LONDON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S GARDEN. 



15 



me every opportunity of seeing the whole 

 ef this finest of experimental gardens. 



In the first place, he showed me his 

 fruit-room, 70 by 16 feet, constructed with 

 double walls, 8 inches apart, the hollow 

 space between filled with moss. He never 

 uses fire, though in 1S47 the mercury, in 

 the open air, fell to 5° below zero. The 

 room is lined with open shelves, upon 

 which fruit is placed. 



I then examined the pear trees, which 

 are trained in four different modes. First, 

 wall and horizontal training ; these are 

 beautiful specimens of training, — the trees 

 mostly 30 years old, but this season show- 

 ing but little fruit. Next came a walk 

 with a double row of pears on either side, 

 in quincunx order, — the trees not more 

 than six feet apart. On one side of this 

 walk the trees were standards, eight feet 

 high, trained en quenouille ; and on the 

 other side were trees of the same height, 

 pyramid. The fourth mode consisted of 

 umbrella standards ; trees trimmed up eight 

 feet, with naked stems, and then shooting 

 out from the crown, upon every side, pen- 

 dulous branches, bending to the ground, 

 and really resembling some palms in their 

 growth. These drooping branches always 

 remained the same, as they are spurred- 

 back regularly every year to one bud ; hence 

 they are covered with unsightly excrescen- 

 ces. Mr. Thompson does not like this me- 

 thod of training, and proposes to abandon it. 



The Horticultural Society now cultivate 

 here about 700 varieties of pears ; but Mr. 

 Thompson informed me that he would not 

 cultivate for his own use, nor recommend 

 to the most zealous amateur, more than 50 

 varieties out of this number. 



In reply to that difficult question, — what 

 are the five or six best autumn, and five or 

 six best winter pears ? his answer was as 

 follows : 



Autumn Pears. 

 Marie Louise, 

 Louise Bonne de Jersey, 

 Thompson, 

 Bern re Bosc, 

 Knight's Monarch. 



Winter Pears. 

 Knight's March Bergamot, 

 Glout Morceau, 

 Beurre Rimz. 

 Ne plus Mem-is, 

 AVinter Nelis. 



Of all the pears, Mr. Thompson appeared 

 to think most highly of Knight's March 

 Bergamot, both for its excellence and length 

 of keeping. 



The number of peaches in the Horticul- 

 tural Society's collection has been reduced 

 to 18 or 20 varieties, by selecting from the 

 large list in the Catalogue only a portion of 

 those marked first rate. The Belle garde 

 is here considered the best peach ; next, in 

 good seasons, ranks the Royal George. In 

 England, our George 4th, though fine, does 

 not, like most American peaches, bear the 

 wall well. The only novelty, in this way, 

 was a tree of the Shanghae peach, from 

 China, with reniform glands, — the quality 

 of the fruit not yet tested. The finest new 

 nectarine is the Stanwick. Of grapes, the 

 new sort, most highly spoken of by Mr. 

 Thompson, was the St. Albans, — white, 

 round berries, large bunches and shoulders. 

 Then there was the Gros Gommier des Can- 

 tal, a grape with remarkably short jointed 

 wood, each joint not exceeding an inch to 

 an inch and a half in length ; the fruit, in 

 colour and flavor, a mingling of Black 

 Hamburgh and Sweet Water. Another 

 grape that promises well is the Raisin de 

 Calabre, — the bunches long, the berry round 

 and white, and the fruit hanging a long 

 time, like Oldacre's St. Peters, and, there- 

 fore, an excellent companion to that va- 

 riety in a vinery. Blussard Noir is a 

 grape like a small Black Hamburgh, only 

 earlier and higher flavored, and is, there- 

 fore, well worthy of cultivation. Reeves' 

 Muscadine is finer and larger than the 

 common Muscadine, — Sahibee; very large 

 in berry and bunch, but wanting in flavor. 



Mr. Thompson is practicing a new kind 

 of mid-summer pruning upon his walls and 



