September 12, 18C7. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTOBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



191 



years old. On being interrogated as to how he came to train 

 his trees so differrntly to those of his neighbours, he very 

 promptly said that ho found the common orchard trees shaded 

 Buch a largo quantity of ground, and gave such unequal crops 

 (sometimes so abundant as to bo of no value), that ho should 

 like to grow more trees, and thus have a greater variety of 

 fruit, so as to have " more chances." This he soon found he 

 could do by pruning his trees in summer (a modification of 

 hedno-clipping), and in this manner he formed his cordon 

 Apple trees, which he has always found to bear the finest fruit ; 

 and from his being able to cultivate some ten or fifteen cordons 

 with from five to seven brandies to each tree in the area that 

 one common orchard tree would occupy, he is a large gainer. 



Many of your readers even now may probably ask. What is, 

 after all, a cordon tree ? ^Yell, it is simply a branch, or single- 

 stemmed tree with all its young shoots shortened during the 

 summer, so that it takes the form of an upright Cypress or a 

 Lombardy I'oplar in miniature. This closely pruned branch 

 bears its fruit clo.so to the stem, something after the manner 

 of our familiar "rope of onions," hence its pretty French 

 name. Those cordon trees may be trained to wires horizon- 

 tally — (an old English practice) — or in the fan shape; also on a 

 single wire close to the ground, to form an edging for borders 

 in the fruit garden. This is a modern French practice really 

 pretty and economical. The pyramidal method of training 

 fruit trees is probably French, but has been iutroiluced to our 

 gardens some thirty or forty years. This method for small 

 gardens is the most interesting and profitable of all systems of 

 training trees in the open air ; and when it is well uuderstood 

 by our intelligent artisans it will make their fruit gardens a 

 constant source of interest (leading to a refinement of manners 

 earnestly to be wished for in our working men), and our sub- 

 urban gardens fruitful and of increased interest and value to 

 their occupiers. I liave had much experience in rural life, 

 and I have always found the working man who managed his 

 garden skilfully to be a good member of society. 



The Paris correspondent of the Tiiius writes with the en- 

 thusiasm of a tyro respecting the villa gardens near Paris. He 

 seems to have forgotten the difference of climate, which owing 

 to increased sun heat there is so favourable to the production 

 of Pears and Plums on pyramidal trees, while in a large portion 

 of England and Scotland choice varieties of such fruits will 

 neither bear fruit nor ripen it in the open air. Still, if he had 

 made use of his eyes he might have seen thousands of gardens 

 in the warmer parts of England, and also in Ireland, well fur- 

 nished with pyramidal fruit trees. I know of their existence, 

 and have often witnessed the careful culture bestowed on such 

 trees by intelligont amateurs of gardening. Tliis improved 

 method of fruit-tree culture will soon be widely spread, so that 

 our most humble gardeners may enjoy the luxury of home- 

 grown fruit. I do not dispute the facts given by tlie writer in 

 the 'I'imes ; I merely wish to convey, that as far as our climate 

 will allow, we are not behind our neighbours in open-air fruit 

 culture. This truth he seems to ignore, merel3', I trust, from 

 lack of experience. 



With respect to the flavour of English fruit, it is unequalled ; 

 no country in Europe can produce its like. This seems a hardy 

 assertion, and I feel it a duty to give the reason why — It is owing 

 to our temperate climate, which does not ripen fruit too rapidly, 

 and thus prevent the development of its flavour. It is the ex- 

 treme heat of the sun in the warmer parts of the Continent 

 that makes Peaches hard and .\pricots mealy. Apples dry and 

 tasteless, und Peais large and deficient in flavour. It must not, 

 however, bo forgitten, that to obtain our fine fruit in England, 

 the trees mu^t be cultivated under very different circumstances 

 to those on the Continent. Here they must bo trained to walls, 

 or planted in structures of glass, in which they would bo 

 scorched ami suffocated if on the slopes of the Mediterranean. 

 It is the old story repeated, where Nature is liberal man is in- 

 dolent, so that mauy gardens in the fai north of the United 

 Kingdom c 'uM show a liuer collection of fruit than any garden 

 in tlie kingdom of Italy. There are but few, very few, fruit gar- 

 dens on the Continent so perfect in every respect as our first- 

 class English gardens. Hundreds, aye thousands, of such may 

 be seen, their ownership not confined as formerly to the upper 

 class, but to a large and increasing class of business men who 

 have gardening taste, and deri .e much pleasure in its cultivation. 



Glass struct'ires of enormous extent filled with the finest 

 fruit in the world, and under the most perfect cultivation, may 

 now be seen in every district favoured with a fair average 

 English climate. 



