September 10, 1S68. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTtCDLTURB AND COTTAQE GARDENER. 



181 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



SEPTEMBER 10-16, 1868. 



Ipswich Horticultural Show. 

 Bury St. Eiliunuds H'lrticultnr.al Show. 

 Burotislaud Horticultural Show. 

 14 Sunday AFxEa Tiumixy. 



Royal HorticuUnml Society, Fruit, Flor.ll, 

 Lund General Meeting. 



Areraf^o Temperature 

 near London. 



Day. 



0:1.5 

 0H.4 

 (59.0 

 68.2 

 C7.0 

 67.6 

 68.4 



Niehl. 

 40,9 

 41.0 

 41.7 

 45.8 

 43.1 

 40.2 

 471 



Mean. 



68.2 

 57.5 

 53.8 

 57.0 

 56.6 

 56.9 

 67 8 



Rain iTi 



laat 

 11 years 



UayB. 

 20 

 11 

 16 

 19 

 21 

 21 

 17 



Snn 

 Rises. 



28 af 



30 



31 



8! 



85 



36 



Son 

 Seta. 



m. h. 



25 aJ 6 

 23 6 



Moon 



RiBOS. 



Moon 



Seta. 



m. h. 



5i(ll 

 morn. 

 5 



n. h 



Oaf 2 

 C 8 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Days. 



2i 

 24 

 25 

 21 

 27 

 28 

 « 



CIoO^ 

 after 

 {^lin. 



8 17 



3 88 



8 58 



4 19 

 4 40 

 8 1 



23 



Yo.ir 



254 

 255 

 256 

 257 

 268 

 259 

 263 



From obserrations taken near London during the last forty-one years, the average dar tompfratnro of tho week is Oii.O ; and ita night 

 temperature 40.2". The greatest heat w»a 8d', on the 13th, 1865; and tha lowest cold 'iP, on the lltli and 12th, 1800. The groitest fall 

 ot rain was 1*27 inch. 



PEACH CULTIVATION.— No. 1. 



' EESIA is considered to be the native country 

 of the Peach ; and there is litfle beyond 

 supposition in support of tliis fruit being taken 

 into Esypt in the reign of Cambyses, or I 

 carried "from Egypt into Greece, but it was ' 

 known in Italy before the comraeucemertt of 

 the Christian era, and Loudon iixes the date 

 of its introduction into this country at lo(i'.2 : 

 so that rather more tlian three centuries 

 have elapsed since it was known to the 

 British gardener. How it was at first cultivated may not 

 be known, but we have it on the best authority that for a 

 very long series of years the Peach has been successfully 

 cultivated as an out-door fruit on walls with a south aspect. 

 Generations of cultivators succeeding each other in suc- 

 cessful practice, tree succeeded tree against the same wall, 

 and wall gave place to wall, which I look upon as proof 

 positive of the successful out-door cultivation of the Peach. 

 Without the aid of a wall the Peach tree does not usually 

 ripen its fruit m tliis country, but we have known instances. 

 Standard trees in most cases blossom abundantly. 



Not cultivable in this country as a hardy fruit, for the 

 ground is too cold for its roots — at least, the Peach will 

 not thrive long on its own root.=;, even planted ngainst a 

 wall — the necessity arises for budding it on a hardier kind 

 of stock, and of affox'ding protection by artificial means. 

 The Peach is not suited for cultivation in every locality. 

 To have it in perfection in some places, the shelter of a wall, 

 and temporary protection for the blossom and young fruit. 

 only ai-e required : in others additional means of aflord- 

 ing or retaining heat are needed. Mr. Tliompson, iu his 

 elaborate and practical work " The Gardener's Assistant," 

 states, at page 510, that "In localities whei-e the mean 

 temperature of February is 40°, and that of JIarch 44°, the 

 Peach will be in full flower against a south wall in the last 

 week in March : and if the mean of April is 4iJ'', that of May 

 55°, June 01°, July 04°, and August 0-i°, the season may be 

 considered a favourable one. The general crop, iu that 

 case, will be ripe in the last week of August or first week 

 in September, and the fruit will acquire a high degree of 

 perfection." Those temperatures, however, are but rare in 

 this country, being confined to warm spots in the southern 

 parts of the kingdom, and the west coast, also Ireland, as 

 will be seen from the following table of mean temperatures 

 given by Mr. Thompson for the five months, or from the 

 time of flowering to that of the fruit ripening, the favour- 

 able temperature not being attained at any place named. 



