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year to year, giving advantage to the leading shoots, cutting out close all redundant ones, and those likely to injure one another. As this sort of fruit is always the largest and best flavoured, where the trees are kept thin of wood, their neglect will consequently diminish its

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To face Page 243.

By an accidental oversight, the asterisks denoting the sorts called French Peaches have been omitted to be inserted in their proper places. The sorts to which they should have been pre fixed are Peaches 10. 11. 20. 22. 23. 25. 26. 27. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51.; and Nectarine 1.

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cutting all the fore-right shoots to half an inch, and nailing at length the horizontal shoots, observing to keep the two sides of the tree equal. This may be easily ef fected, for if one branch should take the lead more considerably than the others, its leader may be shortened in the spring, and a new leader given to it in July.

In the winter prunings it will be necessary to use the knife freely, in order to keep down the strong spurs which are annually enlarging and lengthening themselves; for without a determination of reducing them, they would, in a few years, extend a foot from the wall, rendering the trees unsightly and unprofitable; but by thinning them out, and cutting them back from time to time, they may readily be kept within due bounds, and in a state of fruitfulness.

Mulberries trained against the wall should have a south, south-east, or east aspect; but it is useless to attempt to train them unless there is a great extent of wall, and where they can be continued at their full length: an attempt to confine them within narrow bounds being fruitless, unless the most preposterous way imaginable be resorted to, of training the tree in twenty or thirty different directions.

A tree of this description may be tolerated for the amusement of the experimentalist; but its exhibition cannot appear otherwise than ridiculous to the man of taste and judgment.

The two finest trained mulberry trees I have ever seen are now growing at Holkham, the seat of T. W. Coke, Esq.; one of these extends more than thirty yards, the other twenty-eight.

CHAP. XII.

PEACHES.

An Asterisk (*) denotes those which Nurserymen term French Peaches, and which require to be budded upon the Pear Plum Stock.

SECT. I.-Melting, pale fruited.

1. ALMOND PEACH. Hort. Trans. Vol. iii. p. 1. t. 1.

Leaves doubly serrated, glandless. Flowers large, pale rose colour. Fruit below the middle size, about seven inches in circumference, globular, with a slight suture extending from the base to the apex, which is

flat and somewhat depressed. Skin covered with a thickish down, of a delicate yellow, tinged with pale red on the sunny side, and beautifully marbled with a deeper colour. Flesh pale citron, but of a bright red next the stone, from which it separates; it is perfectly melting, and very juicy.

Ripe the beginning and middle of September.

This beautiful little peach was raised by T. A. Knight, Esq., of Downton Castle, from a seed of the Sweet Almond, the blossom of which had been impregnated by the blossom of a peach.

It was first exhibited at the Horticultural Society in September, 1817.

2. BELLE CHEVREUSE.

Duhamel, No. 18. G.

Lindl. in Hort. Trans. Vol. v. p. 549.

Leaves crenate, with reniform glands. Flowers middle sized. Fruit middle sized, more long than round, rather narrowed at the apex. Skin greenish white next the wall, but of a beautiful flesh colour, marbled and streaked with a darker colour on the sunny side. Flesh white and melting, but red at the stone, from which it separates. Juice plentiful, sugary, and richly flavoured. Stone oblong, almost smooth.

Ripe the beginning of September.

3. BELLE DE VITRY.

Duhamel, No. 34. t. 25. G. Lindl. in Hort. Trans. Vol. v. p. 542.

Admirable Tardive. Ib.

Bellis. Miller, No. 22. Forsyth, Ed. 3. No. 26. Leaves doubly serrated, glandless. Flowers small, dull red. Fruit middle sized, a little more broad than long, with a somewhat deep and broad suture, which extends to the apex, which leaves one of its sides prominent, and the other flat, terminated by a depressed and somewhat flat nipple. Skin pale greenish yellow next the wall, but tinged with red on the sunny side, and marbled with a dull and deeper colour. Flesh

rather firm, greenish yellow, but red at the stone, from which it separates. Juice plentiful, and of a very good flavour.

Ripe the end of September, but it ought to hang some days upon the tree before it is gathered, in order to have it in perfection.

The flesh of this is more firm than that of many of the melting peaches, which has occasioned some, like Mr. Forsyth, to consider it as a Pavie; but in determining this, there can be no difficulty, as all melting peaches adhere more or less to the stone, but can be readily detached with the finger and thumb: in the Pavie this operation is impracticable.

4.* BOURDINE. Duhamel, 16. t. 12.

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Bourdine. G. Lindl. in Hort. Trans. Vol. v. p. 545. Bon. Jard. 1827. Jard. Fruit. t. 20.

Leaves crenate, with globose glands. Flowers small, blush, edged with carmine. Fruit pretty large, and nearly round, divided by a wide and somewhat deep suture, the flesh swelling unequally on its sides, but a little flattened on the back. Stalk inserted in a deep and wide cavity. Skin greenish white next the wall, but on the sunny side it is of a lively red, marbled, and shaded with a deeper colour. Flesh white, melting, but very red at the stone, from which it separates. Juice sugary, and highly flavoured. Stone small, and nearly

round.

Ripe the middle of September.

It is said this peach derived its name from one Bourdin, a French gardener, in the time of Louis XIV. That there is some resemblance between this, the Téton de Vénus, and the Royale, will not be denied; but that they are identically the same is what I cannot admit. Duhamel, who has always been regarded as of the

highest authority in what regards the fruits of his own country, would have discovered this, had it been the case, long before he published his book. In addition to this, where is the Nurseryman, I would ask, who has ever successfully budded the Bourdine upon the Muscle stock? In order that I may not, in this instance, add to the confusion which at present exists in the names of modern cultivators, I shall follow the example of Duhamel, and our own countryman Miller, in considering the Bourdine, the Téton de Vénus, and the Royale, as three distinct varieties.

5.* DOUBLE MONTAGNE. Aiton's Epitome. G. Lindl. in Hort. Trans. Vol. v. p. 539.

Sion. Forsyth, Ed. 7. p. 52.

Leaves doubly serrated, glandless. Flowers large. Fruit middle sized, of a roundish figure, a little narrowed and flatted at the apex. Skin greenish white on the shaded side; but of a blush or soft red, and marbled with a deeper colour on the side next the sun. Flesh very delicate, melting, and white to the stone, from which it separates. Juice plentiful, and highly flavoured. Stone ovate, mucronate, and rugged.

Ripe the middle and latter end of August.

This is a beautiful and excellent peach, and must not be confounded with the Noblesse; it ripens a week or ten days sooner, and cannot be propagated upon the Muscle.

6. EARLY ANNE. G. Lindl. in Hort. Trans. Vol. v. p. 539.

Anne. Langley Pom. t. 22. f. 2. Forsyth, Ed. 3. No. 5.

Leaves doubly serrated, glandless. Flowers large, very pale, nearly white. Fruit below the middle size, globular. Skin white, with scarcely any colouring on the side next the sun. Flesh soft, melting, and white

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