September 25, 1878. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



231 



Pear 6 feet apart, and not one -which is not bearing a good 

 crop of remarkably fine fruit. Beurrt' Hardy is nothing be- 

 hind it, the fruit clean, and considering the crop the trees are 

 bearing, of good size. Next comes Beurrc Diel ; a portion of 

 these trees were removed last year, and those that have not 

 been removed are carrying the largest and best crop. Gansel's 

 Bergamot, double-grafted, is bearing freely, and twenty trees of 

 Doyenne du Comice are bearing a large crop of very iiue fruit. 

 This variety can be highly recommended. Conseiller de la 

 Cour is not at all a free-bearing sort with me. With Mr. Green 

 the trees are producing abundantly, and the fruit is very fine. 

 I have also seen this variety very good with Mr. Barron at 

 Chiswick. It is a Pear of most delicious flavour. There is a 

 row of about fifty trees of Bezi Mai, this never becomes melt- 

 ing ; it has been headed back and regrafted with such sorts as 

 Dunmore, Zephirin Grfigoire. Bergamotte d'Esperen, Marie 

 Louise d'Dccle, &c., all of which are doing very well on it. 

 The last-named sort succeeds well on the Quince, and is a free 

 bearer ; the fruit is covered with brown russet, and is of very 

 good flavour. Marie Louise will not thrive on the Quince. 

 Beurrfi d'Anjou I had not seen before, but it is thought highly 

 of by Mr. Green ; it is a good-keeping Pear, of large size, and 

 the flavour is excellent. Duraudeau or De Tongres on the 

 Quince is loaded with fine large fruit, but on the Pear stock it 

 is very poor. Souvenir du Congres is a new Pear, but one 

 that I fancy will yet be grown to a large extent. I have it 

 double-worked, and so it is here. The tree has a fine crop of 

 large showj' fruit. 



Plums have been fine, but owing to the wet weather many 

 have cracked and are spoiled. All had been gathered except 

 Autumn Compute, which had a moderate crop of fruit on it. 

 Mr. Green spoke highly of Guthrie's Late Gage. It is now 

 ripe in the garden at Loxford Hall, and I can freely corroborate 

 Mr. Green's good opinion of it. It is one of the very best 

 Gages for a pj-ramid. — J. Douglas. 



THE MADEESPIELD COUET VINE. 

 I TRIED two experiments last year to prevent the berries of 

 this splendid Grape from splitting. These Vines are in two 

 large tubs. The rods, 10 feet in length, were stout and well 

 ripened. At the end of one I inarched a Black Hamburgh, the 

 effect of which has been to cause all the oval berries to become 

 perfectly round on all the twelve bunches, two berries on 

 one bunch alone preserving the oblong form. The Vine on 

 which the Muscadine was inarched has ten bunches ; very few 

 of the berries have split. This inarching was only halt way 

 np the rod. The Black Hamburgh and Muscadine are still in 

 pots, and I suppose it wiU be advisable not to cut them off 

 from the Muscadines. The seed of the round Grape I shall 

 preserve. What does Mr. Elvers say to this plan of changing 

 oval berries into round ones? The experiment can be tried 

 at once on any sorts where there is an oval and a round Grape 

 growing near. The lateral at the end of each rod should be 

 preserved, and when the wood is ripe inarched. It would be 

 curious to watch the effects of inarching different sorts. — 

 Obsebver. 



COPINGS FOR WALLS.— No. 1. 



I SHocLD think that after years of experience and the advice 

 of practical men there are not now two opinions existing upon 

 the necessity of furnishing a garden wall with a suitable 

 coping. \ wall exposed as it is to all the vicissitudes of 

 weather needs a coping (juite as much as a house requires a 

 roof, in order to throw off the water that falls on the top, and 

 to protect the interior from the action of frost. A coping is 

 in this sense very important, but when it also affords protec- 

 tion to the trees growing on the face of the wall it becomes of 

 the greatest importance. 



