October 1, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
77 
was sent out by the Messrs. Cheal about four years 
ago, was in grand condition, and the quantity of fruit 
which quite pigmy trees were carrying was remark¬ 
able. This variety is either suitable for dessert or 
for culinary purposes. The large, codlin-fruited 
Royal Jubilee is another variety worthy of special 
mention by reason of its free-fruiting qualities when 
the trees are yet young and small. The old favourite 
Yellow Ingestre was here, as ever, carrying heavy 
crops, and we were informed by our guide that it is 
still in general demand, and that the fruit, although 
small, always fetches a good price. 
Cordon trained trees are in the Messrs. Cheals' 
hands one of the most successful systems of training. 
Every effort is made, and success almost invariably 
attends the effort, to produce young trees clothed 
with fruit spurs right down to the base. The use of 
the pruning knife is well understood at Crawley, and 
directed by intelligent hands, so that the trees are 
not stumped and cut into gnarled and wizened look¬ 
ing objects that bear fruit by accident, as is too fre¬ 
quently the case. 
Pears, in cordons, single and multifold,horizon tally 
trained and pyramidal trees are equally well looked 
after. The buds or grafts, as the case may be, are 
inserted low down upon the stem of the stock, when 
the Quince is used, so that the trees when planted in 
their permanent quarters may be put in so that the 
soil covers the point at which the bud or graft was 
inserted. Experience has proved that unless this is 
done a period of drought, coming as it has come 
this year, is apt to make the pears " gritty.” During 
our walk through the quarters we everywhere found 
abundant promise of fruitfulness in the youngest 
trees, whilst the older ones were showing the fulfil¬ 
ment of promise in heavy crops of sound and 
luscious fruit. Space does not permit us to detail 
the varieties, but it must suffice to say that all sorts 
that are of aDy value are grown, and grown well; 
indeed, we scarcely know which to praise the most, 
the symmetry of the trees, their health, and free¬ 
dom from insect pests, the firmness and ripeness of 
the wood, or the plentitude of fruit buds. All 
pointed to culture of no mean order. 
For Morello Cherries the Mahaleb stock is princi¬ 
pally used, and this popular fruit was represented by 
numbers of superbly trained trees of all sizes fit to 
go anywhere. The same might be said of the 
trained Peaches and Nectarines, which were models 
of cleanliness and symmetry. Careful staking and 
tying is necessary to prevent these trees from being 
twisted, strained or broken, for even a light wind 
has a great deal of power on the spreading heads. 
To give an idea of the magnitude of the scale 
upon which operations are conducted, Mr. Joseph 
Cheal told us that in one quarter alone there were 
no less than 250,000 trees of various kinds. 
As most of these will in the coming season be dis¬ 
tributed to various parts of the country, the figures 
cause one to wonder what becomes of all this annual 
supply that is year by year being assimilated by the 
fruit-growing public. Truly iruit ought to be cheap, 
good and in plenty if the trees are properly treated. 
The fruit room in which the show fruit is kept is 
an interesting structure, and we may well conclude 
our notes upon the fruit department of the nursery 
by reference to it. It is a double walled building 
with double doors and heavy thatched roof, and is 
fitted with shelves in the usual manner. Only in 
very severe weather is artificial heat necessary, and 
then a petroleum lamp, burnt for a few hours, will 
raise the temperature as high as is required, for high 
temperatures are studiously avoided. In such a 
store-room the fruit keeps to its utmost natural 
limit, and this is of moment, for next to being able 
to grow fruit the most important thing is to be able 
to keep it properly. 
CULTURE OF THE PEACH. 
The Peach is one of our standard fruits. As a rule, 
however, it is not so generally understood among 
gardeners as the Grape Vine. Where you will find 
one successful Peach grower you will find a dozen 
good cultivators of the Vine. 
The Peach delights in a good stiff loam with a good 
sprinkling of lime rubbish mixed with it. The top 
sod of a good old pasture field chopped up, with 
some lime rubbish mixed, makes a good compost; but 
give no manure, as that can be subsequently applied 
to the surface of the border and well watered in. 
Do not dig deep borders; merely add soil on the sur¬ 
face to the depth of 2 ft. Where the soil is of a stiff 
blue clay merely add to the surface, and every season 
when the roots get down to the clay, lift the trees 
and replant them occasionally. The trees lift with 
a mass of fibrous roots attached. Dig the roots 
carefully out and cover them with about 8 in. of soil. 
