March 4 , 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
419 
garis of some botanists) is one of the most delicious 
of exotic garden fruits, and certainly the most 
esteemed stone fruit we have. It receives, and de¬ 
servedly so, a large amount of attention in gardens, 
for what is more taking to the eye, or pleasing to the 
palate, than a well-grown Peach or Nectarine when 
fully ripe. Peaches are very extensively grown in 
some countries, America for instance, where some 
gro vers possess as many as 20,000 and 30,000 trees ; 
in these places a brandy is made from the fruit and 
pigs are fed* with it. And I have read of thrashing 
machines being driven by an engine fed with 
Peach stones for fuel. 
Peaches and Nectarines are so closely allied that 
for all practical purposes they can be treated as one, 
when not in fruit the trees cannot be separated, but 
the fruits themselves are easily distinguished, the 
Peach being covered with a thick downy coat, and 
the Nectarine with a smooth coat. But as Peaches 
and Nectarines have been grown on the same branch, 
and half-Peach, lialf-Nectarine fruits produced, they 
must be classed as merely varieties of cne fruit. 
The first question which presents itself in the 
cultivation of the Peach out of doors is, the situa¬ 
tion. Peaches should always be allotted the warmest 
position in the garden, and if it is slightly elevated it 
will be an advantage, as in such a position many of 
the spring frosts will be escaped. At one time I 
believe there was an idea entertained by some gar¬ 
deners that a low sheltered position was the best for 
a garden. Instead of being the best it is the very 
worst, especially for a fruit garden, as the frosts 
which do so much damage to the embryo fruits in 
some seasons are always more severe in low lying 
places. 
The Peach trees should always be given the best 
position on the walls, and it is absolutely necessary 
to have a south aspect wall, without which they can¬ 
not be grown with anything approaching success. 
Equally important to the situation, is the soil in 
which to grow the trees. It is a well-known fact 
that all stone fruits to be grown successfully must 
have a good soil, and the Peach is no exception to 
this. 
The limestone districts of England, where the soil 
is a good stiff loam resting on a bed of chalk, are 
credited with growing the finest outdoor Peaches. 
This being so, we should try and approach it as 
nearly as possible. But, from this I do not mean to 
infer that first-class Peaches cannot be grown but in 
such a position, far from it. A criterion of soil in 
which to grow Peaches I take to be, the top spit of 
an old pasture, and if it is of a calcareous nature so 
much the better; it should not be cut more than six 
inches deep, as the more fibre it contains the better. 
If such can be obtained six or eight, months pre¬ 
vious to making the border, it should be cut up 
roughly and a good proportion of old lime rubble 
mixed with it and the whole thrown into a heap 
ready for use. 
In many gardens I know there is very little choice 
either as regards soil or situation, but the former 
can be much improved by drainage and the addition 
of more suitable material. A very stiff soil should 
be exposed to the action of the weather during the 
winter, and quantities of old mortar, rubble, wood 
ashes, and w’ell-decayed vegetable matter added. 
This along with good drainage will go a long way 
towards converting tne most obstinate soil. On the 
other hand light soils can be improved by the addi¬ 
tion of heavier material, and in bad cases pure clay is 
very useful. In making a new border the height cf 
the wall should regulate the width, making the bor¬ 
der as wide as the wall is high, the excavation should 
be taken out to about two feet six inches deep, the 
bottom being kept regular and sloping slightly to the 
front. If the site is not naturally drained, artificial 
means must be resorted to. Several rows (from back 
to front) of small drain pipes should be laid across 
the bottom, their size and number must of course be 
regulated by circumstances. A larger one should be 
carried the whole length of the border in the front 
and lowest place, and the smaller ones connected to 
it which in its turn must be carried into a suitable 
out-fall. On the bottom of the border and over the 
drain pipes should be from six to nine inches of 
broken bricks, pots, or clinkers, either will do, and 
the smallest must be on the top. All this will 
seldom be necessary, but where it is required, if is 
always best to do it properly at first; sufficient in all 
ordinary cases will be to place a quantity of broken 
bricks or similar material about two feet from the 
surface where the trees are to be planted. 
