JUNE. 163 



Pears, Plums, Cherries, and Figs ; four seasons out of the six I have 

 had an over-abundant crop, and two an average one, and this in the 

 West Riding of Yorkshire. In this I do not stand alone ; my case is 

 not the exception, for I find all my neighbours equally fortunate. The 

 ill effects of the severe frost on the night of the 24th April last, which 

 has proved so destructive to crops in the south of England, were also 

 experienced here, but the thermometer was not so low as in some places 

 in the south ; we had, however, seven degrees of frost, and notwith- 

 standing that every tree in this garden was exposed to it, none suffered 

 from it, not even standard Pears and Plums, as far as I can discover. 

 The only things that I could find touched were Ash-leaved Kidney 

 Potatoes, which were a little injured. From inquiries I have made 

 1 learn that my neighbours have been equally fortunate. 



My friend Mr. Abbott, gardener at Ribstone, has on a west wall as 

 fine a crop of Apricots as any man could wish to see : these and all his 

 other crops have escaped unhurt. 



I believe I have myself as fine a wall of Apricots as any in England ; 

 I intend to ripen about five hundred dozen fruits, and I have aheady 

 pulled off" three times that number. This will give some idea of the 

 quantity of fruit ; but some will perhaps say that, owing to leaving so 

 many to ripen, they will be small and of little value ; I assure such, 

 however, that this is not likely to be the case, and that I will undertake 

 to produce from this wall of trees, in the second week of August next, 

 fifty score Apricots, which will bring as high a price in any market in 

 England as the same number pulled the same week from any single 

 garden in this country. This, I think, is a fair way to test their value. 



I find that my crop of Peaches, Nectarines, Pears, Plums, Cherries, 

 and Figs, is equally good, and bush fruit a most abundant crop. From 

 what I have stated, people will not, I hope, charge me with egotism, 

 because what I have said appUes, as I have already mentioned, equally 

 to my neighbours. My object is to defend what Mr. Ewing calls " the 

 antiquated plan of fi'uit tree protection by means of canvas-rolls and Fir 

 tree branches," and I hope to be able to show that that plan will pay, 

 which I am inclined to think his glass walls \\'ill not. 



No man of capital will embark in any enterprise or business which 

 he has reasons to think will not pay. Gardeners, least of all men, can 

 afford to do so ; if, then, we find the old system of brick walls pay 

 better than glass walls, we have one great point gained in favour of the 

 former. But I will not rest my case here ; I will go further, and 

 maintain that fruit from the open wall is of as good quality as that from 

 any glass wall or orchard house. The best and fairest way to test this 

 will be to see which will bring the highest price in the market. 



In the first place, as I wish to show that the old system of brick walls 

 will pay better than glass walls, I may mention what a market gardener 

 said to me last summer. 1 was walking with him over a piece of land 

 which he had purchased, and to which he was transferring his stock from 

 a garden he was giving up ; among his stock was a quantity of young 

 fruitful Apricot and Plum trees. I was anxious to know his opinion of 

 glass structures without artificial heat, consequently I asked him, and 

 his reply was : — " See this border ; I have got an estimate for a wall 



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