OCTOTIKR. 291 



idea of these houses is given by woodcuts in our volume for 1854, p. 55. 

 T\\Qy vary in length according to circumstances, and are from 16 to 20 

 feet wide ; for fiarticulars, however, we must refer our readers to a work 

 Mr. Rivers has puhhshe<l, entitle<i "Orchard Houses." 



The houses not furnished with boarded sides to close up during the 

 early spring months are not so favouralile for Feaclies and Nectarin<Mi, 

 but they answer very well for Apricots, Plums, Cherries, &c. The 

 cold winds of March and April sweep through the side he<lge8 rather too 

 freely, and all attempts at husbanding tlie solar heat, so as to obtain a 

 moderate warmth through the night, is lost. ITiey were at first tri«fil as 

 an experiment, and so far answer for the fruits we have name<l, but 

 for Peaches, Vnies, kc, the sides must be boarde<i, and made, when 

 clo8e<i up, pretty air tight. If necessary, the house can then be closed 

 early enough in the aftenioon, to retain a heat sufficient to keep the 

 trees quite safe even during sharp frost. Our readers should bear thi« 

 in mind when building these kinds of house. We cannot remember 

 how many of these houses there are, as they are place<i in different 

 situations about the grounds, but they contain an immense st/Kk of 

 young trees of all kinds preparing for working next season, and which 

 will be ready for purchasers in a short time. 



Two or three of the houses are filled with young Vines ; some are 

 trained to single rods five or six feet long each, for fruiting in the usual 

 way by training thp shoot under the roof Another lot are grown as bushes, 

 merely by cutting down a last year's Vine in the winter to within four 

 or five eyes of the pot, and allowing three or four shoots to grow, which 

 are traine<l to sticks place<i in the pot, and stopped when 18 or 20 

 inches long ; in this way they form nice bushes, and when loade<i with 

 fruit have a novel appearance. Some of the prolific kinds l>ear fruiting 

 shoots the first year ; we notice<l among others Pr<.*coce de Malingre, an 

 early white Grape, and another calle<l Muscat St. Laurent, said to be 

 a very suitable Grape for the open air. 



The crop of Peaches and Nectarines in the principal fruiting house 

 was very go<vl ; many of the trees were quite loaded. The pots in 

 which the trees grow are placed on a be<l of soil, into which the ro<jts 

 p-enetrate ; this, and the help given the roots within the pots by watering 

 them with liquid manure, makes the fruit swell to a large size. The 

 pots are lifted in the winter, and the roots which have found their way 

 into the border carefully prune<l in ; a shovelful or two of fresh compost 

 is then place<i below the pot, to assist in feeding the plant the following 

 season. By means of his orchard houses, Mr. Rivers is proving a 

 number of continental and American Peaches, some of which are likely 

 to turn out goo<l varieties. Of comparatively new or scarce kinds we 

 noticed Mignonne Tardive, a late Mignonne, very fine ; Pt'che a bee, a 

 very fine early kind ; Early Grosse Mignonne, a variety ripening 

 fourteen da}'8 earlier than the common Mignonnes ; Haines' Early 

 Peach, goofj ; Early York Peach, better kno\vn than the at»ove, but 

 valuable for its earliness ; as is Scott's Early Red, a high flavoure<l 

 American kind ; Reine des Vergers, good ; Brugnon monstreuse, very 

 fine ; Cooledge's Favourite, good ; Monstreuse de Doue, fine ; R<^>sanne 

 Nouvclle, a very handsome Peach with yellow flesh, quality medium ; 



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