23C 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICDLT0BE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ AprU 8, 18C9. 



before the wall crop ripens, and these I should choose from 

 among the early Peaches raised by Mr. Rivers, several of which 

 are said to ripen early in July, though I have not myself yet 

 fruited them. Let fifteen be of the later liinds, among which 

 should be found Walburton Admirable, Eaymacker, somewhat 

 like the preceding ; Stump the World, an American variety, 

 large and handsome ; Gregory's Late Peach, good ; and Rivers' 

 Comet, one of the latest worth eating. Its parent the Salwey 

 (not Salway, as people spell il), which ripens a fortnight later, 

 is handsome enough for a dish, but its lovely colour is not 

 seen by candlelight, and I never found it worth eating. It 

 cannot vie with an October Pear. The Prince of Wales and 

 Lord Palmerstou are highly spoken of, but I have not yet 

 tasted them. Among the characteristic kinds, the curiosities, 

 if one may so call them, of Peach culture, I should not like to 

 have a house without the fair-skinned Malta, with its noble 

 flowers, the best Peach for sending by railway to a friend, or 

 the Grosse Mignonne, the plump darling, one of the choicest of 

 Peaches, but said to be rather delicate against a wall. Some 

 of the yellow Peaches, too, should be there — Canary, a very 

 distinct kind ; Golden Kathripe, early ; and Exquisite, all 

 handsome fruit ; but these American Peaches, though good, 

 are by no means equal in flavour to the old English kinds. 

 The Honey Peach, a Chinese variety, should not be omitted; 

 then the White Nectarine is doubly vinous in the orchard 

 house ; Rivers' Orange, with good flavour, is worth growing 

 for its looks alone, whether it be decked with its eye-like blos- 

 aoms or hung with golden fruit ; add Pine Apple, recommended 

 as one of the best ; and last, not least, either in merit or in 

 size, Victoria, which needs and deserves the warmest corner 

 one can give it. 



You will say, that neither against the wall nor in the house 

 have I planted an Apricot. Well, I must own that I do not 

 care for Apricots much ; but if some are wanted for preserving, 

 plant the Royal against your stable wall, where the hard-beaten 

 Boil will suit it admirably ; if for eating, then add a brace of 

 Peach Apricots to the orchard house, and learn how superior 

 they are, when ripened through and through, to any that have 

 been grown upon a wall. If you must have more, then grow 

 one or two short-jointed Kaishas, which do well in this way, 

 among the Plums, in oblique cordon 



And now for the Pears ; but before the kinds are named, let j by the spade. 



be planted for the kitchen ; of these. Early Prolific (July), 

 Victoria (August), Autumn Compote (September), Diamond 

 (September), Autumn Beauty (October), are among the best. 

 Dessert Plums have already been named. If there is no orchard, 

 one standard Damson among the Currant bushes will be for- 

 given. 



There ia one fruit remaining which must not be overlooked, 

 and that is the Apple, and in selecting from the innumerable 

 varieties that are oti'ered, it must be borne in mind that one 

 Apple that is sound in March is worth twelve that are ripe in 

 October. Who would eat an Apple when he can have a Pear? 

 The merit of the Apple is that it will keep to a season when 

 all other fruit, even Pears, are gone or worthless. One or two 

 sweet summer Apples, like the Irish Peach and Devonshire 

 Quarrenden. may be planted, and a few more autumn and 

 winter pudding Apples, such as the Blenheim Pippin but let 

 the main stock be for the spring. And here, again, I shall be 

 glad of information, premising that Ribston Pippins and 

 Brandy Apples may be all very well for those who have the 

 iron digestion of a child, but that to my mind an Apple which 

 will carry through the exhausting winter months its brisk and 

 juicy freshness untamed, and remind you of summer fruit in 

 the dry month of April, is worth all the sugary leather in the 

 world. Of such Apples, late-keeping, keen, crisp, juicy, and 

 digestible, I know but few. Dumelow's Seedling is the best ; 

 the London Pippin and Gooseberry Apple are good ; the 

 American Apples are light enough, but grown in England lack 

 flavour. Of these Northern Spy is not bad, but the famous 

 Newtown is not better than its parent, the London Pippin. 

 I should be thankful to any one who would recommend some 

 other Apples of this character. 



