in the other ; and it was deter- 
