FEBRUARY. 35 



to partial ones the previous years, and to the trees being overloaded with 



spurs. 



M . de Jonghe assures us that frosts which leave nothing behind them 



in England pass over the well managed Belgian orchards without 



committing serious mischief. From facts which have come under my 



own observation I feel satisfied that he is right. Mr. Rivers, who, from 



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his experience, we may consider a fit person to reply to him, has done so, 



and a very poor defence he has made, simply because his case was a 



bad one. I hope " Helminthion " will give me credence, — not that my 



case was exceptional, but general throughout the north of England. I 



quite coincide with his remarks on the materials and workmanship of 



glass structures. But *' Helminthion " will please to bear in mind that 



the first outlay is not all, for unless such structures are kept in thorough 



repair (no matter how well they are built), they will in time begin to 



get worse of wear. These repairs will make another reason for dispensing 



with glass cases, if, as I believe we can, secure good crops of superior 



fruit. I am also an advocate for genuine British sheet glass. There 



are some houses and pits here glazed with it, and I have grown for 



nearly seven years crops and plants of various kinds in them to my entire 



satisfaction. 



In the second part of his article " Helminthion " says, "Well, we are 

 still only bringing up the rear ; our grandfathers found all this out, and, 

 as protectives, adopted the various modes of straw curtains. Fir branches, 

 canvas blinds, and many others, and generally succeeded in securing 

 a respectable crop. It is, however, generally admitted that our springs 

 are more precarious, from their changeableness, if not upon the average 

 colder than they were in the olden time. It is, besides, generally 

 expected that with our advanced knowledge and our improvements in 

 arts and sciences, we should do more in the way of artificial cultivation 

 than merely ' secure respectable crops sometimes,' for with our ordinary 

 appliances the ' generally ' alluded to above has thus degenerated. The 

 obvious common sense argument is, that in the present day we ought to 

 be more than a match for the difference apparent in our seasons, that 

 what is done sometimes may be done always, ought to be reduced to a 

 certainty." Now, after this, hear the plan which " Helminthion " has 

 to propose, which is to make us equal to the times we live in, and is 

 to defy King Frost, and save all our crops from our " precarious springs." 

 I give it in his own words : — " We may conclude," he says, " that it (a 

 brick wall) is indispensable as a foundation for our scheme, and that all 

 that is necessary further is to enclose it with a glass case." Hear ye that 

 British gardeners ! Why our grandfathers knew all this, and many of 

 them would have adopted it had it not been for the high price of glass, 

 timber, and workmanship in those days. It was the expense of these 

 that of necessity drove them to canvas-rolls and Fir branches. But 

 I ask " Helminthion " what is he to do with all our Pear, Plum, and 

 Apple trees ? How is he to protect the hundreds of thousands of acres of 

 these trees throughout these islands from our " precarious springs." I 

 answer, not by covering them with glass, but by good cultivation. 



With respect to our variable climate, I think that if there is one 

 thing more than another for which we ought to be thankful to the all-wise 



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