Apples should be grown in an orchard, where they can. The 

 pretty pyramids on the Paradise give much more trouble and 

 no better fruit than standards, which take care of themselves, 

 and bear ten times the crop ; and as for the horizontal cordons 

 not long ago so highly recommended in the Times, experience 

 has taught me that they require endless attention, and yield 

 little for it. The warmth of a walled garden had better be 

 reserved for Pears and Plums ; but if Apples must be grown 

 in it, let them be on large bushes, so that no other crop can be 

 grown beneath the tree, and its roots may remain undestroyed 



it be stated where they shall be grown. An 8 or 9 -feet border, 

 between the wall and the path, will yield plenty of space for a 

 row of dwarf trees on the Quince, which, if allowed to run 

 6 feet high and no more, will oast no shadow in summer on 

 the ripening wall fruit, and will leave room for one row of 

 Peas or %^'inter Broccoli between themselves and the wall, at 

 3 feet distance from the latter ; and if you would have good 

 Peaches, let that 3 feet be a sacred spot on which the edge of 

 epade never trenches, beaten as hard as you please by the feet 

 of fruit-eater and fruit-pruner, but never disturbed, never 

 dressed with anything but a summer mulching. If it be asked. 

 Why not plant the Pear trees elsewhere in the garden? I 

 answer that a 10-feet garden wall will often make the difference 

 of two or three degree.=: of frost, suiEcitnt to save or ruin the 

 blossom in spring, to trees that are even feet from it ; and 

 the choice Pears, almost all natives of a warmer climate, are 

 sadly exposed to injury from the early development of their 

 bloom. For the kinds, few people care to taste Pears during 

 the height of the Peach season. Let WilUams's Bon Chit-tien 

 (" Ripe Williams " they call them in the London streets), be 

 the first ; Beurre d'Amanlis and Beurru Superfin follow close 

 ■ upon this. One of each is sufficient. But October, November, 

 December are the season for melting Pears. If you have room 

 for fifty trees, plant two of each of these — Louise Bonne, Beurre 

 Hardy, Mario Louise, Gansel's Eergamot, Huyshe's Victoria 

 and l?rince of Wales, Glou Mor<jeau, Doyennfi du Cornice, 

 Alexandre Lambrc, and Zephirin Gregoire, a most abundant 

 bearer, if not so aromatic as some others. Of midvrfnter Pears 

 — Winter Nelis, Benrre d'Aremberg, and Josfiphine de Malines, 

 I would plant six of each, with one or two of the ttill later kinds, 

 recommended for the wall. 



Plums I would grow the same way as Pears, on bushes or 

 pyramids 6 feet high. If yon please, let them run along the 

 other side of the before-mentioned garden walk, and a very 

 pretty walk it will be with or without a dwarf Tea Bose, or 

 some choice plant, between each pair of fruit trees. Let the 

 Plums there alternate with Pears ; for one in three would be a 

 fair proportion between Plums and Pears. It should be re- 

 membered, too, that this fruit is more valuable for culinary 

 purposes than for dessert, and twice the number of trees should 



By some arrangement of this kind, the different kinds of fruit 

 may be made to supplement one another. Pears are not grown 

 which ripen when there are more Peaches than can be eaten. 

 The Peach season is prolonged by means of the orchard house 

 to the end of September. The Pears chosen offer a succession 

 during what may be termed the four months of the Pear 

 season. An endeavour is made to prolong this into spring, 

 and when all other fruits fail, there will stiU be some juicy 

 Apples left to fall back upon. 



In return, let me solicit some of your more experienced cor- 

 respondents — 1, To name such Apples as I have described. 

 2, The best late Pears they have proved. 3, To say whether 

 I am right in the observation, that late spring Pears derive 

 from walls a mellowness and flavour which earlier kinds do 

 not. — Wyeeide. 



NOTES ON SOME OF THE GOLDEN TRICOLOR 



PELARGONIUMS. 



I DO not pretend at all to review the large number of these 

 very beautiful plants. Beautiful they all are, and specially 

 beautiful in the greenhouse ; for although they make, some of 

 them at least, a good display as bedding plants, yet I question 

 whether in this they are not eclipsed by some of those Bicolors 

 which have of late years been raised. However, having had 

 several of them under my own eye, and seen others, I would — 

 it may be for the guidance of some of your readers — record my 

 opinion of them. 



There were originally two distinct types of these Golden 

 Tricolors ; and we may, I think, from whatever source the varie- 

 ties have come, still see this distinction prevailing. There is 

 the flat, smooth, and deeply indented foliage of Sunset, and 

 the soft, downy, and semi-reflexed foliage of Mrs. Pollock. 

 Both of these are very pretty, and it would be hard to say 

 which of them is the more attractive — whether, for example, 

 Lucy Grieve, which I take to represent the Mrs. Pollock sec- 

 tion, or Sophia Dumaresque is the more beautiful. Each wilf 

 have its champions, and so we must leave their several admirers 

 to sing their praises ; be it mine to hold the even balance, and 



