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JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



r October 24, 1867. 



grown, so as to retaiua cortaiu place bytbe side of juicy Pears and 

 ripened Grapes without mucli discredit. Still, the true well- 

 wisher of the Peach would do well to hesitate before he essay 

 too rude a competition with the other seasonable treasures of 

 the fruit garden. Only a very few Peaches, and these of one or 

 two well-tried sorts, should be grown in October. As I write 

 there are before me several such. The best of these by far is 

 the Comet Peach. From one bush tree in a pot I gathered 

 three fine dishes, many fruits being 91 inches round, and well 

 coloured, abundant in juice, and having a rich Apricot flavour 

 — surprising considering our damp and sunless summer here. 

 Another of Mr. Eivers's seedlings, named Golden Eoyal George, 

 raised from Eoyal George, but very different, is an excellent 

 late variety, coming in before the Comet. Admirable Jaune is 

 a well-known autumnal Peach in France, and ripens well here 

 during the month of September. I should think that in many 

 English houses it would become a showy early October sort. 



I am partial to Clingstones, those productions of more sunny 

 lands, and so sweet, yet as hard as Apples when ripe quite 

 through. One variety I have, wrongly named, but it is im- 

 mense, showy, and excellent. Mitchell's Mammoth is another 

 " cling," as the Americans say, and is prolific, and a good very 

 late Peach — too late for general culture. 



Of well-known late Peaches I can only say that Teton de 

 Venus cannot be ripened in these islands from the open wall — 

 that is, to be depended on, though some fifty years ago it was 

 well known here. I was compelled to destroy it on the wall, 

 and in the orchard-house it was worthless. So are Desse 

 Tardive, which I have still, and Chancellor, a miserable Peach. 

 Barrington and Late Admirable, however, succeed well under 

 glass. Walburton Admirable I found too shy a bearer to be of 

 use ; and now such Peaches as Princess of Wales and Lord 

 Palmerston are very much liner aud more profitable, so that 

 the older sorts are not missed. 



Of Nectarines our latest was the Stanwick. This hangs 

 fairly, but always has cracked here. Stanwick Seedling (Eivers), 

 has not this defect. It is earlier and smaller, but has the 

 true aroma, and I like it very much. Stanwick was really 

 superb this season, as large as fl^ inches round, not well 

 coloured, but juicy and rich. The Victoria was also very large 

 and good, highly coloured, and showy. I confess to a weakness 

 for colour in fruit — by which, however, is not meant a " peoples' 

 Peach " colour, which, though fine, is not superior to if it 

 even equals the gorgeous hues of the orange and maroon- 

 striped fruits. Very late Nectarines of fair quality are yet to 

 •be desired. Peterborough is not worth growing. 



So much for the late fruit. As to the early varieties, now so 

 ■numerous and good, it is almost impossible to speak, except at 

 too great length. Let me, however, mention some of the most 

 striking aud valuable. Here let me recommend amateurs to 

 increase their stock of early kinds rather than of late ones. 

 It is obvious that earliness is a precious quality, and these will 

 never fail to be acceptable ; while, as I said before, a late 

 Peach, however well grown, has a sore trial to undergo when 

 Grapes and Pears are in good season. Some of the gorgeous 

 highly coloured Pears exhibited in Paris would tempt us far 

 more than pale late Peaches as we must grow them. Not that 

 Pears do not succeed admirably in orchard-houses. Those who 

 like this fine fruit, or have abundance of room, can have Pears 

 from potted trees in perfection, as also Plums, but in either 

 case it is best to have these in houses apart. One great mis- 

 take in orchard-house culture has been the attempting to grow 

 almost everything in the same house. For some time this 

 plan may succeed, and, in certain cases, even tolerably well ; 

 l)ut_ the better way by far is to keep Peaches and Nectarines 

 entirely by themselves. Of course this is not always easy to 

 do ; but now let us return to early Peaches. 



Early York Peach will long remain a favourite sort. It 

 ripens freely, bears well, and colours well. The flavour is 

 always to be depended on. Here, this season, the fruit attained 

 nearly 'J inches round, a huge size for an early Peach. Early 

 Silver is quite equal to Early York in these properties, and per- 

 fectly distinct in colour and flavour. It is a great advance. 