Then mulch the border and on no account dig or crop 
the borders if outside on the walls. 
Training. 
The Peach is generally trained on the fan system. 
Plant the trees in October. After planting merely 
cut back the points of the shoots to form the tree 
into shape. The trees will then very soon fill the 
house or walls. 
Propagation. 
The Peach is generally budded on the Mussel Plum, 
but some sorts prefer the Brompton Plum stock. 
For instance, the Stirling Castle Peach will only bud 
on the Brompton. When I went to Dunmore Park, 
Stirling, I found a seedling tree in a house of an area of 
45 ft. by 40 ft. I found the tree overcrowded with 
wood. I thinned out the wocd and got it nicely 
ripened. The following spring I forced it and got the 
fruit ripe by the end of May. Lord Dunmore was 
a minor and I had to charge Lady Dunmore for fruit 
and vegetables. Lady Dunmore told me that I 
charged her an extravagant price for Peaches. I told 
her ladyship that they were worth three times that 
amount. Sne added that I should do better if I 
disposed of them. I wrote and asked Mr. Samuel, 
of Covent Garden, what he was giving per dozen for 
Peaches. He wrote at once to tell me to send them 
up. I sent up six dozen, and a cheque came down 
in return for £2 7s. per dozen. Lady Dunmore was 
surprised at the price. All the remainder of the 
fruit was sent to him and the house brought in £55. 
The Pomological Society was then in existence and 
I asked Mr. Solomon to send a few fruits to the meet¬ 
ing, and he wrote to say that nothing could beat 
them. I was awarded a Gold Medal for them. The 
late Thomas Osborne, of Fulham, was on the com¬ 
mittee, and he wrote to know what I wanted for the 
stock. I wrote him £50 and he sent the cheque for 
the amount by return of post. 
When I left Dunmore to go to SandriDgham Lady 
Dunmore had the fruit sent to Mr. Solomon, but he 
would not have them in his shop, as he only bought 
first-class fruit. My successor did not understand 
Peach culture. 
The Peach may also be obtained from seed. When 
the stone is removed from the fruit dibble it in at 
the bottom of a south wall 6 in. in depth. It will 
come up the next April. The following spring cut 
the plant back to 6 in. When it breaks into growth 
select three shoots, one on each side and one in the 
centre, to furnish the tree. In October lift the tree 
and re-plant it, cutting back the stout roots to en¬ 
courage the production of fibrous ones. The year 
following it will form a nice tree, and produce fruit 
the fourth season. 
As a rule I generally find that the seedling pro¬ 
duces fruit quite equal to the parent. In planting on 
walls which are 12 ft. and upwards in height give a 
space of 25 ft. between each fan-shaped tree, with a 
standard in the centre. The shoots of the standard 
maybe trained down to the bottom of the wall, and 
they may remain Lr several years, as the Peach 
tree bears principally on the last year's growth. 
Disbudding requires to be done with great judg¬ 
ment. Select the best placed shoots, but where 
there is a fruit the shoot must only be stopped to 
form a spur. 
Insects, such as red spider, green fly and scale, 
are troublesome. The red spider can be kept down 
by syringing, the scale by painting the trees 
with hot lime every year, which keeps the bark 
bright and clean : the green fly by having a small 
bellows with a long tube and a small tin box on the 
top filled with equal parts of snuff and sulphur. 
When the fly is observed give it a puff with the 
bellows and it will soon disappear. Every year, 
when the fruit is gathered, have the trees pruneJ, 
removing the greater part of the wood that has borne 
fruit. Then cut off with a knife half of the leaf, 
which is sufficient to mature the bud, and allow the 
sun and air to ripen the wood to a nice brown colour. 
The advantage of catting off half the leaf is not 
generally known, but from my long and varied 
experience I have found it to be of great importance. 
Another very important thing is to shorten back 
in the spring all the shoots to a wood bud, with two 
fruit buds, one on each side. The fruit sets much 
better, and the trees break much stronger. There are, 
however, several varieties where the shoots are all 
fruit buds except at the base. As a rule, the shorten¬ 
ing of the shoots is of the greatest importance. 
