208 



JOUBNAL OF HOETIOXJLTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



( September 17, 1668. 



that caee the leader does not get as mnch Btiength as in the 

 case of the graft. — W. K. 



Mn. RivEPS writes : " Aleeet Victor NECTiKisE has a 



carious history, fhowing what perseverance will do. Some 

 twenty or more years since I found on a wall at Culford Hall, 

 near Bury St. Edmunds, a ' Late Melting Nectarine,' sent 

 from Lee's under that name, which ripened in October. I 

 thought it was the Peterborough, but it seemed larger, it wes 

 at any rate of the same race. When orchard houses came in 

 I commen:ed to raise seedlings from it, lliey all proved late 

 but not large, and were not iirst-iate. I kept on biceding in 

 centlnualion (mind, this is my term, and it should be adopted) — 

 i.e., sowing the stones of each generation. No good move was 

 made till, I think, the fourth generation, in the Aldeet Victor 

 Nectarine, which is a superb fruit." 



The Nectarine Peach was noticed {or the first time in 



the last edition of the " Gardeners' Teai-Book." After another 



year's trial we find that it retains the great richness of flavonr 

 which we observed in it last year. The fruit is large, and is 

 remarkable for being terminated by a nipple, like Trton de 

 Venus and A Bee. There is rather more down on the skin 

 than we observed last year, when it had barely enough to dis- 

 tinguish it from a Nectarine. The skin is yellow, and with a 

 bright mottled red on the side next the sun ; the suture well 

 defined, particularly near the nipple. The flesh is semi-trans- 

 parent as is the case with almost all Mr. Rivers's seedlings, 

 and with a brilliant red stain round the stone, from which it 

 separates, leaving some strings behind it. It is melting, very 

 richly flavoured, and with a fine racy smack. The stone has 

 a tendency to split, and the kernel has a very mild bitter 

 laste. It ripens in the middle of September. Flowers large. 

 Glands kidney-shaped. This was raised from a Dutch Nec- 

 tarine called Grand Noir. 



The extraordinary summer we have lately experienced 



has had its effect in developing some characters of fruits with 

 which we have been hitherto unacquainted. An instance of 

 this we have found in the Pear Doyenne Boussoch, which in 

 ordinary seasons requires to be eaten as soon as it ripens, 

 otherwise it speedily becomes what is termed " sleepy." This 

 year, notwithstanding it has been " dead ripe " on the tree, it 

 has, after being gathered, kept for several days in a condition 

 of soundness and of flavour rarely met with. 



ECONOMY m COMj\rERCIAL PLANT HOUSES. 

 EcoKOMv OP Construction. — In regard to the walls of the 

 plant house, the most economical are those constructed of 

 wood. Procure good Cedar, Chestnut, or even Oak posts of 

 the required length, plant them solidly in the ground,' as in 

 making a board fence ; cut them ofi to the required height, and 

 Jevcl by a chalk line and spirit level ; nail on the top of them 

 ^flatwise, and horizontally projecting about 11 inch beyond the 

 ibont of the posts, apiece of 2 inches by 4 Hemlock or White 



Pine scantling ; and within about a foot of the ground, saw and 

 mortise out notches in the front of the posts about 2 inches 

 wide and IJ inch deep, and nail in them, edgewise, a piece of 

 2 by 3 scantling. Then on these two pieces of scantling nail 

 vertically or up and down, IJ-inch second common White Pine 

 boards, ploughed and grooved, and well seasoned and dried in 

 the sun. The boards should be bought of lU-feet lengths, so 

 that they may be cut up more economically. If the path to 

 the house is dug 2J feet below ground, the front wall or side of 

 the house need not be more than 3 feet 1 or 2 inches high, 

 which will enable yen to cut five lengths out of a lOfeet board, 

 or if the house is intended for small plants 2 feet 7 inches 

 high, or sixlerglhs. 



If it is thought too expensive to have the hoards ploughed 

 and grooved they can be nailed on and left until they are 

 thoroughly shrunk in the sun, and then nail plastering laths 

 over the joints ; the gable end walls can be built on the same 

 principle, if the house is low, but if a high one they had bettei' 

 be regularly frame-morticed and tennoned. 



If the ground on which the house is built is uneven, the 

 boards in the side walls should be cut of one uniform length, 

 and the earth hanked-up to them. This saves board and makes 

 the house look better. It the house is on the fixed-roof prin- 

 ciple — that is, with permanent sash-bars instead of moveable 

 sashes, there should be nailed in a slanting position on the 

 upper 2 by 4 scanthng, a board about 8 inches wide. 



If a more durable house is required, or in cities where wooden 

 buildings are prohibited, stone or brick must be substituted for 

 wood. In all cases the foundation walls below the surface 

 should be of stone, as brick under ground soon becomes soft. 

 If stone is plentiful and cheap, the walls maybe built IG inches 

 thick, with foundations 18 inches thick. If biick is used, a 

 9-inch hollow wall is the cheapest, driest, and warmest. I am 

 surprised that houses of this kind are not more fiequently 

 built. There is no difliculty in building them even by a brick- 

 layer who has never seen one. On the solid stone or brick 

 foundation, about 12 inches thick, lay two courses of brick on 

 edge, so that the wall will measure ',) inches thick, with binders 

 en edge between each, as shown in the annexed {jig. 1), a being 

 the brick-on-edge, and b, the binders. 



Fig. 1. 



Very good specimens of this kind of building can be seen in 

 this city, built some twenty-five years since. They consist of 

 two extensive greenhouses and a one storey dwelling-house, and 

 they are at this time as strong and substantial as when first 

 erected. Sashes or windows are seldom, if ever, introduced in 

 the front of commercial greenhouses, as they add to the ex- 

 pense and make the houses colder ; but in houses on the fixed- 

 roof principle, ventilators of inch board working on hinges are 

 frequently introduced at short distances along the front im- 

 mediately under the plate or top scantling. 



Having thus briefly described the construction of the end 

 and side walls of the house, we come next to consider the con- 

 struction of the roof, including the glazing. 



The fixed roof is the most economical and expeditious in 

 construction, and if carefully glazed, the warmest and driest. 

 This mode of building is now so common that it is scarcely 

 necessary to describe it. Take 1 J -inch, or better still, 2-inch 

 second common White Pine boards of the required length — 

 say 10, 12, or 16 feet long. Send them to a sawing and planing 

 mill and have them first planed, then ripped up into strips of 

 2-; to 3 inches in width, then rebated so that the glass will 

 have a bearing of net less than one-quarter nor more than half 

 an inch on each side. These sesh-bars should be securely 

 nailed or screwed at the upper end, to the ridge pole (if a 

 double-pitch roofed house), or to the wall-plate if a lean-to 

 house, and also to 2 by 3 purlins running lengthwise of the 

 house, supported every C feet by pieces of 3 by 4 scantling. If 

 the sash-bars are 10 or 12 feet long, one purlin will be suffi- 

 cient, hut if from IC to 20 feet long, two will be required. These 

 purlins are not only necessary for strength, but also to prevent 

 the sash-bars from warping in the sun, which would cause 