It is not advisable to make the whole width of a 
border at once, better rather to put in about four feet 
where the trees are to be planted, filling up the 
remainder with the natural soil, to be taken out again 
in strips of about three feet, and portions added to the 
to the border as the roots extend. This applies to 
all fruit tree borders; the roots then get the fresh soil 
as they require it. 
The best time to make a border is in August or 
September, when the soil is dry, as it can then be 
rammed firm. The firmer it is made the better, as 
Peaches are all inclined to grow too strongly at 
first. After the trees are planted the border should 
never be disturbed, but let religiously alone. 
The propagation of Peaches differs very little from 
that of other hardy fruits, which have been dealt 
with in previous communications, therefore it is not 
my intention to dwell- on that subject at present. 
Peaches are usually worked on Plum stocks, 
and sometimes on Almond or seedling Peaches. 
Speaking generally the finest fruit is produced by 
those grown on Plum stocks. All fruit trees usually 
grow larger and are longer lived on their own roots, 
but the modern systems of cultivation have taught 
us that it is more to our advantage to sacrifice the 
size and longevity of the tree, in favour of the smaller 
and more fruitful specimens obtained by working 
them on well-known stocks. All stocks should be 
raised from layers, as then you know what you have 
got; with seedlings much disappointment often 
occurs by certain trees refusing to grow, this is 
probably owing to some peculiarity of the slock on 
which the tree is. In some cases the stock is unable 
to keep pace with the tree in growth, thereby causing 
an unsightly swelling just above the union. The 
swelling is caused by the obstruction which the sap 
of the Peach tree meets with in the vessels of the 
Plum stock. 
Whether this is an advantage or disadvantage to 
the fruit, I am not prepared to say, but it probably 
has the same result as a ligature tied round a branch. 
In selecting young trees those of a clean, healthy 
appearance should be chosen, with short-jointed i 
well-ripened woed, and the union with the slock as 
perfect as possible. Maidens are preferable, as then 
the cultivator has the moulding of the (ree in his 
own hands, but if it is desired to furnish the wall as 
soon as possible, two or three-year-old-plants should 
be obtained from a nursery. In purchasing trees 
avoid those which have been repeatedly cut back in 
the nursery rows, or those that show signs of gum¬ 
ming 
To be Continued. 
* 
General Work. 
The Broccoli immediately after the severe frost 
looked very bad indeed, and nearly one half appeared 
to be killed, but I am sorry to see, now the frost has 
been away some weeks, that scarcely one twentieth of 
the plants are alive, although they were planted on 
hard soil without manure. This will make a serious 
gap in file vegetable supply during April and May. 
Great care must be taken with the young Cauliflower 
plants in pots, and an extra quantity must be grown; 
a good batch should also be pricked out in a frame 
or pit. It is a good plan to have some of the most 
forward of the Cauliflowers in pots of one of the 
forcing varieties ready to plant in the frames on 
hot beds, when the earliest Potatos have been lifted. 
They may be planted about eighteen inches apart, 
and will give some very useful little heads before the 
earliest plants out-of-doors are ready for use. 
Give Potatos in frames plenty cf air on fine days, 
and water sparingly as the young tubers get ready 
for lifting. Carrots and Turnips in frames must be 
thinned as soon as large enough to handle, and keep 
the soil hard between the rows ; Turnips must have 
plenty of air and water, as they are so liable to run 
to seed in frames. 
Keep up good supplies of Seakale in the forcing 
house, also of Rhubarb and salads. It is a good 
plan to plant a frame on a very gentle hot bed, with 
one of the forcing varieties of Cabbage Lettuce ; 
they should be planted very thickly and thinned as 
required for use. The early Cabbage Lettuces grow 
very fast on a hot bed, and it is surprising what a 
quantity can be grown in a small frame. 
It is a good time to make new beds of herbs. 
