January Ifi, 1808. ] 



JOCBNAIi OF HOBTIOULTUKB AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



■Ill 



profiting ly our cxperienoe. Fomo of your readers may avoid 

 the disappointment attending experiments in growing new 

 fruits. Tliose that suecceii best here may reasonably bo ex- 

 pected to do well further south. 



A great hindrance to the growth of good fruit in Scotland 

 and in the north of England, is the uncertainty and disappoint- 

 ment occasioned by planting varieties unsuited to the climate. 

 As Pears and Phims are the two sorts of fruit that have of 

 late received the most important additions of improved va- 

 rieties, I shall for the present confine myself to these. 



The first-rato Peais that succeed on the wall here are — Jar- 

 gonelle, ripe in .\ugust and September; Sinclair, in October; 

 Marie Louise, Thompson's, Beurre Superfin, Beurri5 Hardy, 

 Van Mons LCon Leclerc, and Brown Beurre, in November; 

 Winter Nelis and Hacou's Incomparable, in December and 

 January; Easter Beurru, in P'ebruary and March; Beurre de 

 Ranee, in March and April ; Fortunoe, in April. Citron des 

 Carmes, ripening in July, a good second-class Pear, is a desir- 

 able addition to the foregoing. 



The following are first-class as standards — viz., — Benrri' 

 d'Amanlis Panache and Sinclair, ripe in October ; Beurre 

 Superfin and Aston Town, in November; Zephirin Gregoire 

 and Beurre d'Arembcrg, in December and January ; Monarch 

 and Beurrfi de Eance, from February to April. These have 

 not yet borne abundantly. 



Good and useful second-class Pears as standards are — Sum- 

 mer Doyenne, ripe in August ; Beurre Giffard, in September ; 

 Williams' Bon Chretien, in October; Muirfowl's Egg, in 

 November ; Achan, in December ; Forelle, in January ; and 

 Lfion Leclerc de Laval, an excellent baking Pear, from November 

 to May. 



Some of the varieties that do not succeed ■well here are — 

 Passe Colmar and Beurre Bosc, hardly first-rate ; Louise Bonne, 

 Urbaniste, Fondante d'Automne, Glou Mor^eau, Dunmore, 

 Josephine de Malines, and Fjergamotte d'Esperen, all second- 

 rate ; Flemish Beauty and Duchesso d'Angouleme, third-rate; 

 Chaumontel, Beurre de Capiaumont, and Suffolk Thorn, fourth- 

 rate. Some newer famed varieties have not yet fruited. 



Of Plums — July Green Gage, Jefferson, Bryanston Gage, and 

 Beine Claude de IJavay, are first-rate wall fruits. Coe's Golden 

 Drop is the best, but drops the greater portion of its fruit when 

 quite small. 



Belgian Purple, Denniston's Superb, and Lawson's Golden 

 Gage are abundant-bearing, first-rate standard Plums. — John 

 McCcLLocii, Gardener, Duff'us, near Elgin. 



amounted to about five hundred per stalk, did not ripen, as I 

 planted them two months after the prescribed time." This is 

 all he could tell me about it. — W. F. KAoeLYn-n. 



[Unless the Chinese Sugar Grass is sown in a hotbed, and 

 the seedlings planted out, no seed is ripened by the plants in 

 this country, nor even then except in favourable localities. — 

 Eds.] 



HABITATS OF THE MISTLETOE. 



I n.WE a plant of it here from seed sown on an Apple tree, and 

 now it is a bush about 9 feet in diameter. There are a few more 

 in Ireland, but none throwing naturally. 



In France, the orchards one passes on the way from Calais tp 

 Amiens are loaded with Jlistlotoo. In the south of France it 

 abounds on the trees about Pau, chiefly on Poplars. I have 

 not seen it on the Oak ; but in the Pyrenees near Gabas I have 

 observed the Silver Fir loaded with it. It is also stated that 

 it grows most abundantly on Pinus sylvestris in the forests 

 of Germany, about Magdeburg. Query, Does it really live on 

 the sap of the tree, or only attach itself as a bai-nacle does to 

 the rock ? The Apple tree on which mine hangs seems c^udently 

 exhausted, as if by supplying its food ; but, then, is it not ex- 

 traordinary that the saruo plant should live upon the sweet sap 

 of the Apple and Poplar, and on the resin of the Pine tribe ? 

 The analysis of the 5Ustletoe (French Oui). from such different 

 species of trees would be curious. — C. W. H., IIaniv:ood. 



WOOLLAND HOUSE. DORSET, 



The Seat of MoNTAf^u Wn.i.iAMs, Esq. 



To-day, January 0th, I visited my friend and neighbour, the 

 frost being hard, and the ground lightly covered with snow — not 

 a very favourable time for a review. 



