DECEMBER. 367 



the Shottisham roots, thinking perhaps there was something in the 

 strain ; while one sees in Roses, Dahlias, Chrysanthemums, and indeed 

 all florists' flowers, one particular sort which in some years will not do 

 well anywhere, but in others succeeds everywhere. 



Mr. Holmes is a believer in summer Hoses, and I take it to be a 

 refreshing thing now and then to meet with a man who will not run 

 with the crowd, even though you differ from him. He is so because, he 

 says, the finest Roses are to be found amongst them, as Coupe d'Hebe, 

 Kean, Boule de Nanteuil, &c, and because he thinks the title of 

 Hybrid Perpetual all stuff. " You get," is his contemptuous way of 

 putting it, " a few Roses in the autumn, but they are all so much alike 

 that you cannot distinguish the sorts, as they are all so out of character." 

 It must be confessed that very often the prospect of an autumn bloom is 

 very disappointing, but one does get a second bloom in August, when 

 all the summer Roses are done, and if the year be fine, a third bloom 

 from some sorts in September and October; while the summer- flowering 

 varieties only give you their one bloom, fine though it be. Believing this, 

 he takes care that his Roses are very fine, and certainly there is this ad- 

 vantage in them, that one obtains much finer plants and a larger quantity 

 of bloom at once. Nothing can be more gorgeous while it lasts than a 

 large tree of Paul Ricaut ; and yet, with all this, I believe Mr. Rivers is 

 right, when he says that summer Roses will, ere long, be amongst the 

 things of the past ; certainly, it will be so, as far as small gardens are 

 concerned, and while our exhibitions show they are not discarded, 

 unquestionably nine- tenths of the flowers shown do not belong to them. 

 I saw here, for the first time, a new method of growing Peach trees, 

 which Mr. H. is determined to give a fair trial to. It is of French 

 • origin. The growers around Paris say, that the utmost that they can 

 obtain from Peach trees trained in the present fashion is 30 to the square 

 yard, while according to the new plan, they say, they can obtain 50. 

 It is this : — maiden trees are planted against the wall at about 16 to 

 18 inches apart, and are pruned to one shoot ; this is carried straight up 

 the wall, and when it reaches the top the tree is bent at an angle of 45°, 

 and in this position nailed to the wall, all the shoots having been previously 

 cut back to short spurs about 3 or 4 inches long ; on these the blossoms 

 appear and the fruit is produced. The advantage of bending them at 

 this angle is, that — 1st, a much greater length of stem is obtained than 

 if trained in a straight line ; and that, 2nd, it is likely to check a too 

 vigorous growth, and thus promote fruiting. Mr. Holmes kindly informs 

 me, that his knowledge of the plan was obtained from a friend who has 

 resided for the last three or four years in France, and who had taken 

 considerable pains, by visiting the gardens where the system was 

 adopted at different times of the year, to learn all he could about it. 

 Mr. H. slyly says, " It is only hearsay evidence, and therefore, perhaps, 

 not worth much." I think it questionable whether, in this climate, these 

 spurs will sufficiently ripen, or whether the fruit so produced will equal 

 that grown under the old system ; some of our most eminent fruit- 

 growers, including Mr. Rivers, are decidedly against the plan, but it 

 will be a matter of some satisfaction to know that it will be tried under 

 the hand and eye of so experienced a floriculturist as Mr. Holmes. 