Some, such as Sage and Thyme, are best raised from 
seed, sown now in a frame, and planted out later. 
Others are best increased by division, and this 
should be done at once.— G. II. S. 
- —- 
ngst flimit Wotlb 
Science* 
Disease-resisting Potatos.- A series of experi¬ 
ments has been carried out at Warminster, Wilts, 
with the view of combating the Potato disease and 
learning which kinds are best adapted to resist the 
inroads of the disease itself. The authorities who 
carried out the experiments report that the dressing 
and spraying of Potatos by means of the sulphate of 
copper remedy, pays for the labour and materials 
several times over. The varieties best adapted to 
resist the Potato disease are Imperator, Magnum 
Bonum, Main Crop, and The Bruce. Other culti¬ 
vators have spoken in no unmistakable terms about 
the healthy character of Main Crop and The Bruce, 
but the latter is likely to displace Magnum Bonum, 
which is not now giving the satisfaction which it 
used to do. 
Protection of small Birds. —The agricul¬ 
turists and horticulturists of France as related by 
TTllnstvation Horti:ole, are beginning to see the 
necessity of protecting the small birds. M. Che- 
vandier de Valdrome, a minister under the last 
empire, is represented to have said, " Do not eat the 
small birds if you would not be eaten by insects.’’ 
The general council of Meurthe and Moselle in 
France, according to a remarkable report of M. le 
Baron d'Hamonville, has expressed a desire that the 
small chase or hunting destined to take the small 
birds during September and October, should be pre¬ 
vented over all the territory of France. The council 
demands, besides, that from the present the Govern¬ 
ment should recommend to all the prefects, to no 
longer authorise the capture in mass of small birds. 
It desires also to call the attention of the function¬ 
aries, to see that the prescriptions of the law con¬ 
cerning bird-nesting and the hunting of useful birds 
be strictly observed. 
Reversion in Seedlings. —In the case of 
variegated plants or those that have some abnormal 
colouring of the foliage, such as that of the Copper 
Beech, it is difficult to say why the seedlings should 
behave differently in different species. We know 
that the Golden Feather (Matricaria Parthenium 
aureum) and other varieties of this group reproduce 
themselves tolerably constant from seeds. Several 
of the variegated Ferns, such as Pteris reginae and 
P. niveum, reproduce themselves tolerably true from 
spores. Seedlings of Aquilegia vulgaris Vervaeneana 
also behave in the same way, and several other 
plants coming under our notice might be mentioned. 
L'lllustration Hovticole records a case of a variegated 
Clivia under the care of Mr. Columbien, Sen., a 
Ghent horticulturist. The plant was lightly 
variegated and produced seeds which were sown and 
gave rise to seedlings showing the same tendency to 
variegation. On the other hand Gartenflova, 1893, 
p. 26, states that M. Lindemuth, of Berlin, sowed 
seeds of Yucca alsefolia variegata, and none of the 
seedlings showed the least variegation. M. Brandt 
has had the same result with Eulalia japonica 
variegata ; and M. A. Fintelmann has had the same 
experience with Phormium tenax variegata. On the 
other hand a sowing of seed of the latter in the 
establishment of Lruis de Smet, at Ghent, has given 
two variegated seedlings. We might add, by way of 
contrast with Eulaliajaponica variegata, that another 
well-known grass, Zea Mays variegata, comes pretty 
true to character from seeds. 
Toxicophl^a spectabilis. — A small batch of 
this plant might well be grown for flowering 
in the conservatory during February and March. 
It flowers while yet in quite a small state, and 
can also be kept within bounds by pruning it 
back after it has flowered, and then growing it with 
plenty of heat and moisture, to encourage the pro¬ 
duction of young wood. Flowers are produced from 
the axils of the evergreen leaves in short racemes or 
clusters, and though neither large nor conspicuous in 
colour, they are deliciously fragrant, diffusing an 
aroma through the house in which a plant is grown, 
but more particularly when the sun warms up the 
atmosphere of the house. The flowers individually 
are small and pure white. 
