JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTTJBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 30, 1870. 



454 



them with guano water, taking care to guard againBt the effects 



° f 4 dft W P h°en 'thVfft 6 * have done flowering and the weather 



becomes mild and open, turn them out of the pots into a bed 



of rich free soil in a sunny part of the garden. Am „ oM 



5 Never let the plants suffer from the effects of drought, 



but 'keep them constantly watered. n . ■„ 



6, Take up, repot, and house the plants early in October 



To all caring for flowers in winter, and who have not yet 



included a few'plants of this lovely Cyclamen in their coUe* 



tions I would say, By aU means grow some, for it possesses all 



the necessary qualifications to render it ft general fajounte ; 



should command, it continues to flourish for many years. 

 Edwabd Luckhurst, Egerton House Gardens, Kent. 



PEACH FAILURES. 



I see no reason, but the contrary, to alter my ideas stated 

 last summer, about Peach failures, and as the matter is ever 

 new, and not without importance in the case of orchard houses, 

 the following remarkB are now added. 



Last sp ring was notorious for continuous and heavy down- 

 falls o rain while the Peach was in bloom. What more natural 

 hen han to ascribe the failure of the out-door crop to the 

 p^ey mechanical cause of the pollen being washed away so 

 tbatthe fruit could not set, except where, from the aspect of 

 the wall, from a deep coping, or from some sound and steady 

 use of protectors, a crop was secured? The spring of this 

 vear has been very dry indeed, and we have, as far as I have 

 Len, a very fair crop. Why, then, seek for causes of failure 

 fn unripe shoots (as if unripe wood could ever bear ! , in cold 

 or damp, or in other such things ? Dry cold does no hurt the 

 Peach if the tree is sound. Who would deliberately syringe 

 his Peach trees when they were in full bloom as violently as 

 we do to shake off red spider ? Seeing, then, that the aspec 

 of the spring of this year helps to confirm my opinion, I still 



^Inthe'case of orchard-house trees.it is evident that some 

 other causes of failure were to be sought; and these-so it 

 seemed to me then, and does still, for a reason presently to be 

 Ed-were not doubtful. They were, first, the excessive 

 overcropping practised by amateurs eager to secure substantia 

 results for their first outlay, or by gardeners where a great 

 demand was unexpectedly made to supply the owner s table. 

 Besides this, there was the overcrowding of houses by amateurs 

 desirous of obtaining something of every description, or by 

 others when compelled to fill their orchard houses with reeking 

 Sag P^nts, early crops, bulbs, shading Vines ; aU producing 

 a fatal and seething atmosphere, which glues the pollen of the 

 Peach and prevents its dispersion. Of course, in various 

 fnstances such causes of failure were not all «n^«^ 

 coexistent, and in others but little apparent. SW1 1 thought 

 then, and do so still, that to these, even more than to the un- 

 usually low temperature, was due the minimum crop of last 



y6 What confirms me in my opinion is this : I have been un- 

 avoidably absent during the whole of April May, and part o^ 

 June The houses were left to servants who have been with 

 me for years, and knew my ideas, being also guided by urgent 

 written orders ; but on my return I found the trees burdened 

 bv a prodigious crop, which has excited the admiration oi 

 visitors and the public in general, and been, I hear, considered 

 Thou! what such petted favourites of mine should produce 

 every fair year. Nothing, indeed, reuia.kable even after he 

 very heavy-so, ignorantly I thought-crop of la* .year, when 

 about GO feet by 15 produced 2000 fine fruit, 1500 being well 

 sold in Covent Garden. But this year there were about 41 00 

 left being rather a nice crop! At this time some of the 

 Peaches were nearly 2 inches long, and had to be torn down at 

 that size, being often at about 3 inches interval Joined to 

 this, there was a forest of gross shoots from the standard 

 border trees (for the cordons are not addicted to such rampau 

 luxuriance), excluding sun and air. These had to be shortened 

 as we trim a hedge, not with the delicate hand-pruning re- 

 quired for orchard houses. Now, if popular opinion is that 

 orehard-honse trees should bear "by the peck, and that less 

 is a waste of time and money, then 1 am entirely of a different 

 mind. My private judgment is that two seasons of such over- 

 cropping and neglect of pruning would rum for ever any 

 orchard house. The trees mu.t be enfeebled by the excessive 

 demand on their vitality ; even this tardy thinning barely 



rescues them. As to the quality of the fruit, that is what the 

 nonular mind least thinks of. 