The honse is a fine mansion, commanding a magnificent 

 Borthem view of the grassy vale of Blackmoor for many miles. 

 It is situated under the same range of hills as my own house. 

 The views from the hills behind our houses is, perhaps, one of 

 the finest in England. I have never seen anything to equal 

 them, except the Weald of Kent, from the windows of Hors- 

 mondcn rectory, the property of the Rev. Hugh ilarriott. 



On the west side of the house is a new church built by Mr. 

 WUliams, capable of holding the few parishioners and the 

 household. It is quite a model of its kind. In front of the 

 house is a lake stocked with carp, tench, and other fish. I 

 was asked to look over the gardens. Of course, with snow on 

 the ground, it was not avery propitious time ; but I saw one or 

 two matters of public interest, which are the main object of 

 this article. 



I saw a galvanised wire trellis for Peaches, Nectarines, and 

 other wall fruit. I think in process of time of copying this. 

 Mr. Williams told me that it answered admirably. It is well 

 put up, the wires being (l inches apart, and strained so as to 

 fit closely to the walls. There is no need of nails or nail holes, 

 the habitats of woodlice, earwigs, and other pests. 



The other subject of interest were specimens of HuUett's 

 Chinese Sugar Grass, hung up in the vinery. I refer to this 

 (see page 14), in compliance with the wishes of " H. C. S. G. 



KITCHEN GARDEN WALLS. 



(Continued from page 10.) 

 Garden walls are usually 9 inches, 14 inches, and 18 inches 

 in thickness. The thickness of a wall should be in proportion 

 to its height. A wall between G and 8 feet in height will, pro- 

 viding the workmanship is good, prove secure if one brick or 

 'J inches in thickness ; but if the height exceed 8 feet, piers 

 wUl be needed. A 9 inch brick wall 9 or 1(1 feet in height 

 should have piers 22; inches, or two stretchers and one header, 

 in breadth, and the piers should be 12 feet apart. They should 

 proceed from the foundation and be carried up to within 2 feet 

 of the top of the wall or coping. They ought not to project 

 more than half a brick, or 4j inches, from the wall. It is well 

 to have a coping on the tops of the piers. A 'J-incb wall sup- 

 ported by piers is unsightly, the trees are difficult to train 

 upon it, and they succeed better upon walls unshaded by piers. 

 In constructing the wall the piers may, indeed ought to be 

 built on the less important side, so that the more desirable 

 aspect may present a plane surface for the training of the trees. 

 A wall 14 inches in thickness is very substantial, and may be 

 carried up to a height of 12 feet without the support of piers. 

 Walls 14 inches thick are unobjectionable, and are as strong 

 as will be necessary in most instances ; but in particular cases, 

 as in bleak and exposed situations, whore walls are required of 

 a greater height than 12 feet above the ground level, a wall 

 18 inches in thickness will be much more secure. The thick- 

 nesses I would recommend, are for walls not exceeding 8 feet in 

 height, 9 inches ; 9 feet and not exceeding 12 feet, 14 inches ; 

 and 12 feet and not exceeding 18 feet, 18 inches; and in all 

 cases I would do without brick piers, which are imsightly. 



A wall 14 inches thick built hollow will be found quite as 

 substantial as a 14-inch solid wall, whilst an 18-inch hollow 

 wall is stronger than a 14-iuch solid wall. Hollow walls are 

 drier and warmer than those which are solid, and being fully 

 as durable ought to supersede these entirely, more particularly 

 those built 9 inches thick, with piers. 



All walls, more particularly garden walls, ought to have good 

 foundations ; in all cases these should be the depth of the 

 borders, so that in trenching these the foundations may not be 

 undermined, or the soil loosened. If the bottom of the trench 

 is firm it will not require to be concreted, but if soft it may be- 

 necessary to concrete it, if not its full length, at least in some 

 places where the ground is soft. In such places the trench 

 should be of a greater depth than where the bottom is firm, 

 and be filled to the level of the firm bottom with concrete, 

 which may consist of coarse gravel run with mortar. Bam 

 this quite firm, and then put on a layer of fine gravel. The 



Mr. Williams pointed them out to me, and said, " These are ! bottom ought to be made quite level, and if the ground slope 

 the famous Sugar Grasses you have lately heard so mnoh I proceed by horizontal steps, short or long, according to the 

 about. I had ten seeds, which cost me 2s. Of these, three did incline of the ground. The bottom of the trench should 

 not come up, seven came up, two were cut off by the frosts, two exceed in width the thickness of the wall, for the base of this 

 grew 5 feet high, ftnd three grew 10 feet high. The seeds, which ' must be twice the thicknesa of the wall, or have two " sets-on," 



