March H, 1BC9. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTlIiiE AND COTTAGE CAItDENER. 



1V7 



This (le30ription leminJa mo of oioh*rj-home Apricots, whioli > 

 when tboir sUias are shrivoUeJ, are the most delicious of fruits- 

 — Pehsica. 



IXoiurjN Peaches. — In vol. i. of the samo worl:, ifr. 



Dilkogivoa the Morraons' opinion of our Peaches. By tho way, 

 I think it quite probable that but few of the " brethren " 

 ever tasted a Pe.ich in Eiif-laud. Ho says that tho Peaiihes 

 fathered from stamlard trees from Mormon gardens, were so 

 mellow, that their flavour would reduce our English gar- 

 deners to despair. Moreover, his Mn-mon friends said that 

 our English Peaches ripened against walls wore roasted on one 

 side and frozen on tho other. Mr. Dilke shouM have tasted 

 some well-ripened Poaches from an orchard house before ho 

 wrote about " mellow Peaches." — PEnsicA. 



GARDENING IN THE WEST.— No. 7. 



A pn.isE of American clim.%te, which appeared to be inexpli- 

 cable on any previously known meteorological principle, seems 

 to be explained very cumplotuly by Professor Tyndall's demon- 

 Btrations of the power of humid air in opposing tho radiation 

 of heat from the surfaces of our fields and gardens. 1 refer to 

 tho extreme variations between day and night temperatures 

 which prevail im the dry pndries aud on the dry elevated valleys 

 of the Alleghany range of mountains. The plateaus of these 

 valleys are from 200 to -lOO feet above the levels of the larger 

 streams, and as much below the summits of the enclosiug 

 mountain ridges. Killing frosts sometimes occur on them as 

 late as June and as early as August. Tho June frosts are fatal 

 to fruit, and crip[)ling to wood growth of all kinds and to 

 Clover ; and if tljey occur when the heads of Wheat or Rye 

 have just issued from their sheathe they leave what is, perhaps, 

 a luxuriant-looking crop of straw, yet with so little grain as 

 not to be worth harvestiug. 



When August frosts occur they are not less disaf trons. In 

 a single night the beautiful fields of Indian Corn, and of Pump- 

 kins and Potatoes, and the principal crops of the gardens — 

 Tomatoes and Beans (Hitricot.-), are scalded to death, aud re- 

 main grey and ghastly through the autumn — sad evidence of 

 the cruel visitation. 



Along the streams and near them, where we should naturally 

 expect greater cold, such very untimely frosts scarcely ever 

 cccur, aud but seldom on the slopes of the mountains ; doubt- 

 less beo.iuso the air is charged with aqueous vapour, while over 

 the dry valleys it is pervious and absorbent, greatly robbing 

 the unsheltered earth of its precious heat. 



These valleys have a floor of limestone, an accient deposit 

 upon the motamorphic rocks (pre-Silurianj, a mile or there- 

 abouts in thickness. In some v.'oudrous convulsions this enor- 

 mous bed has been broken up and tilted in vast cakes of fre- 

 quently many miles in length, aud often two or threo miles in 

 breadth. The innumerable slate-leaves of the rock are shaken 

 and difjointed by tho upheavals and sinkings. Into these 

 fissures all surface water, and the rills from the mountain sides, 

 descend and disappear, flowing along between the leaves of 

 rook, until here and there the accumulation of water bursts 

 forth in full-grown streams often 20 feet wide, and ou their 

 banks meadows aud bushy-tree foliage begin to appear. 



The soil above these grand natural systems of drainage is a 

 Strong healthy loam very productive of grain ; and as the ad- 

 jacent mountains supply wood abundantly, tho valley lands are 

 almost entirely cleared of trees; and this denuded wind-swept 

 surface and absence of surface water explain the lack of vapour 

 in the air above, and the consequent exhaustive radiation of 

 heat. For a long time those lamls, which are now among the 

 most valued grain-producing regions in tho States, were passed 

 by as worthless. The want of springs, and the pinched stui;ted 

 appearance of the native growth of trees, caused the term 

 " barrens " to be used as the general name of such districts. 



These dry hright-akied districts are probably tho most trying 

 of all to the gardener who has been accustomed to a humid 

 sheltering sky and to moderate vicissitudes of temperature; 

 yet it is in such districts that his aid aud skill are especially 

 needed. There is a large population grown wealthy by the 

 success of the few staples which can be grown, and a natural 

 desire to add to the rather limited lists of trees aud vegetables. 

 It is but for the gardener to follow up the expedients he Jiuds, 

 with some additions from the resources of his own experience. 



