December 12, 1867. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTDBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



443 



sary to make any remarks about aspect or position. I will, 

 however, observe, tliat where the I'each and Nectarine are 

 intended to be grown, and whore coals are cheap, the old- 

 fashioned mode of building walls witli flues in them may bo 

 very advantageously copied ; and when it is known that very 

 good crops of readies are often obtaiucd iu places very unin- 

 viting as to their n:itural position, the advantages of the fluo 

 ought not to be too lightly estimated. I believe I am right in 

 saying that a single tree growing against such a wall has been 

 known to produce a greater quantity of good fruit than any 

 orchard-house of potted trees occupying an area of lOOti square 

 feet. Where coals are dear the flue cannot well be adopted, 

 although I have heard it urged that a hollow wall is advan- 

 tageous. 



And now as regards the other features of garden walls. Oc- 

 casionally we find one built with projections and recesses is said 

 to be advantageous. Some such walls have projecting buttresses, 

 like pillars, standing out, perhaps, a foot from the line of the 

 wall, and placed at intervals of 30 feet or so ; and I have known 

 the coping to extend a foot, so as to give great protection, but its 

 thus preventing the trees benefiting by the rnin and dews, 

 seemed to neutralise the advantages of shelter. Some old walls 

 only 11 inches thick have been built with projections and recesses 

 of equal lengths the whole way, so that both sides of the wall 

 are alike ; only the part that is a projection on one side forms 

 a recess on the other, the difTcronce, however, being only half 

 a brick (Ij inches). Ornamental walls built in panels are also 

 not uncommon, but in many of them the only object is the 

 saving of bricks. 



There is a 15-ineh wall described as existing at the nursery 

 of Mr. Pearson, of Chilwell (see page SBli), composed of pro- 

 jections and recesses, the recesses being about a yard in depth. 

 This no doubt answers very well ; but some time ago I saw a 

 wall of similar thickness, only 1! inches, about 7 feet high, 

 which had stood for about thirty years, and did not appear in 

 the least out of order ; but instead of being built in straight 

 lines and at right angles it was a continuous snccession of seg- 

 ments of circles meeting and joining each other — in fact, ser- 

 pentine. This wall both in appearance and for utility could 

 not well bo surpassed for its height, as by its structure one part 

 held up another, as any one may test by bending a sheet of 

 paper into the same fcirra and setting it on its edge. To all 

 who may be about building a U-inch wall I would advise them 

 to do so in this way, but of course in most cases a thicker wall 

 is to be preferred ; and where it is intended to have the wall 

 more than H feet high, which all garden walls ought to be, it 

 ought either to be well strengthened by buttresses, or, which is 

 hotter, be made 11 inches thick from the bottom. With the latter 

 thickness of brickwork any reasonable height may be built. I 

 believe the fine I'each wall at Knowsley, near Ijiverpool, is !■> or 

 It'i feet high ; but 12 feet are generally high enough, except 

 when the situation and other circumstances favour the growth 

 of the fruit trees, as at the place mentioned above, where some 

 years ago it would have been diflicult to have found a bare 

 place as largo as a sheet of note paper on a wall of some 

 500 feet in length. 



Having extended this article beyond the limits originally 

 intended, some notice of the other features of a garden wall 

 must be postponed. I may, however, ask those who have had 

 a lengthened experience of the wire or wooden lattice-work 

 sometimes affixed to walls to state their opinions respecting 

 snch. My own is much less favourable now than it was thirty 

 years ago. I likewise do not see any advantage in the beaded 

 brick alluded to in the early part of this communication, which 

 bead is a sort of horseshoe-shaped moulding projecting about 

 three-quarters of an inch upon the face of the brick, there 

 being small holes perforating the beading to admit of a string or 

 wire being passed through for tying the trees. No nails or 

 wirework, it is said, need be used ; but the process of fastening 

 a tree would seem to be so tedious that I fear this kind of 

 brick cannot well be recommended. I have seen cast-iron bars 

 or plates built into a wall to allow of rods as thick as those used 

 in iron fencing being fixed, and it is certainly advisable where a 

 wirework front is intended, to build in some of the fastenings 

 as the work proceeds ; the top and bottom loops, or the end 

 ones when the wire is strained, ought to be very secure, as 

 they have all the work to do. I may, in addition, remark 

 that where a wall adjoins a plantation of vigorous-growing forest 

 trees, especial care should be taken to go deep enough tor the 

 foundation to prevent the roots finding their way underneath, 

 otherwise in all probability in a few years it will be found that 

 the health of the fruit trees will decline, and that very rapidly 



perhaps; for the Ash, Elm, or other trees will rob them of 

 nourishment. I have known more than one instance of this 

 kind. — J. RoBSox. 