To accomplish either object a coping should project to some 

 extent on each side of the wall, but as to how far this projec- 

 tion should extend I believe there exists some difference of 

 opinion. I consider that if a permanent coping, such as I am 

 alluding to, has a projection of from H to G inches, according 

 to the height of the wall, it is sufficient for the general pro- 

 tection and weU-being of the trees ; but in the spring, when 

 the trees are breaking into growth, and their bloom buds ex- 

 pand, I agree with the common custom of adding a temporary 

 coping of wood a foot or more in width, to remain over the 

 trees till the season is well advanced or the weather has be- 

 Cvinj somewhat settled; for, as is well known, the Peach tree 



with a coping 



is a tender subject, and both the wood and foliage, as well as 

 the fruit, are Uable to injury from the changeable weather 

 that generally prevails np to the turn of the days. I there- 

 fore do not withdraw my coping-boards till that time, and for 

 the above reasons I suggest that others should try the same 

 plan instead of taking them down when a crop of fruit is set. 

 I fancy my readers will say that if the Peach tree is so tender, 

 why not put the coping-boai'ds over them in winter ? To this 

 I would say that I think no harm can arise from it, but there 

 is a possibility, and even probability, of an advantage, and it 

 is not difficult to perform. I think, however, I have said 

 enough to convince anyone of the utility of a projecting 

 coping to a wall, and wUl therefore give a few illustrations and 

 descriptions of forms of coping in use in different parts of 

 the country. 



Ficj. 1 represents a wall 11 inches wide, 

 18 inches wide and 6 inches high in the 

 centre, reduced to about an inch in thick- 

 ness at the edges. It has a projection of 

 only 2 inches on each side, which I think 

 is not enough ; 3 inches on each side would 

 be more effectual in shielding the trees 

 from wet. If the wall were 18 inches wide 

 instead of 14 inches I would extend the projection even 

 another inch on each side, particularly if the wall were 10 or 

 12 feet high. 



Fig. 2 is another coping of a similar 

 shape and width, but is only 4 inches high 

 in the centre, having the some projection 

 on each side as in Jiij. 1, but the thickness 

 at the edges is not more than three-quarters 

 of an inch. This coping is very suitable 

 for a wall from 8 to 10 feet high. 



Fig. 3 is quite a different form of coiling, being made or 

 shaped to convey the most of the water to one side of the 

 wall ; it is a very useful form for those who 

 have a fancy for it, and think that it is 

 likely to prove effectual or more advantage- 

 ous than the preceding ones ; I am, however, 

 by no means certain that it would be so. 

 It is of the same width as the preceding 

 forms, but is 4 inches thick on one side, reduced to 3 inches 

 on the other, and projects from the wall to the same distance. 



Fig. 4 is the dish form of coping, being shaped so as to 

 convey the water along the centre by a groove 1 inch deep, 

 and about IHn width. The thickness of 

 the coping at the outsides is 4 inches, re- 

 duced to 3 or a little less in the centre 

 without the groove. The water running 

 down this groove must, of course, be con- 

 veyed to the ground through a spout 

 similar to that from ihe roof of a build- 

 ing, but it need not be so large. I like this form of coping 

 very much, and am inclined to think it as good as, if not 

 better, than the rest, because it would do away with most of 

 the drip from each side of the wall. 



On referring to figs. 1 and 2 there will be seen a little groova 

 under the part that projects from the wall, and also on one 

 side of fig. 3 ; these grooves are very essential to all projected 

 copings, for the purpose of preventing the water from running 

 down the wall. — TnouAs Eecokd. 



Fig. 3. 



CULTUEE OP THE YAM IN ENGLAND. 



Wk have been doing well for two or three years in cultivat- 

 ing and acclimatising the Yam. With the sad prospect of the 

 Potato crop this is doubly interesting. We will with pleasure 

 send to any gentleman or gardener who may send his address 

 on a stamped envelope (as long as the supply remains), half a 

 dozen bulbs. They are only peppercorn and pea size, but the 

 plant becomes of 20 or 30 feet. — The Gabdeneb, Egremont 

 Loiigc, Brighton. 



[We do not know which species of Dioscorea it is that has 

 done well at Brighton. One species from .Japan is probably 

 aa hardy as tho Potato, and two natives of North America 

 certainly are, but whether profitably cultivable remains to be 

 proved. — Eds.J 



Laboe CoctjMBEE LEAVES. — Ouo of my Cucumber plants, 

 Cox's Volunteer, has leaves on it 20 inches across, and a fruit 

 28 inches long and 7 inches round, which has not yet done 



