ded from equally healthy trees, will make healthy and satisfactory trees. But the nurserymen, in their haste, planted all stones indiscriminately; they were so careless about the kind and quality of the tree which bore these stones, as to pay boys by the quart for stones collected in city streets during the Peach season, many of which were, of course, from poor trees, and perpetuated, when planted for stocks, their own defects. The stocks thus produced were budded with choice varieties; the bud governs the kind of fruit produced where it is inserted, but the health of the tree is governed principally by the stock.

And the nurserymen were not content with violating nature in this way. The careful cultivator knows that every plant grown for a number of years on the same spot, exhausts in that ground the food which it particularly needs, and that to secure good crops from such ground a different plant must be grown on it, which will need few or none of the constituents necessary for the preceding crop, but wants just those that are left in abundance in the soil. But the Peach growers were not only careless about the seed which supplied their new orchards, but they planted these orchards on the ground before occupied by Peaches, and thus deprived the young trees from the first of their vital necessities, and compelled them to feed on vitiated and exhausted earth.

Still another rule of agriculture was neglected; viz., that each year's crop must be carefully cultivated, manured, ploughed, hoed. What should we think of the prospective Corn crops of a farmer, between whose rows the ground was thickly sown with Grass or Rye? Why, that he would lose more from his Corn than he could possibly make good by the additional crop. But Peach growers sowed Grass between their rows of trees, or allowed it to grow there. This double demand on the ground results either in impoverishing both trees and fruit, or in shortening the life of the tree.

When speaking of Pear-culture, I said that its success depends on plenty of moisture, plenty of manure, and on thinning the fruit. This last process has an important influence on the quality of all fruit crops, and is indispensable to success in Grape growing, as the merest tyro knows; but this, too, was neglected by the Peach growers, who, in their greediness for large crops allowed the trees

to bear all the fruit they set, and consequently got no fruit equal to that grown on properly thinned trees.

What wonder that our trees with such a pedigree have "the yellows," are uncertain bearers, and in many parts of the country complete failures? Whoever wishes to get perfect fruit and longlived trees, must go back to first principles, must select his seed, grow his stocks, and be particular about the source, especially in growing trees under glass, where the process is expensive and tedious, and where one diseased tree may be the cause of a large loss.

Remember, too, the discovery made in Pear culture: that large growing varieties worked upon the stocks of small growing plants, preserve their superiority of fruit, while the tree continues of small size. This is of great consequence under glass, where room is all-important; small tops and roots are desirable both in the trees planted in the ground, and in those in tubs; and this is the case even in span-roofed houses, where the middle trees may and should be larger than the side rows.

Supposing our peachhouse to be built, or the trees grown as in our graperies, the proper soil is the first consideration.

Perfect drainage and a light soil are necessities. It has been supposed that the Peach does not need rich soil, because in the open air it thrives better in light and sandy, than in rich alluvial soil. Not so. The things to be especially avoided are over-dampness and over-richness near the roots; the former is particularly bad, and causes rot, the latter, canker. To insure drainage, the soil must be sandy and porous, but it should be highly and constantly fertilized with well-rotted, not with rank, manures. If the situation of your house is wet, drain well, and under the border lay a foundation of rubble stones. Through this rubble it will be well to carry, as in Grape borders, a pipe from the boiler; because to insure success in forcing, we must keep the roots warmed in proportion to the top. By covering the outside border every fall with a good coat of leaves and horse manure, as early as October, the summer heat may be retained enough to enable you to dispense with heat through the rubble in winter. Upon this lay two

or three feet of rich maiden loam; in this loam the trees will thrive so long as its fertility remains unexhausted, To avoid exhaustion, water at the proper season with liquid manures, and also every fall, after the wood is ripened and the leaves have fallen, remove the two or three upper inches of loam, and replace with old pasture mould, or well-chopped turf; before laying this on, fork in lightly a dressing of well-rotted manure, or give several copious waterings of liquid manure.