For instance, tho American farmer prefers for his house and 

 for his barn a site that slopes towards the east or south, and 

 sheltered from the cruel north and the stormy west. The kitchen 



aud living-rooms arc in the basement in front of tho cellars, 

 and are entered on a level from tho east or south. Tho best 

 rooms above are also entered on a level from the higher ground 

 at tlie back and through tho porticocd front door. Similarly 

 tho ftabk'S and the barns are under tho mows, and entered on 

 a level from tho low ground of the warm ebolterod tide, and the 

 thrashing floor overhead is entered from the high ground at the 

 back. Tills arrangement secures most valuable bhelter for 

 man and his domestic animals, and tho gardener is beginning 

 to extend the system, so as to all'ord similar aud suitable nhelter 

 for domestic plants. Ho finds himuolf obliged to copy the 

 farmer's copy of tho knowledge of tho rabbit and the beaver, 

 aud to burrow in tho warm soil for protection against the giants 

 of the air. 



An extension for a plant house into the hill slope at one end 

 of the house, covered and fronted v.ilh glass, and opening to 

 the basement room.'?, derives warmth from tho surrounding 

 soil, aud is easily supplied with a current of warm air from the 

 kitchen fire. Such constructions have proved very effective 

 aud economical, and European Grapes, especially, are very 

 successfully grown in them without special heating arrange- 

 meuts. Charming winter gardens of this kind v/ould soon 

 become common in the States, to relieve the long confining 

 winters, if the gardener could he abroad enough to show the 

 way. A new delightful world of hall-hardy fruits, shrubs, Vines, 

 and flowers would thus be revealed to homea that at present 

 have but little and kuow but little of these loveliest of deco- 

 rations. 



The diUiculty about water freezing in exposed butts and 

 bursting them, is obviated by a similar burying in the ground. 

 Egg.shaped pits are plastered against the earth with a coat of 

 hydraulic cement about half an iuoh thick, and this shell makes 

 an earth jag or cistern that holds water well — from ten to a 

 hundred hogsheads in a cistern, with or without a filter bed. 

 The water is raised by pumps that allow it to drop low enough 

 to be out of reach of frost ; and when filtered and kept in a 

 deep and therefore cool cistern, such water collected from the 

 roofs is the purest, best, most corrective of thirst, and most 

 healthful for man, animals, or plants. 



The bosom of mother earth will affoyd warmth and shelter 

 to many plants, as Vines, that cannot'be placed under glass. 

 Thus, Antwerp Easpberries, native Grape Vines, remontant 

 Roses, many kinds of flowering shrubs, even Peach trees, after 

 a thorough ripening of the wood in tho bright Indian summer, 

 are laid down on the surface in December, and covrred with an 

 inch or so of soil as a security in case of the snow not remaining 

 overthtm throughout March. Of course all such things must 

 be grown quite low ; and as to Rosea, it is quite out of the 

 question to grow them as trees there. The summer sun and 

 the spring winds combine with the v.inter cold to parch and 

 destroy their stems. 



Many low evergreen plants are protected in a similar manner, 

 excepting that a covering more pefmeable to air is necessary, 

 such as branches of Spruce, Fir, or Cedar, or the stalks o£ 

 Indian Corn. Strawberries, Grtens, V/all3owers, &c., are thug 

 secured. Wheat plants are necessarily left to risk being stripped 

 of their covering of snow by the March sun and the March 

 winds, when sun, aud wind, aud frost often play havoc on the 

 patches that are bare. Farmers seek to add a little protection 

 to the plants by leaving the surface covered with clods — two 

 aud three-iiouuders in size aud weight, over tho Wheat fields 

 at seed time. 



The natural blanketing of snow is far superior to any arti- 

 ficial covering that is practicable on a large scale. While it is 

 frozen aud dry it is wonderfully efiicient as a barrier against 

 cold. The earth itself admits the frost to a greater depth than 

 snow does. At the same time, excepting when it chances some- 

 times to he covered with an impervious icy crust, snow admits 

 air so freely that the leaves of planti retain perfect health under 

 it for month.'?, excepting always during the occasional occurrence 

 of a crust. A tender child wrapped in fnr or wool may be 

 safely buried in a dry snowbank, and wandering trappers lie 

 in it safe aud comfortable while the fiercest Arctic winds are 

 careering above triumphantly, driving or destroying every living 

 thing that appears above the suow. Nothing survives but the 

 resiu-varnished Pines of those drear and awful solitudes, where 

 there is not even the gushing of smoko from chimney tops, or 

 the jingle of passin?; sleigh bells, or the shriek of the frozen 

 snow crunched under the foot<of a rapid passer-by, to indicate 

 that there is life around. 



So full of paradox and of compensation is wayward yet bene- 

 ficent Nature, that after all what appears to an inexperienced 



