JOURNAL OP HOETICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



395 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



MAI SI— JUNE 6, 1877. 



Average 



Temperature Dear 



London. 



Clock 

 before 

 San. 



noya! Society at 8.30 p.m. 

 Bojal Institation at S r.^. 



1 Sunday after Trinity. 



Eoyal Horticnltaral Society — Fniit and Floral Com- 

 Koyal Microscopical Society atS r.M. [mitteea at 11 a.m. 



Me&n, 

 57.1 

 57.2 

 67.0 

 56 8 

 66.9 

 68.9 



S 51 

 8 50 

 S 49 



8 20 



9 83 

 10 44 

 U 65 



From observations taken near London daring forty-three years, tho average day temperatore of the week is 69.4^ ; and its night temperatnre 



A PLEA FOR THE ORCHARD HOUSE. 



STATEMENT of Mr. T. F. Rivers was re- 

 cently quoted in the Times to the effect that 

 the damage caused by the May frosts this 

 year amounts to a national calamity. Good 

 reason had the esteemed author of the 

 "Orchard House" to call public attention to 

 the use of glass houses for insuring a crop. 

 Some cynical people may say, "Ah! nothing 

 like leather ! " but I entirely endorse the re- 

 commendation of our friend, which I believe 

 to be entirely disinterested. For some reason or other 

 I suspect that the popularity of orchard houses has been 

 somewhat on the wane. Tho frequent failures of amateurs 

 (resulting from inattention to the commonest rules for 

 orchard-house culture) have engendered distrust. Now, 

 it will never do to suppose that the mere erection of either 

 a poor man's house" or a crystal palace of Paxtonian 

 dimensions will insure a crop of fruit. 



An orchard house does not require a profundity of 

 knowledge, but it does want incessant cai-e, and especially 

 (as you hint in your issue of the 10th inst.) at the time 

 " when the aphis pest periodically visits us with the 

 advent of the young leaves." More utter ruin, I believe, 

 is caused by this than any other destructive influence, or 

 rather let me say by the apathetic toleration of this pre- 

 ventable mischief. It steals such a sudden march upon 

 the unwary, it spreads with such amazing rapidity, that 

 many a good easy-going man is hardly aware of the pest 

 until irreparable injurj' is done. I go into my friend's 

 expensive orchard house, and when I see the sickly ap- 

 pearance of the trees and that curled aspect of the leaves 

 which tells a tale of myriads of deso'ating insects, I say. 

 There is not one moment to be lost. Bring out your 

 fumigating paper that requires no blowing, and give the 

 green fly a double — aye and a treble dose of it ; it may 

 cause some of the leaves to fall, but you cannot help that, 

 you must choose the lesser evil of the two ; and even 

 after fumigation make up your mind to look over every 

 leaf to destroy any aphides which may have escaped or 

 were yet unborn until the time for syringing and pinching 

 begins. 



It would be interesting to have a record of the expe- 

 rience of those who have orchard houses during the late 

 rather trying season. Having waged a persistent and 

 successful battle with the fly I can now begin to count 

 my gains. In a house 104 feet by 14 1 have 1600 Peaches 



• The poor tcau's house referred to in described as follows ou 

 page Gs of " My Garden " by the late Mr. A. Smee : — " Another 

 glaaa structare exists at my garden which is nothlDg more than a 

 large frame so constrncted that the gardener can pet in and walk 

 along- Wo call it the poor man's house, because it is erected so 

 cheaply and answers so efi&ciently. To construct a poor man's 

 house a hole is soak in the ground 2\ feet wide and 2! feet deep, 

 and the eaitli so removed is placed at the back of the house. A 

 single glass roof is fastened over the sunk part, and ventilation 

 is provided by aboard hung upon a binge at the back. Vines 

 are planted, which yield abundance of the highest-flavoured 

 Grapes." 



No. S4I -Vol. XXXn.. K2W SeeizSi 



and Nectarines after two or three bold thinnings. This 

 is by no means a large number in proportion to the 

 space, but as Mercutio says, " 'Tis enough." The fact is, 

 that owing, I think, to the weather having been too cold 

 for the welcome incursions of bees (and I am fortunate 

 in having next door an apiarian who takes first-class 

 prizes at the Crystal Palace), the setting of the fruit has 

 been capricious. The performance of some trees has 

 belied then- promise. On some every blossom has set, 

 on others not one. On a favourite tree a particular 

 branch shows abundance of fruit, while the rest, though 

 equally healthy, are like Mother Hubbard's cupboard — 

 bare. 



The imposing feature in my house is the row of luxu- 

 riant cordons on a back wall 12 feet high, according to 

 Mr. Brcbaut's plan, except that not all the oblique trees 

 are triple cordons. I prefer the French single cordon ; 

 it is more manageable, and if any tree fails its place is 

 more readily supplied. I defy any scornful gardener 

 who hates trouble to call these "toy trees" forsooth! 

 some having as many as 1.50 fruits on them as large as 

 Walnuts, and with shoots that have already been pinched 

 to three or four leaves as large as those of the Laurel. 

 I have two rows of trees in pots. In the front row every 

 tree has a fair supply of fruit ; in the back two-thirds of 

 the trees have a nil return, but they are younger trees, 

 and they will be all the better another year for their 

 present sterility. 



I may mention that all my warming apparatus consists 

 of three lamp stoves, only used on cold nights when the 

 blossom might otherwise be injured by the frost ; also this 

 fact, that the leaves of two of my cordon trees appearing 

 yellowish, my brother, a man who eats Toadstools and 

 is of decidedly chemical propensities, asked, " Why don't 

 you dose them with a little muriatic acid'?'' So, expect- 

 ing either to kill or cure, I put about a table-spoonful of 

 that strong poison into a pail of water and soused the 

 roots of the trees affected, and their leaves now show 

 as deep a green as those of the best. 



" Prospero. But are they, Ariel, safe ? 



Ariel. Not a hair perish'd ; 



On their sustaining garments not a blemish. 



But fresher than before." 

 — H. 'W. Hodgson. 



A CHAT ABOUT ROSES. 



In your issue of May 17th I see a complaint about the 

 dearth of information respecting Queen Kosa, and asking, 

 among other causes, if the " love is growing cold ;'" or if 

 there is " nothing to write about ?" Answering for myself, 

 to the former query I say, Warmer than ever. To the ^ 

 latter, I'lenty to say, but no inclination to write, more ' 

 especially after being so unamiably " blown upon " after 

 the last general election of Hoses. The columns of " our 

 .Journal" are open to the contributions of the humblest 

 rosarian without being satirieed anonymously. 



Now to my purpose. I have long thought that many of 

 the complaints about certain old favourite Roses not doing 



No. HOC— Vol. LVII.. Old Series. 



