FebnifU7 1, 187-2. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



103 



ticaUuriat3 of accepted and well-groimded facta must bo desir- 

 able and beneficial. — J. S. K. 



BEOCKWORTH PARK PEAR. 



I WILL give you the pai'ticulai'3. In tlie year 1855 I ad\-ised 

 my moat intimate friend to buy an estate in the parish of 

 Brockworth, and also promised to put it and all the buildings 

 in good order. To do this I found it advis.able on the lai'gest 

 farm to take down the house and all the farm buildings, and I 

 erected new in the most convenient place. When the place 

 was nearly finished a'gentleman took it. About the beginning 

 of March, when I was laying out the gai'don, my intention was 

 to order the trees from you the followmg autumn, but he was 

 so very anxious to have them at once that he prevailed on mo 

 to give him a list of what I meant to plant, and he fetched 

 them at once from Cheltenham. I warned him of the conse- 

 quences, and told him the probability was that he would get 

 anything but what he ordere<l, which proved to be true. The 

 tree in question was planted for AVinter Nelis against a wall 

 with a south-east aspect. I saw at once it was wrong ; it bore 

 three Peai's the following year, and one was sent to me. I 

 found it a very good Pear, and had a scion from it for myself ; 

 of course I consulted " Hogg " and came to the conclusion it 

 was 'VNliite Doyeimfi with a great m.iny aliases. Since then I 

 have let the farm to another person and he sent the Pears to 

 Wheeler. — (Extract of a letter from A. Buhb, Esq., to Mr. 

 Hirers.) ' 



SANDRINGHAM HOUSE.— No. 2. 



In resuming our remarks on the fruit and kitchen garden 

 we will first take the planting of the walls, of which the con- 

 struction has been already described. Of the main south-aspect 

 wall more than one-third tlie length is covered with glass ; the 

 remainder is planted with Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots, 

 with a few Pears. The Peaches consist of such standard kinds 

 as Grosse Mignonue, Bellegarde, Harrington, Late Admirable, 

 and Walburtou Admirable, and of each there are several trees ; 

 and among the Apricots are several trees of the Moorpark, 

 Hemskerk, Koyal, Kaisha, and Musch Musch, the last two 

 excellent for preserving. The south side of the wall rimning 

 parallel to that just noticed, but on the other side of the garden, 

 is planted with Peach, Apricot, and Pear trees ; its north 

 aspect with Black Circassian, Bigarreau, May Duke, and Mo- 

 rello Cherries, and with Plums. Pears and Plums cover the 

 east and west aspects of the other two walls, and consist of 

 admii-ably trained trees of varieties of established reputation 

 for excellence, selected with the view to successive ripening ; 

 indeed throughout, whether against the walls or in the rows 

 across the vegetable quarters, the number of trees planted has 

 been in proportion to the keeping qualities of the fruit. 



Mr. Cai-michael says that his Peach trees on the open walls 

 never fail to produce a crop with no other protection, even hi 

 spring, than the fixed coping ; and he considers that, in his 

 locality at least, no matter how unfavourable the subsoil, thoy 

 will do so provided the trees are kept free from insects, and, 

 in the case of their being in a stiff or clayey subsoil, lifted every 

 two years in order to bring the roots more under tlie influence of 

 the sun's heat. To keep the trees free of insects they are dusted 

 when the AoWlTs have set, or as soon as any green fly is perceived, 

 with a mixture of one part of snuff and two parts sulphur. The 

 absence of insect-curled leaves contributes to the ripening of 

 the wood, and to promote this also, after cutting off the half 

 of every leaf shading the fruit when it is sweUing,all the leaves 

 are cut in half after the crop is gathered. Mr. Carmichael, 

 like many others, is no advocate for wiring the walls out of 

 doors, considering that the trees succeed better agamst the 

 brickwork trained in the old-fashioned way with nails and 

 shreds. Of the medicated shreds introduced some time ago 

 he speaks highly on the score of durabihty and convenience. 

 It must be added that ah the shoots of the Peach trees are 

 loosened from the wall during the winter, only the main 

 branches being kept nailed-in, and harder, better ripened wood 

 it would be difficult to find. In the forcing houses the trees 

 are all painted, as soon as pruned, with fresh-slaked Ume and 

 water, and this coating is left tUl it disappears in course of 

 time, leaving the bai'k clean, bright, and insectless. The 

 Gooseberry and Cun-aut bushes are dusted with Ume if insects 

 or mildew appear ; lime, in fact, is considered the best remedy 

 for all insects which appear, and if one might judge by their 

 fewness it must be an effectual one indeed. 