We are indebted to the Messrs. Rivers for a few 
good sorts. The Noblesse is fine for the houses, 
but it wants colour and is not suitable for the out¬ 
door walls. The Walburton Nonsuch is more 
hardy, and is a seedling from the Noblesse and Hales' 
Early ; and several of the American kinds lately 
brought into notice are also good. Waterloo, 
Sea Eagle and BarriDgton are other good kinds. 
Nectarines do not, as a rule, do on the open walls, 
but ought to be grown in a house. 
Covering wall trees when in flower is not re¬ 
quired, as I have proved in several localities. Even 
a net is hurtful, as it keeps the bees from the trees. 
When the Peach is forced early, and the trees are 
in flower, they want going over regularly with a 
camel’s hair pencil. It is soon done, as the brush 
gets covered with pollen. 
Packing the fruit is a very important point. I 
much prefer moss washed and well beaten with a 
stick to anything else. Roll up each fruit in tissue 
paper, put a layer of the moss in the bottom of the 
box, and fill up every crevice with the moss to keep 
them firm. Two layers of fruit may be placed in 
each box by placing a bed of moss over the first 
layer, or single boxes with one layer may be used, 
and one box placed upon the other, and well roped 
together.— William Carmichael, 14, Pitt Street, Edin¬ 
burgh. 
Questions add adsojgks. 
*,• Will our friends who send us newspapers be so good 
as to mark the paragraphs or articles they wish us to see. 
We shall be greatly obliged bv their so doing. 
[Correspondents, please note that we cannot undertake to 
name florists' flowers such as Carnations, Pelargoniums, 
Chrysanthemums, Roses, nor such as are mere garden 
varieties, differing only in the colour of the flower. 
Florists' flowers, as a rule, can only be named by those who 
grow collections of them.] 
Bedding arrangements for Ylolas.— Merchiston ; 
In the case of the large bed you sketch, you have 
graduated the colours harmoniously ; but according 
to rules which used to prevail during the days when 
bedcing arrangements were in full swing, the plan of 
arranging the lighter colours in the centre of the 
large beds or designs was frequently followed. In 
such a case your arrangement would be reversed, so 
that Countess of Hopetoun would be placed in the 
centre, to be followed by Bridegroom, Wm. Neil, and 
J. B. Riding respectively. The difficulty in this case 
is that Countess of Hopetoun is generally the 
dwarfest of this lot, and would be partly hidden. 
We think that your plan might stand as it is, because 
J. B. Riding would be better shown up than at the 
edge. It depends very much on the background and 
the colours it will best show up. You would produce 
some fine results with the purple and rose colours 
by having a free flowering yellow in the centre, such 
as Bullion, Ardwell Gem, Pembroke, &c. Which¬ 
ever variety you use, see that one colour does not 
kill another, but that each is shown up distinctly. 
Also use broad bands or masses of colour. Designs 
should be simple rather than intricate, and small 
beds planted with one variety. Long lines in borders 
are often very effective. Blue, white and yellow 
make effective contrasts. In the case of panelled boi- 
bers, you could insert panels of the variegated sorts, 
such as The Mearnsand Countess of Kintore, which 
could not always be used in the longer lines or bands 
of colour by way of contrast with the seifs. 
Plants at a Show.— Veld. : With regard to the 
first of the plants you refer to your description is too 
vague to guide us with any certainty. As to the 
second plant it cannot possibly have been a Vinca, 
for the fruit of the Vinca is composed of two follicles, 
as the botanist calls them, and is not a berry. There 
can be very little doubt but that the plant was 
Rivina humilis, a berry bearing stove subject that is 
frequently met with. Your description fits it 
exactly. 
8 oil for Yiolets. — Omega : The most suitable soil 
will be, two-thirds of good turfy loam well chopped 
up, and one-third of leaf soil or thoroughly rotted 
manure, also finely chopped up. To this add suffi¬ 
cient rough river sand to keep the soil frcm becoming 
too pasty. 
Chrysanthemums Diseased, —Pond dhu ; The leaves 
you sent us are badly affected with the Chrysanth¬ 
emum Rust, a fungoid disease introduced from 
America some few years ago, and now and again 
proving very destructive to the foliage where it 
makes its appearance. There is no real cure for it 
as the fungus lives inside the leaf and Only shows 
itself when the spore cases are ripe and burst 
through the skin. Moisture upon the foliage cr in 
the atmosphere is favourable to the fungus so that 
you should keep the leaves as dry as possible. 
Remove and burn the worst of them. Separate the 