County. 



.\pril. May. ! Jane. 



July. I Aup. 



Cornwall . . . 

 Middlesex . . . 

 Gloucester... 



Lincoln 



Dublin 



Lancisbire . 

 Dumfries ... 

 Hid-Lotbian. 

 Aberdeen . . . 

 Orkney 



Penzance . . 

 Cbiswick . . 

 Stroud .... 



Boston 



Dublin 



Liverpool . . 

 Applegarth 

 Edinburgh . . 

 Aberdeen . . 

 Sandffick .. 



No. 889.-VOL. XV., Kew Seeies, 



61.11 

 61.97 



611.5) 

 61.29 

 614) 

 62.00 

 66.50 

 57.50 

 59.64 

 56.03 



From the foregoing table of temperatures it will be seen we 

 have no favourable climate for the Peach ; but after twenty 

 years' experience in localities where Peaches have been 

 grown successfully against walls with south aspects, I have 

 no hesitation in stating that the Pfach can be grown where 

 the temperature of Feljruary is '-i^"', of March 4i°, April 47°, 

 May 5:5°, June 50', July 0:i°. August 01°, and September 57°. 

 I have grown Peaches in three difl'erent gardens in York- 

 shire with these mean average temperatures, and have 

 failed to grow them against a south wall with the usual 

 protection in another, wdiere, owing to the altitude, the 

 mean temperature of March was 40°, April 40°, May 52°,. 

 June 58°, .Inly 01°, August 50°, and September 55°. Only- 

 one year out of six were they good — viz., in 1859. During 

 the past five years I ha,ve practised in a situation farther 

 to the west, and Peaches every season are large and fine, 

 ripening perfectly. The mean temperature of April is 4s°, of 

 May 5.5°, of June 01°, of -July 0:i°, and of August 01°, which 

 is slightly higher than tiie mean for Liverpool, in the 

 neighbourhood of which town Peaches are gi-own to great 

 perfection ou walls— at Kuowsloy for instance. Again, in 

 some parts of Jyineolnsbire Peaches do exceedingly well 

 against south walls, for instance, at Brocklesby Park ; 

 indeed there is no county in England where the Peach 

 tree against a south wall does not with careful culture 

 ripen its fruit in perfection. But there are exceptions, 

 owing to altitude above the sea level ; for example, York, 

 at an altitude of 50 feet above the sea level, has a tempera- 

 ture suited to the growth of the Peach, and there the fruit 

 ripens, whilst at Halil'ax 4«7 feet, and Bradford from 370 to 

 400 feet above tlie level of the sea. Peaches do not succeed, 

 or ripen against a wall with a south aspect ; and at the 

 latter elevation they are not to be grown iu unheafed glass 

 structures, for these, unless narrow and bacVed by a sub- 

 stantial wall, are worthless, and aft'ord no greater warmth 

 than a south wall. It may seem strange that a glass 

 house should not afford any greater warmth than that of a 

 south wall, but such is nevertheless the fact, but only true 

 of houses less in width than 15 feet; for in houses 20 feet 

 wide the temperature exceeds that of a south w.all, or in 

 other words, the temperature of a south wall at :> inches 

 distance from it is, at .".n elevation of 400 feet, in March 43°,. 

 April. 49°, May 50°, June 02°, July (i5°, and August 01°. 

 Of a narrow (V^ feet) glass house the temperatures were-, 

 in April 50°, May 50°, June 0'!°, July 05", and August 02"; 

 and in a 0-feet-wide house or glass case against a south 

 wall the temperatiu'e was, April 52°, May 59°, .June Oj°, 

 July Cuh". and August 00°, or the same temperatures as 

 are afforded trees against a south wall in localities which 

 are favourable to tlte full perfection of the crop, and with 

 such the fruit in the latter house will ripen, but not in 

 a narrow detached house, or against an open wall at the 

 above-named altitude. 



A south wall has a temperature of i' or 5" (more or less, 

 according to the material used in the construction, stone 

 giving less warmth than white brick, which is 1° more in tem- 

 perature than red brick, fire brick being the hottest of alli, 

 above that of the atmosphere out of doors ; consequently 

 the trees against it will have with me in this locality (North. 



No. 1011.— Vol. XL., Old Seribs. 