Among the kitchen-garden crops Sea-kale holds a prominent 



position, great quantities being daily rbquked, and the extent 

 of ground cropped with it alone is as largo as a moderate-sized 

 kitchen garden. The ground is planted in rows 5 feet apart, 

 and the plants are 18 inches from each other in the row. As 

 soon as the leaves faU in autumn each crown is marked with a 

 stick and covered 8 inches deep with fine soil taken from the 

 spaces between the rows. Tlic ground is thus thrown into 

 beds 2 feet wide, and 3-feet alleys. Some of the latter ai-e 

 fiUed in November with httery diuig, and the beds are likewise 

 covered with the same material. A fresh bed is covered up 

 every eight days so as to keep up a suocossion, and after taking 

 the crop the crowns are left exposed ; oaly four or five shoots 

 are allowed to grow, and in this way not only do the plants 

 remain many years without renewal, but the quality of the pro* 

 duce is excellent. It must, however, bo remembered that the 

 SOU is Kght and friable, and probably if the same practice w'ero 

 adopted on ground of a retentive uatui'e the shoots would 

 not be so lai'ge as where covering with pots is resorted to. 

 Asparagus is also grown extensively, there beuig no less than 

 an acre and a half occupied with iU The whole is grown in 

 single rows 3 feet apart. Mr. Carmichael advocates making 

 the beds 6 feet deep, filling up with turf and rich manure, and 

 staking the grass ; in this way shoots of the largest size are 

 obtained. A fresh bed is sown every year, and transplanted itt 

 the following year. 



Among the other vegetables may be noted large breadths of 

 Broccoli, Cauliflowers, and Lettuces, of which the Stanstead 

 Park is a great favourite. In Celery, Santlriugham White is 

 grown almost exclusively, being that most esteemed at table on 

 account of its crispness, and in the garden from its not being 

 liable to run to seed. 



We wiU now look into the forcing houses, which extend about 

 320 feet along the main south-aspect waU. They were erected 

 by Mr. Gray, of Chelsea, and, without presenting much orna- 

 mentation, are well designed for their several purposes and ex- 

 ceedingly substantial. All the houses are 50 feet long, but of 

 varying height and width, each increasing 2 feet in height and 

 2 feet in width as we pass from the ends to the centre. Enter- 

 ing at the west end, first there is the early Peach house 14 feet 

 wide, 11 feet high at back, with 2 feet of brickwork and 2 feet of 

 glass in front. This is heated by three flows and one return, 

 and the sashes at back ai-e opened simultaneously by a cog-wheel 

 and lever, and the front sashes push out by lever power. The same 

 means are adopted in all the other houses. The treUis is 

 about 20 inches from the glass, and ie formed of u-on uprights ^ 

 let into stone blocks, between which ai'e stretched Uglit iron 

 rods at 8 inches apai-t. The trees in tliis house, which were all 

 in blossom, are Elruge and Murrey Nectarines, and Bellegai'de 

 and StirUng Castle Peaches. The last, Mr. Carmichael con- 

 siders the best Peach for forcing to rii:)en in the first week of 

 May. Next comes the earliest vinery, heated by four flows and 

 two returns. It is planted chiefly with the Black Hambiu'gh. 

 The lato house, sinulaiiy heated, is the next in succession, and 

 contains such as. Lady Dowue's and AUcante. Then follows 

 the second viueiy, in which the Black Hamburgh is the principal 

 kind. These two houses are the centre of the range, and 

 18 feet high at back, and the same in width. Next comes the 

 Muscat house, at present occupied with bedding plants, and 

 finally the second Peach house. In tlie vineries, of which the 

 borders are pai-tlyinside, pai-tly out, tine Vines ai-e planted, one 

 under each rafter and one in the intermediate space. It \vill 

 thus be seen that the rods ai'o rather close together, and in- 

 stead of allowing them to extend rapidly Mr. Carmichael only 

 retains a limited amount of stout well-iipened wood at the 

 ends of the rods, in order to have the lower eyes strong aikl 

 fruitful as well as those iieai'er the top. 



The Pineries are the next important structures. There are 

 three half-spans of 100 feet long by 20, 18, and 16 feet wide 

 respectively, and in the same range are Cucumber and Melon, 

 and Strawberry houses. The varieties chiefly grown for winter 

 are Smooth -leaved Cayenne and Black Jamaica, and for summer 

 the Queen. Of these there was a fine stock both of fruiting 

 and succession plants, nearly aU of them planted out, a.nd a 

 number of suckers in pots. In i>oint of vigour and cleiinUness 

 there was nothing left to desii-e — no sign of mealy bug, scale^ or_ 

 insect of any kind; partly, no doubt, owing to caa-eful super- 

 vision, and partly also to the plants not being confined to pots, 

 but having their natural freedom as reg?irds the roots. Under 

 the beds in which these are growing, chambers have been 

 formed by resting lai-ch battens ut»n bricks-on-bed, and on 

 the battens a paving of bricks touchuig each other at the 

 edges is laid, then leaves and soil, I» these and other houses 



