182 



RIVERS' NURSERIES. 



to see the greatest intelligence and science 

 brought to bear on every side, in order to en- 

 large the scope of gardening and cheapen the 

 cost of propagation and culture of trees and 

 plants. Instead of catering chiefly for the 

 great proprietors, and keeping up the prices 

 of all new and rare trees, Mr. Rivers' great- 

 est desire seems to be to introduce and propa- 

 gate so largely as to aiford at very moderate 

 ^prices, every thing ■which promises to be an 

 acquisition, either in a useful or ornamental 

 point of view to the gardens of the large mid- 

 dle class of England. Hence the extensive 

 trials of fruits which Mr. Rivers has made 

 of varieties collected from all parts of the 

 world ; hence the system of root-pruning, 

 dwarfing, and pyramidal pruning which he has 

 so successfully introduced. The result of all 

 this has been to bestow on thousands of cot- 

 tage gardens and the grounds of noble pi'opri- 

 etors, to whom wall-fruit is so costly a luxury, 

 an abundant supply of fine fruits upon trees 

 easily cultivated in a limited space. 



It is, perhaps, with respect io fruit i?reesthat 

 Mr. Rivers' nurseries are more conspicuous- 

 ly in advance of all others in England. In- 

 deed we do not hesitate to say that we found 

 his grounds considered mainly as an experimen- 

 tal school of pomology, more interesting than 

 those of the Horticultural Society of London. 

 Mr. R. has, in addition to his nurseries, planted 

 large quantities of standard and pyramidal 

 fruit trees — especially pears — as orchard fruit 

 for supplying London market. Of the extent of 

 those plantations our readers may judge when 

 we state that we saw, in this part of the es- 

 tablishment, 2300 standard trees of that valu- 

 able variety of pear — the Louise Bonne de 

 Jersey alone ; and perhaps as many more of 

 each of the following : Bartlett, (William's Bon- 

 chretien) Vicar of Winkfield, Capiaumont, and 

 two or three other equally popular and pro- 

 ductive market sorts. These trees are plant- 

 ed about 24 feet apart — the intermediate space 



partially cropped with young trees, and the 

 pear trees themselves allowed to grow pretty 

 freely in the common standard form. The 

 luxuriance and productiveness of these trees 

 proved to us that the scarcity of standard 

 fruit trees generally in English gardens, is as 

 much owing to a want of knowledge of the 

 sorts best adapted for the purj)ose, and the 

 proper mode of cultivating them, as to 

 the unsuitableness of the climate — inferior as 

 the latter is to the United States for the cul- 

 ture of most fruit trees. 



Besides this kind of orchard planting of 

 fruit trees, Mr. Rivers has collected, and is 

 constantly collecting and proving, in various 

 parts of his grounds, what he terms "schools 

 of pears," "schools of plums," and all other 

 fruits ; that is to say, quarters or plots of 

 ground, where all the new varieties are plant- 

 ed only, labelled, kept distinct, and cultivated 

 till the good or bad ciualities have been 

 thoroughly tested. Very few nurserymen ever 

 thought it worth their while to do this until 

 the labors of the London Hort.Society awakened 

 in the minds of fruit growers the folly of grow- 

 ing a poor variety upon a soil that would just 

 as easily produce a good one. Now many nurse- 

 rymen, both in Europe and America have fol- 

 lowed the example, and the advantages, both 

 in point of the genuineness of the sort propa- 

 gated, and its adaptation to that particular dis- 

 trict of country, can scarcely be estimated too 

 highly. Mr. Rivers' '-schools" of experiment- 

 al trees are, however, unusually rich, and are 

 continually augmented by the introduction of 

 every new sort of repute, which is originated 

 either in Europe or America. 



Among the novelties likely to be most val- 

 uable in the United States are noticed a new 

 hardy grape — the Purple Fontainhleau. We 

 saw a large number of this variety growing in 

 the open air, with all the vigor and luxuriance 

 of our Isabella grape at home, and from the 

 appearance and the account Mr. R. gave of 

 this sort we cannot doubt that it is worthy of 



