December 15, 1863. ] JOIItENAJL OF HOETICULTUKE AND ^COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day Day 



of ' of 



Mtaiib Week. 



15 

 16 

 17 

 18 

 19 

 20 

 .21 



To 

 W 

 Th 



F 



8 



Bim 



M 



DECEMBER 15-21, 1863. 



Stinking Hellebore fl. 



Ember Week. Bauer died, 184-3. 



Haller died, 1777. Bot. 



P. Miller died, 1771. Gur. 



C. M Fischer died, 1S3G. Gar. 



4 SVUDAI IN AllTENT. 



St. Thomas. Sboitest Day. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Rain In 

 I last 

 j36 years. 



Day. 

 46 3 

 45.7 

 45.8 

 44.S 

 44.5 

 ■44.0 

 43.5 



Nifht. 

 34:7 

 84..2 

 33.8 

 32.7 

 33 5 

 33 7 

 33.8 



Mean. 

 40.5 

 39.9 

 39.8 

 3S.7 

 39 

 38-9 

 411 



I Days. 



I 21 



! 10 



17 

 19 

 17 



! II 



Sun 

 RieeB. 



m. h. 

 J!af8 



3 8 



3 8 



4 8 



5 8 

 5 8 

 C 8 



Sun 

 Sets. 



m. h 

 49af3 

 49 3 



M^on 

 Rises. 



m. h. 



56 10 



20 11 



43 11 



Moon 

 Seta. 



m. h. 



4 10 



22 U 

 morn. 



39 



52 I 



4 3 



14 4 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



9 

 10 

 11 



m. 



4 

 4 

 3 

 3 



2 

 2 



1 



Dacy of 

 Year. 



849 

 350 

 351 

 352 

 358 

 .354 

 355 



From obsemati.me taken near London nuring the last ihirtv-six years, the average day teiiiperature of the week is 44.9°, and its nieht 

 temper°mre 33"° Tbe greatest heat was K\ on the 16th, 1849; and the lowest cold, 7°. on the 16th, 1853, and 191h, 1859. The greatest fall 

 of rain was 0.76 inch. 



open wails. 



PEACHES UNDER GLASS AND ON THE 

 OPEN "WALL. 



UCH interesting 

 discussion has 

 recently taken 

 place, from both 

 scientific and 

 practical points 

 ofview,concern- 

 mg tlie relative 

 merit of Peaches 

 as to colour aaid 

 ilavour when 

 grown under 

 glass, and on 

 If the eoloui- and flavour were the only 

 points to be taken into consideration in the erection of 

 orchard-houses or glass screens, the advocates of such 

 erections would certainly not lose such a great deal after 

 all by following the course preferred by those who object 

 tcglass, and contend that fruit from the open wall is the 

 best. No doubt, in some localities, and with favourable 

 autumns. Peaches from the open wall may be produced 

 liigher in both colour and flavour than others to which 

 the protection of glass has been applied. Nevertheless, 

 a question may be i-aised as to the propriety of a certain 

 class of favourably-situated cultivators laying such a 

 result down as a rule to be followed by another, and, I 

 suspect, a large class, very differently situated, and who 

 are rather inclined to question the wisdom of saying that 

 it is all moonshine to think that regular and fine crops 

 cannot be counted on for years in succession without the 

 protection of glass. To single out the results of a few 

 favoured localities, and lay them down as a iiile to be 

 relied upon by all, is not the most conclusive way of 

 establishing any theory or argument however favourable 

 the premises may be granted to be. 



What say those who are cultivating the Peach both 

 under glass and on the open walls, or those who have 

 abandoned the latter in favour of the former, in by far 

 the majority of localities in Scotland and Ireland, and in 

 many districts in England as well ? Under which of the 

 two systems have they produced the most abundant 

 crops with regularity year after year, and with least 

 anxiety and trouble i* By which of the two systems 

 have the best-flavoured fruit been produced .'' It would 

 be very interesting and instructive if all the gardeners 

 in the kingdom could be induced to hand in statistics 

 bearing upon this matter, and it would be very much 

 more decisive than any amount of argument that can be 

 advanced, favourable or unfavourable, by a few isolated 

 iudivi duals. 



Taking a survey of this district, which is one of the 

 most highly favoured to be met with in Scotland, while 

 the more immediate locality from which I write is con- 

 sidered to have a less rainfall than any other in the 

 kingdom, and it has a fine loamy sod, yet there is not a 

 No. Ifl.— ■V«i, ▼., New Simes. 



garden La it with which I am acquainted, where uad«r 

 the best management crops of Peaches can at all fee 

 counted on from the open wall. A fuU crop once in four 

 or five years is as much, if not more, than can be looked 

 for, judging from past experience. Under glass crops- 

 are plentifirl and good. In fact, the open-wall cultivation, 

 of the Peach is one of the most disheartening and un- 

 satisfactory departments of manj' good gardens which 

 are famed for other fine fruit on the open walls. 



If we travel a little further west, and enter Mid- 

 lothian, I could there point to hundreds of feet of Peach 

 walls, upon which the trees had to struggle for an ex- 

 istence, to say nothing of the quantity and quality of the 

 uncertain crops, but which after being covered with glass- 

 have luxuriated and borne crops of fruit which for quam- 

 tity, size, and quality, could never have been hoped for ; 

 and this, too, without any change whatever except their 

 being covered with a light glass screen, the soil, the 

 aspect, and the management being the very same in every 

 respect as before they were protected with glass. There 

 formerly was more of mildew, bUster, and red spider, 

 than anything else, and -now seasons pass over -without 

 the appearance of these enemies, and a fuU crop of very 

 superior fiiiit can annually be counted upon. If such be 

 the results in more favoured localities, -what must it be 

 wliere there is less sunshine, and a greater rainfall, witk 

 late spring and earher autumn frosts, and winter frosts^. 

 much more severe ? Under such circumstances it becomes 

 not a question of a degree or two in flavour and colour, 

 it is the chance of a crop at all ; nay, in some cases, the 

 very existence in a state to be tolerable of the Peaoh 

 tree, not taking into the account the immunity from 

 danger that occurs in severe winters, such as are occa- 

 sionally experienced, and which cause serious damage to 

 the young wood of the trees. In the winter of 1860-61, 

 the whole of the previous summer's growth on Peaches 

 was here cut back to the old wood, while in places where 

 the frost was some 8' or 10° more intense. Peaches under 

 the protection of glass screens escaped untouched. Such 

 exemptions from injury were probably as much owing to 

 the better- ripened state of the wood, as to the difiercnce, 

 if there were any difference, of temperature effected by a 

 glass case. Last year being one. of the wettest seasons 

 which have occurred here for a good number of years. 

 Peaches on the open walls had the most lamentable 

 struggle which it is possible to conceive. The frfli^ -w^re 

 small and flavourless, the wood was mildewed and wpak, 

 and when pruned in December it was more like op^ai^ipg 

 on Laurels than anything else, for the trees were weU clad 

 with green leaves. Under glass cases in less favoured 

 gardens, as to soil and climate, tlie crop was plentiful aad 

 fine, and the wood in fine condition ; and this season, al- 

 though our Peach wall was covered with glass last winter 

 when it was too late to be of any benefit to the trees, 

 there was nothing like a fuU crop, but the fruit produced 

 were vastly superior in size, colour, and flavour to any 

 obtained from the open walls here during the last five , 

 seasons. The trees have such wood and bloom-buds as 

 -could never have been produced without glass, while 

 No. 794.— Vol.. XXX., Oli Seed*. 



