October 3, 1867. 3 



JODENAL OF HORTICULTOfiE AND COTTAGE GARDKNEB. 



257 



tainly kill all tbo wasps aa the cyaniJo. To save tho use of a 

 larger quantity of turpentine, a little earth should be heaped 

 aronnd the bottle's neck, and any other entrance, as sometimes 

 there is more than one opening in the same way stopped up. 

 Do this at night when all the inmates are in. — W. A. W. 



ORCHARD-HOUSES. 



Another orchard-house season is almost passed with me, 

 (or, with the exception of Walburton Admirable Poach, all the 

 good fruit which ripens without heat is gathered. 



My fruit was never of better (juality than it has been this 

 year. From the middle of .Juno to the middle of July we had 

 Cherries such as I never before tasted ; but amongst all the 

 new ones there was none to equal the Klton — when grown as 

 mine were it is a perfect sweetmeat. Then came the Apricots, 

 sacks of perfumed honey. Those who have not tasted an 

 Apricot out of a glass house have no idea what an Apricot 

 ought to be. I know I can appeal to every one who has tasted 

 mine to bear me out in this. These have been followed by 

 Peaches and Nectarines as yood or better than in former years. 

 Walburton Admirable is just ripening, as also a few of the 

 late Nectarines ; so that for three months we have revelled in 

 good fruit without the assistance of artificial heat. Having 

 many more Peaches and Nectarines than we required, I sent a 

 targe number to market, and received from y>s. to 4<. (id. a-dozon 

 for them — no bad price for unforced fruit in a provincial market. 

 As usual, Grosse Mignonne, Noblesse, and French Galande 

 have been superior to all other kinds. None of the new ones, 

 though many of them are good and valuable aa varieties, is 

 nearly equal to these old favourites. 



Amongst Nectarines, Rivers's Pine Apple is really a great 

 improvemant on Pitmaston Orange, which cannot be said, I 

 think, of his Pitmaston Seedling, which too much resembles 

 its parent. Pine Apple is not only larger but much higher 

 flavoured. For a warm Peach-house — i. f., where artiticial 

 heat is used, there is no Nectarine to be named in the same 

 day as Rivers's Victoria, a great bearer, large in size. It has 

 much more of the Nectarine flavour than any of the old 

 varieties, and no forcing will deprive it of its flavour, but in 

 this clim.ato it requires heat, and is not good in a cold house. 



In reviewing the past, I feel sure we have all made a great 

 mistake in removing soil from tho surface of pots for the pur- 

 pose of top-dressing, as it is very incorrectly called, with fresh 

 soil. How any of us who have advocated keeping Vine and 

 fruit tree borders undug and solid cimld ever have thought it 

 right to clear out 2 or a inches of soil from amongst the surface 

 roots of a pot plant I cannot think. However, we have given 

 up the practice, and now trust to real top-dressings of manure 

 and to manure water. I have tried a mixture of small chalk 

 iu my orchard-house soil, as recommended by Mr. Rivers, and 

 think I can see an advantage in its employment. — J. R. Peab- 

 SON, Cliitwell. 



NEW BOOK. 



Hearth' atid Homfsteads, a .icrirsof Pnperx on xubjects cowwrted 

 icith Agriculture. By A HAMPsiiir.E Fakiiet.. London: J. 

 Humphreys, Southampton Row, Holbom. 



This small volume deserves tho very rare character of being 

 one hundred pages of sound sense. It is written also by that 

 rare character a practical farmer, well educated, unprejudiced, 

 and having literary tastes. He considers quietly and pleasantly 

 "Education" of the labouring classes, their "Houses," and 

 their " Wages ;" and with equal ability he inquires " who the 

 fanner works for," whether he should " clip cart horses," how 

 he treats his " sheep," whether he uhould " hunt," and on 

 what land " grass rather than corn " should be grown. In 

 all these chapters, and in one on " Game and Farming," ho is 

 as equitable to the landlord as he is to the tenant and labourer : 

 and so fair and temperate are his statements and opinions, 

 that not a member of any one of those three classes could read 

 them without having his own good opinions confirmed or his 

 prejudices softened if not removed. 



We will extract a few brief passages on some of the subjects 

 we have enumerated. 



" /'.''liicnliii;! Ltihojir'i:^. — Tho poor have minds as cfti>ivhlo of im- 

 provement fts ourselves, and shoald, in common justice, have tbo 

 opportunity given them for it. 1 have often heard it urged thut tho 

 fact of being able to read takes them to the public-hoaseB to peruse the 



papers. True, a few it may ; but I uphold that, in the preseut cheap 

 state of literature, many a one will instead buy u paper to read by hlB 

 own lireside, and so he kept nvtay from tho alehouse. Instuiiee8 of this 

 have, indeed, frecjueutly fallen under my own observation umifng those 

 who had been educated. Moreover, with the continual imiirovemeats 

 that ai-e daily taking place in agriculture, and the implcmeutii connected 

 with it, we wuut mm who are capable of moviug out of the i>ld track of 

 their furefathern. Manual labour is fast becoming a tbin;^ of the past. 

