106 



JOUENAL OF HORTICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ Febroary 11, 1889. 



bfees owing to the condensed evaporation, together with the 

 unearthly stillness vfhich reigned, created a peculiar feeling. 

 The trees in these creeks, from the heat and moisture, are 

 covered for 30 feet in height with moss, and on placing the 

 hand npon the stem it sinks in a foot to the tree, giving a 

 cold, clammy, disagreeable sensation. 



Daring this day's journey we crossed the Acheron and Watt's 

 rivers, and a fine creek called Hungry Creek and Paradise 

 Plains. We here passed through some magnificent timbered 

 country; the trees all from 200 to 300 feet high without 

 branches, and growing at such regular intervals that one was 

 almost led to think they had been planted by the hand of man. 

 For twenty miles the timber was all of the same appearance, 

 none or very little underscrub, and the trees all of about one 

 age. We met several gangs of pack horses taking up stores. 

 These came down the hills at a rapid pace, the leaders having 

 a bell en, at the sound of which anything or person must im- 

 mediately clear from the track if possible, as there is no turn- 

 ing in it. The way the horses are taught this fatigueing work 

 is as follows : — The unbroken colts are driven into a yard and 

 thrown, a pack-saddle is placed upon them and loaded, an ex- 

 perienced horse with a bell on is started in front, and away 

 they tear as if mad, up hill and down hill, till from sheer 

 exhaustion they drop into the easy and steady pace required. 

 Sometimes in their madness they step out of the track in a 

 atecp place, roll down 300 or 400 feet, and are dashed to pieces. 

 At New Chum we arrived just in time to catch a coach for 

 Melbourne, where we arrived about midnight, after having 

 had six weeks of the moat interesting travelling we had ever 

 experienced. 



I fear the subsequent notes on hortionltnre will not be very 

 interesting to you, everything with us being so young, but we 

 are laying the foundation of magnificence, for all our streets 

 are being planted, some with Pinus insignia, some with Euca- 

 lyptus globulus, or the Blue Gum of Tasmania ; and in places, 

 according to the taste of the citizens when done by themselves, 

 generally the Wellingtonia, Deodar, or Araucaria imbricata is 

 employed. This part of the colony appears to be adapted to 

 the trees mentioned, as they make a vigorous growth and are 

 not affected by our frosts in winter. 



We have every prospect of a good crop of all kinds of fruits 

 this season ; the Cherry, Pear, and Apple trees, now (October), 

 in full blossom, are, to speak familiarly, a perfect sheet of 

 bloom, and Gooseberries are as thick as they can hang. We 

 are subject, however, to heavy hailstorms in November, and 

 these may devastate whole orchards and gardens. Last year 

 onr Pears, although set well, especially two trees of Van Mons 

 Iifion Leclerc, and William's Bon Chretien which should have 

 had 4 bushels each, bore not one ; we congratulated ourselves 

 that we had escaped the storm, but as soon as the Pears begin 

 to swell and attain weight they fell off, and on examination we 

 found that the hailstones had struck the stalk and bruised it, 

 and as the Pear increased in weight it broke the stalk oS at the 

 bruise. 



Strawberries are very difficult to manage in this country, not 

 seeming to set well. Several years ago I had a number of 

 varieties from England, and but b single plant of the whole 

 was alive on arrival ; this was Trollope's Victoria, and we took 

 every care of it, increasing it as much as possible, and it has 

 proved to be the only certain setting Strawberry we have yet 

 had. I have this season forwarded upwards of 30,000 plants to 

 various persons in the trade, the produce of that single runner. 

 The loss of the others was occasioned by packing the balls of 

 other plants with them. I have invariably found my losses 

 have been occasioned by balls of growing plants being packed 

 with dormant plants or seeds, or even with the balls of dor- 

 mant plants, as Vines, in which there is a large quantity of 

 moisture. For instance : two mails ago I received from an 

 English nurseryman a box of Conifer seeds with a dozen Pent- 

 stemons, and although packed in charcoal, the moisture from 

 the earth of the Pentstemons had damped ihf ,^yhole and de- 

 stroyed them. — James Duncan, Victoriano so sioobai t 



■'f"fti> rf.iiTfn tesLs 



;^'^,r^;THE POETABLE ORCHAED.;'^^^ ^i;; 

 SccH is the name given by my friend, Dr. Hogg, to my 

 rollection of fruit trees, grown in pots in the open air, and at 

 his request I shall try and describe at length the method of cul- 

 tivation I pursue; but as it has been entirely derived from 

 following out my most valued and esteemed instructor's hints 

 and directions, given both practically viini voce, and in his clear 

 though conoisB books—" The Orchard House" and " The Mini- 



ature Fruit Garden," Mr. Rivers must have all the credit of pro- 

 ducing for me in the cold north fruit that equals that grown in 

 more genial climates, and also of all that is original in my mode 

 of culture. And as I have been often ask'd to describe the 

 ways loading to the resuls seen here, and also as at times in 

 Thb Jiivknal or Hokticulti'iir there are notices of wants 

 that could not exist were "portablo orchards" common, I do 

 not think I shall cither be wasting time or be guilty of plagi- 

 arism in placing before the public n few articles upon the subject, 

 always promising that the two books of Mr. Rivers are sup- 

 posed to be in tho hands of my readers. 



