198 THE FLORIST. 



in his statement "that for four seasons out of six he has had over- 

 abundant crops, and an average one on the remaining two ;" and this, 

 he further informs us, is not confined to the crops under his own charge, 

 " but is shared in equally by his neighbours in the West Riding of 

 Yorkshire." Of course, I and your readers admit this ; and the fact 

 which he afterwards states of the frost of the 24th of April having done 

 them so little damage appears to offer the key to the abundant crops 

 obtained in the West Riding of Yorkshire. 



But how stands the case in other parts of the country? Have we 

 not proofs that the frost that night swept away all hopes of a crop of 

 fruit from the gardens and orchards through a wide extent of country in 

 the southern and western parts of England ? From my own experience 

 I can affirm that Apples, Pears, Plums, and Cherries, are all but 

 entirely gone ; and, going from the subject, that Potatoes, early Straw- 

 berries, and some other crops suffered equally ; I had myself, and have 

 seen others who had their Apricots and Peaches in great part killed, 

 though protected with netting — the exposed part of the Apricots looking 

 the next day as if they had been parboiled. My garden is certainly 

 a cold one, but Peaches keep dropping off to this day, through injury 

 received by the frost of the 24th of April. 



Mr. Saul may be assured gardeners in the south are quite as anxious 

 to get good crops of wall fruit at as little expense as himself, and take as 

 much precaution to insure such ; but year after year they are doomed 

 to see their hopes destroyed, and the perplexities of their situation 

 increased by the uncertain nature of the weather in spring; and I believe 

 no gardener in his senses would recommend a large outlay for producing 

 wall fruit if his exertions had been so favoured by the seasons as Mr. 

 Saul and his brother gardeners in the West Riding appear, from his 

 statement, to have been ; but as our case is unfortunately the reverse of 

 satisfactory, what, under the circumstances, is to be done ? — are we to 

 go on, year after year, without fruit to any extent, or recommend what 

 experience shows will, for a moderate cost, supply the wants of our 

 employers ? I am not arguing so much for erecting glass walls as for 

 covering existing walls with glass ; and of this I can speak pretty con- 

 fidently, as, fi'om inquiries made, I hear the crops under the protection 

 of glass against walls are everywhere safe this present season. 



I need not inform your readers, how comparatively small a surface of 

 fruit trees protected by glass, and the chances of a crop made sure, is 

 sufficient to produce as large a quantity of fruit as a great extent of 

 walling; and 1 cannot see how (at least, where failures are yearly 

 taking place), any one could object to what seems to me, after due 

 reflection, the cheapest way of obtaining good crops of wall fruit of 

 the best kind. Of course it would be madness for I\Ir. S. to recommend 

 such, when he can command good crops without such assistance. 

 Mr. S. states earlier in his article — "if all the fruit trees in this 

 garden were in glass walls, they would require all the labour I have to 

 manage them ; but as they are, a few weeks' nailing from one man, 

 with what I do myself completes the whole." I am quite at a loss to 

 see how trees, protected by glass, and consequently, when the operator 