 Machinery now does a great part of tho work on a farm, and tlio men 

 who are employed about it should be, at least ablo to ander-^tand in 

 some degree the principle npon which it is worked." 



" Luht'uri r^' fIuHsr:i. — If horses, cows, or pigs die, it is a certais 

 amount takeu from the tenant's pocket. If we lose a f-ood labourer, it 

 does nut appear to touch us in hard money, though perhaps it may do 

 so indirectly more than wo are aware of. Heuce the diuereuco ; for 

 tho one we take care to provide sutHcient shelter, the otller in too manj 

 instances is left to take his chance. From what is here said, it is not 

 to be inferred that 1 advocate letting tho men have houses rent free. 

 Such a plan is bad. The payment of a small annual sum gives hi"T 

 more interest in his home, and eucouriiges a greater feeling of self- 

 dcpendance. than would bo the case where he had it for no'.liing. In 

 fact, it is like evervtliing else. What costs something,' is always more 

 valued and appreciated than things that can be had without trouble or 

 expense. Many landowners will not build cottages if they can help 

 it ; but no man wanting a farm should take it vrithout ample accom- 

 modation for his men, any more than he would if there were no 



stabling for his horses We little think or kuow iiow modt 



drunkeuuess and sin bad and uncomfortable homes may cause." 



" Luhourcru' \Va'i<'^, — Would it not answer your purpose to make it 

 worth their while to stay with you instead of going off to other work ? 

 Yon must come to it, or find yourselves left another day with only tho 

 useless lumber of yonr parish to do the work : you can't blame them- 

 Look at a farm labourer's jjrospects, aud say if you would not grrt away 

 from them if yon could. What are they? Hopeless, ceaseless toil for 

 all tho best years of his life to earn a comfortable independence in old 

 age ? No, no ! either parisli allowance or the workhouse. That is it; 

 and there is no denying the fact. There it stands, plain before you, 

 in the person of that old man, bent double with age and toil, picking 

 out the last embers of his life on the parish road at a shilling a-day. 

 You complain thatthe peopletake no interest in their masters' concerns, 

 nor care about their work. Let me ask, Can you expect them to do so f 

 l*ut yourself iu their place, and say, would you care with tlmt prospect 

 to do more than yon could help when well-nigh worn out '/ Can you 

 believe that a kind and good Creator ever iutended a human being 

 should pass a life of hojjeless drudgery to attain no other object than 

 just as much parish money doled out weekly as will keep him from 

 starvation, until death mercifully comes to the rescue ? If yon can, 

 truly your faitli is great. 



"No doubt, after aU this, you ■ivill say. Show us the remedy. Well, I 

 think it is a very simple one. When you take a farm, of course yon 

 calculate the different items of reut, rates, taxes, and labour. Now just 

 calculate your labour at a rate that will enable your men to live as 

 human beings, and save a little something hesid'ea. They won't all 

 do the latter, I know, but many will ; every year more as von cducato 

 them better. And then make your offers for farms accordingly. There 

 is no occasion you shonld wring the life out of one class to put money 

 in the pockets of auother, which many of you are doing, leaving but 

 very little to stick iu your own." 



EDGINGS FOR WALKS IN PLACES WHERE 

 THERE IS NO VEGETATION. 



It will, I believe, be generally admitted, that an edging of 

 some sort is requisite in the case of all walks where appearance 

 is au object ; true, we often meet with excellent walks or path- 

 ways where there is not a vestige of. a uniform edging, as, for 

 instance, some of tho public walks through the London parks, 

 or some of those highways where the multitude cannot 

 well be restrained from walking on the margins, aud, conse- 

 quently, destroying tho boundary line. This state of things 

 has led many of the managers of such walks to adopt means to 

 keep the public from trespassing, and caused an e\il quite as 

 unsightly as that which it is sought to remedy ; for now and 

 then we find a walk with a small ditch at each side, and the 

 ground beyond this ditch guarded by cross fencing, or in some 

 other way. There are, however, some places where it is ad- 

 visable to define the portion allotted for the walk from that 

 iutended for other ptirposes, and here a kerb or other demar- 

 cation is necessary. Circumstances usually define what this 

 should be ; but there are some private places where hints on 

 such matters moy be useful. 



In the first place, I will commence with positions, in which 

 a live edging cannot exist, such as dark or shaded shrnb- 

 beries, or spots overshadowed by trees, but iu which it would be 

 desirable to defiue a walk, or what should be one, from the 

 naked earth which bounds it on each side, for the groimd must 