The border prepared, select, whether for walls or trellises, healthy trees, one year from the bud, of those varieties you prefer ; set them out, all trees of the same size and habit of growth for the trellises; but for the back have dwarfs and standards alternately. The stock on which to work Peaches in order to dwarf them, is Plum or Bitter Almond. Choose trees budded near the ground; set them so as to just cover the base of the bud, and plant in fall or spring; the fall is the best time if the house can be ready then. Cut the stem back to four eyes from the bud; through the winter keep the house just above freezing; do not let it get much higher than 40° in the daytime, and rely upon the sun's heat kept in at night by shutters and mats, unless the weather should be so severe as to render it impossible to

keep the temperature above freezing without fires. As the spring comes on the sun will get more power, and the house, even if constantly ventilated, will warm in the daytime above the growing point, and soon the buds will swell and start to grow. Before they do this, cover the tree with the following wash, which is to be applied by a brush drawn up along the stem, so as not to disturb the buds, and is the same which is to be used for grape vines; 2 oz. flour of sulphur; 2 oz. soft soap; 4 oz. quicklime, mixed in a gallon of rain-water. This is to be applied at least two weeks before you begin to syringe. As the buds swell, increase the humidity of the house by syringing morning and evening when the day is bright, and once during the day in cloudy weather. The four buds will produce four shoots; bend them into such shapes as suit you, but keep them low down; let them grow at will till midsummer, and then pinch off their ends. This will check growth

and the wood will ripen. As soon as the leaves fall, cut back the four shoots to within four eyes each of the old wood. Cover the border as before directed, with litter and manure. Keep the house this winter as the last, cool, till spring excites the trees; during the winter fumigate with sulphur; whitewash the house to kill red spiders and other destructive insects; examine the stock near the ground to detect any borers that may have got in (though they should never get into a house well cared for); should there be any sign of them, run a wire into the hole till you touch the worm; kill and pull it out. Before the young shoots begin to start in the second spring, wash the stem and roots with the mixture just directed. The cut shows the present appearance of the tree. Al

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low the four present branches to grow in the same direction as hitherto, and allow two buds, new shoots, to grow up the wall at a sharper angle than the others. Treat the house this year as the last; allow no fruit to grow. During the second fall of growth or the third since planting, cut a a, bb, back one-third of their length, and the new shoots to 4 eyes. The diagram shows the tree during the third winter and spring. Give it more heat this year after February than before, and induce it to grow earlier; this may easily be done without fire heat. During the third summer allow no fruit to grow unless as a specimen, for if the trees bear so young, they will lose in permanency and strength. Let the new shoots grow up the wall so as to perfect the fan shape; let the other branches grow at will till midsummer, when they must be pinched as before; in the fall prune all back one-third of their length; cover the border deeply with manure and leaves. The fourth winter you may begin to force-not earlier however than the middle or last of February. Go over all the young wood with the lime and soap mixture. During January keep the temperature higher than before, but not over 50° in the day, and let it fall at night to 35° or 40°. Give plenty of air. Before beginning to increase the heat, ascertain whether the earth in the borders has retained heat enough to

render forcing well-balanced, and if not, be ready as you heat the house more, to throw some heat into the pipe which traverses the rubble foundation. The proper heat of the border cannot well be prescribed, as it will depend on circumstances not to be forseen; but if the gardener remembers the analogy of Nature, he will easily be guided into the right course. When out-of-door vegetation begins in the spring, the earth is quite cold, but lately unlocked from frost, with a temperature from 35° to 40°; and it gradually warms as the season advances. If then the borders are at about 35°, we may safely begin to heat and slightly increase the heat in them month by month.

During January give the inside borders two or three copious waterings of warmed liquid manure, which will warm them about enough.

It is found at this stage that the trees seem to receive great benefit from ammoniacal vapors, and in old times gardeners heaped stable manure under them; the vapor may be obtained as well from pans of urine set over the flues and pipes to evaporate, and the unsightly manure be avoided.

When we begin forcing after the application of the wash to the young wood, we must dispense with the syringe for a time, as it would remove the wash; the proper humidity must be kept up by watering the floors and flues, and by setting evaporating pans of water about.

During pleasant days early in this winter, all the heat which is necessary, may be got by shutting the house up; the temperature in the day may range from 45° to 50°, and must not fall below 40° at night; and to maintain this night-temperature, fires must be made. "About 12 or 15 days after increasing the heat, the blossoms will begin to expand; at this period the humidity of the house hitherto caused by steaming and syringing, should be lessened, and a slight increase of temperature afforded; the increase should not be over 50, for to hurry the expansion of the blossoms and the setting of the fruit, might endanger the whole crop. The more slowly the buds swell and go through the stage of forming the parts of fructification, and the important offices dependent on it, so much the more certain will success be."