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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



peaches from walls, good management will 

 insure them every year in these cheap 

 structures, for they may still be cheaply 

 built, though substantial, those of Mr. 

 Pearson's costing only Is. 8c?. per square 

 foot of ground covered. They afford the 

 most perfect facilities for effectually ripen- 

 ing the wood, the most important operation 

 in the whole routine of management, and 

 they also allow of artificial fertilization, 

 which Mr. Pearson insists is essential to 

 the production of a fair crop. Let him on 

 this subject explain himself: — 



" Most persons know that the farina or 

 pollen of the stamens must come in contact 

 with the pistil, if perfect fruit is to be pro- 

 duced. To this end Providence has placed 

 honey in the nectaries of flowers, as an 

 attraction to bees and other insects, whicli, 

 in buzzing about, distribute the pollen. A 

 moment's consideration of this subject will 

 explain the cause of many failures. Of 

 course the farina cannot fly, if not in a dry 

 state. A damp atmospliere, therefore, 

 tends to prevent the setting of fruit. It 

 will be an advantage to have your plants 

 in bloom, when there is a chance of the 

 weather being warm enough to allow of 

 ventilation, and the assistance of bees to 

 fertilize the flowers. The span-roofed 

 houses affording the means of ventilation 

 near the ground on both sides, the whole 

 length of the house is much superior to the 

 ugly glazed sheds, called lean-to houses, 

 generally built. 



"If orchard-house trees are in good 

 health, and the weather be warm when 

 they are in bloom, and bees in abundance, 

 they will probably set three times the 

 fruit they can bring to perfection; but as 

 it is better to leave nothing undone to in- 

 sure success, we always fertilize the flowers 

 hy toucliing them with a camel-hair pencil, 

 in the middle of a warm sunny day. It 

 takes bixt a very short time to go over 

 every plant in a large house. It is the 

 opinion of many besides Dr. Darwin, that 

 not only is the pollen of some varieties of a 

 species stronger than others, but that when 

 applied to a different plant or variety, it is 

 more eflicacious. In using a perfectly dry 

 camel-hair pencil, it will be found that 

 though the farina of each bloom may be 

 distributed, but little can be carried away 

 by the brush. Let us, then, take a lesson 

 from Natiare. Pull off a bloom and open 

 it lengthwise, and it will be found stickj' 

 with honej- in the in-=ide ; insert the brush, 

 and it will then, when afterwards iised, be 

 soon covered with pollen, and you will 

 thus cross variety with variety. If the 

 petals soon begin to drop and leave the 

 base of the flowers attached to the tree, 



you have beeu successful, and may hope 

 for a crop. I have been thus explicit, be- 

 cause aware that this is a matter of im- 

 portance, and often neglected." 



There is another point on which we 

 believe experience will prove Mr. Rivers to 

 be wrong, and that is, keeping trees in 

 the same pots for several years. Mr. 

 Peai'son does not find fault with this prac- 

 tice. He says, "I have seen trees which 

 have never been repotted, but only top- 

 dressed for nine years, and which are as 

 healthy as ever." We have seen the same 

 thing, and have trees that have never been 

 shifted for as long a period, and which are 

 still healthy and fruitful ; they are of 

 course assisted with top-dressings of fresh 

 loam and dung. But we fully believe that 

 an annual repotting will pay for the 

 trouble ; we never yet shook a tree out 

 and repotted it in fresh stuff, even if in 

 the same pot, without being satisfied that 

 the practice was a good one, and very 

 little more labour than the necessary top- 

 dressing. We accumulate all the rough 

 " core" produced in making fine composts 

 in heaps, which, by the end of the season, 

 are sufficient for the purpose. These heaps 

 consist of nodules of chippy dung, lumps of 

 clay, loam and turf, pebbles, crocks, and 

 the coarser parts of charred rubbish. There 

 could not be a better mixture for the pur- 

 pose, and that the trees like it is evident 

 by the style of growth and fruiting. Let 

 those who are satisfied with keeping trees 

 in the same pots for several years with the 

 assistance only of top-dressing continue in 

 the practice, but we would suggest to those 

 who are dissatisfied with the growth of 

 their trees to adopt the plan of turning 

 them oiit at the end of October, and re- 

 potting in fresh stufl'; the roots need 

 not be cut about, but may be slightly re- 

 duced, and the same pots used again : the 

 result will be a production of an abund- 

 ance of new fibres which will invigorate 

 the trees, and probably contribute to im- 

 prove the quality, if it does not increase 

 the quantity of the fruit. That trees so 

 manured will live as long as trees on walls, 

 cannot be doubted. Mr. Pearson says : 

 " My belief is, that the average life of 

 orchard-house trees will be greater than 

 those trained on open walls, subject as 

 these latter are to so many injurious in- 

 fluences. The orange has long been cul- 

 tivated in pots and tubs, and trees are in 

 existence, in perfect health, hundreds of 

 years old, as all know who have visited 

 Versailles. As an experiment, and to show 

 what might be done with a peach-tree, I 

 had a small plant of Royal George peach 

 potted in what is called a two-quart pot ; 