TIIREK PLANTS FOR WINTER FLOWERING. 



I OFTEN see questions from your correspondents, asking for 

 good plants to flower in the greenhouse in winter. Allow me 

 to recommend two or three, which, though very beautiful, are 

 seldom seen. 



SAXiiim;A i.icuLATA. — A hardy plant, but flowering in the 

 winter ; the flowers do not come to much out of doors. In the 

 greenhouse it bears many racemes of large flowers, pure white 

 at first, but afterwards turning pink, with pink stamens. It i8 

 very useful either for nosegays or to wear in the hair. Saxi- 

 fraga ciliaris is very like it, but not quite so good, as the stalks 

 of the flowers are very short. They both flower in .January. 



Sparmamnia afkicaxa.- — A beautiful shrub, now in flower, 

 with large and rather coarse leaves, and bunches of pure white 

 flowers with golden and red stamens. Easily increased, easily 

 cultivated, and, I think, might be grown to make a good table 

 plant. 



Fuchsia Domisuxa. — Flowers in the way of Fuchsia fulgens, 

 but the flowers are of a brilliant scarlet, and the stems and 

 undersides of the leaves dark red. It is hardy, but seldom 

 perfects its flowers out of doors as they generally appear in 

 the winter. It is now in flower. — H. N. E. 



FRENCH AND ENGLISH GARDENING. 



In your columns, and in those of the Timr.s, and elsewhere, I 

 have gently corrected the inaccuracies of the " writer," as, I 

 felt it to be a duty I owed to English gardeners and gardens, 

 and I feel much gratified that I have bad the industry to write 

 on such a subject. 



I have looked over the long tiresome reiterative paragraphs 

 of "The Writee of thf. Akticle," &c. I have fiilly replied 

 to them all, and all that I have said is perfectly true. A Pear 

 tree trained against a wall horizontally, and its branches pruned 

 in summer, is a true cordon, no matter if it has ten branches ; 

 the name is good, as wo have not a word that conveys the 

 same meaning. 



I observe that " The Writer of the Article " is ashamed 

 of his remarks made in the 'J'imrs, about Knglish wall Peach 

 trees, he had need be. It is quite true that in luose borders, and 

 with careless cultivators. Peach trees on walls are failures. It 

 is to that class my remarks apply, to stir up their energies ; at 

 the same time I know well that with our skilled gardeners, the 

 finest trained Peach trees in the world are to be found. 



As to the price of fruit such as " The Writer " proses 

 about, the records of Covent Garden would show that good 

 Peaches are often sold at Is. and Is. fid. per dozen by the 

 salesmen, not in the shops, and good Pears at 'Is. lid. and 3*. 

 per bushel. With regard to Pears on Quince stocks, " The 

 Writer" may write on horticulture, but he bus evidently not 

 read much ; he must commence, to use his own term, to " pull 

 up." I could show him an English work in which the culture 

 of Pears on Quince stocks is recommended, and this upwards 

 of two hundred years since. 



There is only one paragraph out of the " dreadful drearies," 

 in pages I'il and 4'2_', worthy of my notice here, and as this may 

 convey some little instruction, and make some amends for the 

 waste of valuable space in noticing " The Writer of thk 

 Article," I beg permission to say a few more words. "W.B.", 

 I beg his pardon, " The Writer, ' went to Paris about last 

 April or May, his first visit, " dumb in French," as he ac- 

 knowledged himself to be. Now I ask what could he see of 

 winter salads, about which he expresses himself so grandly ? 

 He never saw one. This little fact stamps indeUbly the value 

 of his assertions. The winter salads of the French are Dan- 

 delion leaves, and wild Chicory, blanched in cellars ; the former 

 always bitter, the latter nearly always. The latter is called 

 Barbe dc Capucin, or the Capuchin's beard. By a little 

 stretch of imagination it may be likened to the long white 

 beard of a Capuchin monk, chopped and served with oil and 

 vinegar, for it is almost as tough. I fear that " The Writes " 

 has not had much experience in a well-managed EngUsh or 

 Irish household, or he would know their salads. My winter 

 salad, and I doubt not that of hundreds of others who know 

 what is good, is taken from my orchard-house, and consists of 

 fine firm hearts of Batavian and Curled Endive, or of the white 