The advantages of tho treatment about to he described are 

 twofold ; first, in obtaining fniit of the highest quality without 

 glass in exposed, or cold, or damp climates ; and, secondly, in 

 having the power of removing the trees at any time— a matter 

 of no small importance to tenants at will, or for life, like myself 

 and brother parsons. I may also add that the experiment has 

 been tried here on a sulHciently large scale to enable me to speak 

 of tho results with reasonable confidence ; no hasty inductions 

 from small-sealo experiments are of value in tho eyes of either 

 philosopher or practical gardener, and as 1 have hot walls, hot 

 borders, and good heated and unhealed houses, I can fairly judge 

 of the results of growing trees in pots without any protection 

 whatever; at the same lime I should advise the use of cheap 

 protectors when the orchard i^ a small one, but when the trees 

 are reckoned hy the thousand the use of protectors is out of the 

 question for men of moderate means. 



'I'hc general desoiiption of the system is very simplo, as it 

 consists of growing the trees in pots perforated all over to enable 

 the roots to spread outside freely when the pots are plunged in 

 the ground, and then in piling them like cannon balls from 

 October to April, merely coping the pile with planks or sods to 

 throw tho wet off, for the great enemy to successful fruit grow- 

 ing in this coimtry is cold with wet; well-ripened wood takes 

 no harm from any amount of frost provided it bo dry, and I 

 beUevo nearly the same may be said of the roots. Another 

 cause of the success of tho method is the power of retarding the 

 blossoming season ; for tho trees become so perfectly dormant 

 from ahseniw of water at tho roots, that very little growth is 

 visible till the pots are plimged, and watered if need be; but 

 then tho growth is rapid, and realises the description of Siberian 

 springs. As in many other things, new ideas iu gardening often 

 occur to several minds much about the same time — and whether 

 in such oases as this one poraon or another hits upon the notion 

 first is of very littlo consequence — I had not heard of the plan 

 of using perforated pots for plunging in the ground, and at first 

 I used snmo Urchid pots, but I iound my old friend, Mr. Rivers, 

 had anticipated me, and was using them in large quantities, but 

 only of small sixes, and was not pre pared to find my trees so 

 large, 10 feet high heing no uncommon size here. 



1 trust before long to get the cottagers of our district to take 

 up this method of cultivation, a.s a recreation that will at any 

 rate repay tho time and labour spent upon it, and I cannot but 

 think that anytliing which brings pastor and flock into direct 

 intercourse, without the official harrier to seeing what each reaUy 

 is, will prove of great scrvito'. to both; such high cultivation 

 requires the bitter-informed mind to direct, but the carrying out 

 of details is simple and within the power of any peasant. The 

 man, »f all others, of my acquaintance who was most respected 

 by his llock, and who effected the greatest improvement amongst 

 a wild set of niouniaineera, was a most scientific farmer, and he 

 carried on a set of agricultural experiments simply for tho small 

 farmers who loimeil the great bu'k of his parishioners ; but then 

 he had a private fortune, and, above all, thoroughly knew his 

 subject, ami was easily able to convince his agricultural neigh- 

 bours that ho was very much better informed than they were. 

 Had he tried farming in the way that most parsons would 

 have to begin, ho woulJ luxvo been prettj' sure to have gained 

 their contempt ; and so in all worldly pursuits, the parson must 

 either at onco pay little attention to them, or else take care to 

 be so far ahead of the general public as to be of decided use to 

 those around him. Now, fruit culture is just one of those 

 things that an educated man can learn easily and well, and at 

 a very trifling cost, either of time or money, and in country 

 p.irishcs it is surc^ to be a matter of interest, and I should be 

 glad to sec the clergy generally better informed regarding it. 1 

 can see many other classes to whom such knowledge would be a 

 real benefit, and therefore I hope what I am about to write will 

 not be worthless, though it is the teaching of an amateur, and I 

 have in general a very poor opinion of all amateur work. 



The first thing to. be prccared is the fruit tree, and the next 

 the pot iu whuh it is to bo grown. When I first came here I 