As regards what a tree wiU do-say for ten seasons running, 

 let us take Early York. Well, to have well-coloured Peaches 

 of 81 inohes in circumference, you muBt have a vigorous 

 See, well pruned and tended, so that the fruit may be at 

 9 inches interval, and but few at 20 inches from the soil. But 

 think what a fair standard or a long 25-feet cordon with 2 feet 

 width will produce at this rate. You must remove, in general 

 nearly two-thirds of the crop to reach this-that is, if your 

 tree has set its blooms properly, otherwise no colour; and 

 a™ who has sold for years at Covent Garden before out- 

 door fruit comes in, knows what a test this is and that without 

 large, weU-coloured, and rich-looking fruit little profit can be 

 made. In short, it must be fit for any table or occasion. Two 

 seasons of overcropping, as I said, and adieu to all future 

 chance The trees P become enfeebled, and an unusually .tow 

 temperature during the blooming season is too trying for them. 

 WHhw "watered 8 spring crops in the borders, and thriving 

 bedding plants everywhere, so as to produce a stagnant night at- 

 mosphere there is little hope for the Peach Vines are also 

 much out' ofplace ; one would really think that there was too 

 much sun heat in our climate. 



On this head of climate let me here say, that after three 

 weeks of a tropical sun at Oxford, on returning here I found 

 The t mperatur P e nearly 20' lower, and could not help , thmkmg 

 how much they who ascribe so many advantages to the Channel 

 Isllnds are mistaken, and how they underrate our difficulties 

 in fruit culture. The fact is, we gain during the nights by the 

 eouable temperature, which allows of our giving air freely, and 

 causes UtUe P check but, then, we must be on our guard 

 TJSZt sudden squalls of wind. I think I could manage an 

 oXrd house i^ the neighbourhood of Oxford, with quite as 

 good resuHs as here. While in London I went down to Chis- 

 lick in April and found the heat greater there than in 

 Guern ev a b right sun and a pure light breeze ventilating 

 nerfectlv the orchard houses, of the details of which I made 

 con tons notes and which I much liked, as well as Mr Barron, 

 their clever superintendent. It would be a pity if they were 

 not well kept up, as at present, and I recommend visitors to 

 see them.— Th. C. Brehadt. 



COPROSMA BAUERIANA VARIEGATA. 

 It rrmv be asked by many, " What shall we add to our 

 stock Toedding out pLts for next year ? I reply, Coprosma 

 Baueriana variegata if you wish for a bushy, compact plant, 

 wUh Zieratesfzed, glo'ssy, obovate leaves, green in .the centre 

 and having a broad white marginal variegation which in the 

 voung s ate of the leaf is creamy yellow. It withstands ram 

 mT and drought better than many of the silver-margined 

 P largoniums, ind besides being very handsome i ,.s much 

 hardier than many bedding-out plants. It will, no doubt, 

 v^ove almost if not quite, hardy ; at least, it may be wintered 

 P » I , 7™ e care and as easily as Calceolarias. I have no 

 d ubt tm^bHinteredsafel/in a cold pit with mats .over 

 the lights in severe weather. It is very ornamental eithei for 

 bedding or ™s a pot plant for the greenhouse, easy of .propaga- 

 tion i and culture, and succeeds under the same conditions as 

 "ZmSl'^of the Coprosma as a bedding plant last 

 season I can recommend it to those who have not yet added 

 t their collections, and flioee "V» h 7" ^ £ch« 

 hpar out mv remarks. It attains a height of 10 or 12 inches, 

 and is as much in diameter, is not straggling, and keeps its 

 foliage well needing no training beyond taking out the point 

 of a few i "regular shouts. In order to have good bushy plants 

 Inning must be commenced early. A plant struck in Angus 

 or Sentembe should have its point taken out at the second or 

 or bbptemDer buo u r branch close to the ground, 



stopping, the number of shoots maybe increased by ■further 

 s toon ng at the third or fourth pair of leaves. The second 

 stoppng is qu.te sufficient for forming a neat, compact plant, 

 thfl .dant itself being naturally compact-growing. 

 ' ThU Coprosma maybe used in the llower garden any time 

 after the middle of May, and for the same purposes as the 

 slver margined i'elar^oniums and other white-vanegated bed- 

 eilver-niarfeineo. 5 adsanta ge as a centre to a bed, 



ha D vIn^r[;oad U bana Se o e f Iresine LnJeni round it, edged with 

 I E t?S 5 E h^ t: joints and the growing point .ill strike 