 Early Grosse Mignonne is a good old sort, and so is Chevreuse 

 native. Canary, an old favourite, did not quite reach my 

 standard these two seasons, but may next year. Golden Purple 

 has not retained its merits. Souvenir de Java ripens " second 

 early," and is very promising. It is quite new, and was pre- 

 sented to me by Mr. Eivers to report on. The newest sorts of 

 all, which ripened at Sawbridgeworth in .July, will fruit here 

 next season for the first time, and will, I expect, form a new 

 .era in our cultivation. I hope to have these sorts ripe by the 



end of June without fire heat, and if they are of good size they 

 will be of great value for Covent Garden. We send up from 

 the middle of July, at present, in fair quantities. The midseason 

 sorts are not remunerative enough, nor are the late ones. The 

 produce was about 14U0 this season, all fine, having been very 

 much thinned ; many trees being young, or of new sorts, not 

 bearing at all. Out-door Peaches are valueless to us. As I 

 always thin very much, the occasional reports of immense crops 

 elsewhere are readily gauged at their proper value. One fine 

 specimen is worth, commercially and artistically, a host of 

 mediocrities. Early Albert is a fine Peach, ripening two days 

 after Early Silver. Crawford's Early is a little later. Hunt's 

 Tawny has always been our earliest Nectarine. Its average 

 time of ripening for the last six years has been the 28th of 

 July. I must omit the midseason varieties now. 



The crop in general was fair, but the flavour was slightly 

 inferior. The same is the case, as far as I can learn, in Eng- 

 land, and is due to our humid and cloudy summer. We had 

 fewer insects, but more mildew on the glandless Peaches than 

 usual, both in the houses and on the open wall. Vines in 

 houses facing east suffered also more from mildew than usual. 

 I have seen none in houses with a full south aspect. On the 

 open wall there was some red spider, but little in the houses, 

 and the foliage in them was never so fine. Abundance of water 

 was given at the roots, but less syringing over the leaves during 

 such damp weather. The fruit was never before so large on 

 thewhole. Noaphides. There is alittle scale just now, proceed- 

 ing from some pernicious Orange trees in pots, but this will be 

 cured shortly. 



On a single day during the height of the season, twelve or 

 fifteen varieties of Peaches and ten of Nectarines were ripe 

 together, formiug rare dishes of fruit. This is one triumph of 

 the orchard-house, and no mean one whenever a display is 

 required. On another occasion, for some local ceremony, a 

 basket of Exquisite and other similar large sorts had the place 

 of honour, luiigo inlervallo. I remember a dish composed thus 

 — Stanwick, pale smooth green skin, slashed with pink ; Comet, 

 dark apricot ground with maroon streaks ; Shanghae, pale 

 ground with lake dots ; Seedling Peach No. 10 (Eivers, and un- 

 named), immense, pale ground with mottled carmine dots; a 

 Peach unknown, deep orange, with broad stripes of reddish 

 lake ; and Colombia, yellow ground, with dull lake stripes all 

 round, an orange nipple, most quaint, and with such long 

 downy hairs as to give it a Plum-like look. This was indeed 

 an artistical combination in colour, when enshrined in pale 

 young Vine leaves. Could we have obtained a little of that 

 precious sunshine which reddens the fruit of mid-France it 

 would have been far more glorious. We do very well as it is ; 

 nevertheless, I for one rather envy our neighbours this privi- 

 lege. — T. Bkehaut. 



EOSES CELINE FOEESTIER AND 

 MADEMOISELLE APJSTIDE. 



I .SHOULD feel greatly obliged by advice as to the manage- 

 ment of a Celine Forestier Eose. It was planted in the 

 autumn of 18C.5, against a wall with a south-east aspect. The 

 soil in which it was planted was a stiff' loam with a clay sub- 

 soil, the loam being enriched with decayed cowdung. The 

 Eose has had manure waterings — namely, the drainage from the 

 stable diluted with water, and the result is, it has made plenty 

 of wood which has been nailed to the wall, covering a good 

 space. AH the weak-growing foreright shoots were cut-in to 

 three or four good buds. This year the shoots from them are 

 from 3 to 4 feet long and much mildewed, and we have had a 

 few ragged and very thin flowers. It is budded on a half- 

 standard Briar stock. The situation is shaded from the sun by 

 the house after 2 p.m., but very open. — W. B. 



[Celine Forestier and MJUe. Aristide (the same, I believe, 

 as Madame Schultz), are two of the hardiest and strongest- 

 growing Tea-scented Noisettes known. Neither of them, as a 

 rule, shows a disposition to flower abundantly till it has been 

 planted two or three years, and has made much matured wood. 

 Tea-scented Noisettes (these two less than others), do not like 

 much cutting. As " W. B." has heavy soil, and has highly ma- 

 nured his ground with decayed cowdung, I advise him to keep 

 his knife quiet as regards the tree, to withhold all manure, at 

 any rate till after buds are formed, to rool-pruno moderately, 

 and to mix an abundance of coal ashes with the soil around 

 the roots. If this treatment be pursued and fail, there can be 

 only one other cause of failure — pamely, a want of free-draiasge. 