This superior culture is not, however, confined to the first- 



class gardens of the wealthy, but extends even to what may be 

 called the gardens of the people, for in almost every respectable 



village garden may bo seen the vinery for growing Grapes with- 

 out artificial heat, and the orchard-house for the culture of 

 Peaches and Apricots. These unhealed glass structuies, as a 

 rule, produce much finer fruit than that referred to in the Times 

 as being offered for sale in the markets and streets of I'aris ; 

 and as to the superior flavour of our fruit ripened slowly in 

 such houses, I have some evidence to offer. 



In tlie month of August I had the pleasure of receiving & 

 visit from the American gentleman (a great lover of fruit) who 

 had been for two months in Paris as horticultural commissioner 

 for the United States. His love for gardening prompted him to 

 visit the principal gardens on the Continent, to taste European 

 fruit, about which he had heard so much in America. I gave 

 him some Peaches, Apricots, and Nectarines, gathered from my 

 orchard-house. They have ripened slowly this cool summer, 

 and he pronounced them to be the most perfect in flavour of 

 any ho had ever tasted either in America or Europe. 



The " London Market Gardener" of the Times, in his blunt 

 patriotism has told some truths which seem unpalatable to the 

 Paris writer. He is, however, quite correct respecting the long 

 use of the cordon system in England ; but he is not so in his 

 disparagement of the single cordons. There are many modes 

 of cordon tr.tining, such us the diagonal, the vertical, Ac. ; but 

 as far as I can observe, the pet method with the Paris corre- 

 spondent is the single horizontal cordon, trained to a wire 

 near the ground. This method, owing to the sun heat reflected 

 from the surface of the soil, produces remarkably fine fruit ; but 

 in France, and in gardens with warm soils even in England, 

 Apples ripen too rapidly, so that a Ribston I'ippin becomes dry 

 and tasteless. In cool seasons and on cool sites .\pple trees 

 thus trained produce the finest of fruit ; for Pear trees in Eng- 

 land neither site nor soil can be too warm. With respect to 

 French Pears, I must beg leave to correct the Paris corre- 

 spondent of the Times. Nearly all our popular kinds of Pears 

 are of Belgian origin. They have French names it is true, bttt 

 Belgium in language is a French province, and no Belgian gar- 

 dener would give an uncouth hybrid Dutch name to a now kind 

 of Pear. 



.\s to the French Asparagus so eulogised, the valley of the 

 Seine seems highly favourable to the growth of it ; its cul- 

 ture is also skilfully man.iged ; and its flavour owing, I am 

 inclined to think, to the brighter sun of France, is very good 

 indeed. It is to be regretted that a more refined method of 

 serving it is not practised ; instead of those short, club-like white 

 sticks with green ends, the Latter only should be sent to table, 

 so that they could be eaten in a civilised manner with the fork. 



In one of the communications from the Paris correspondent 

 of the Times, French salads are alluded to as sometliing re- 

 markable. There is no doubt but that a salad of tender Lettuces 

 sprinkled with .small herbs, such as Corn Salad, &c., and served 

 with fine oil and vinaigre d'Astragon (Tarragon vinegar), as 

 usual in Paris in the superior restaurants, is of high excellence; 

 but the winter salads of Paris composed of Barbe de Capncin 

 (wild Endive), and Dandelion leaves blanched in cell.trs, are 

 bitter and most disagreeable to the English palate. 



Tiie large green bell-glasses employed by the market gar- 

 deners near Paris to such an enormous extent, should be things 

 of the past, as they are clumsy, and so liable to breakage. Our 

 modern English method of planting Lettuces and Endive for 

 winter salads, in our cheap unhealed glass-structures, in which, 

 except in severe frost, we have the mild, dry winter climate of 

 Madeira, is very far superior, for in them the gardener can 

 attend to salad culture without the least inconvenience, and if 

 needed he can efficiently protect bis choicest salads from severe 

 frost. In the months of .January, February, and March, I 

 derive all my choice salads from such houses, and owing to the 

 mild, soft temperature in which they have grown, I find them 

 most tender and succulent — far superior to the winter salads of 

 Paris. 



English gardeners owe a heavy debt to the late Sir R. Peel 

 for his judicious repeal of the duty on glass. No modern act has 

 so largely contributed to the comfort and well-doing of the 

 middle classes of England, for annually thousands of unbeated 

 gla^^s structures arc built, and when their use is more fully 

 understood by English market gardeners, Peaches, Nectarines, 

 and Apricots will be cheaper, and much superior in quality to 

 those offered in Paris. The Peaches sold cheaply in the markets 

 of France are varieties raised from Peach stones, the trees not 

 grafted. They are generally called " Piches de Vin," and are 

 gathered from standard trees planted in the vineyards to the 



