248 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 26, 1865. 



shade of yellow gives a very nice finish to the border, the 

 bloom of the Calceolaria just peeping above the purple 

 Dahlia. 



The plants of Golden Fleece dotted in the row of Lobeha 

 speciosa gave it a very pretty appearance, as did the Christine 

 in--tbe row of Purple King. It was a great relief to the eye, and 

 had the effect of toning down the colours to a very pleasant 

 degree. 



In this border the arrangement of colours will appear 



thus : — 



1. White. 



2. Blue and yellow. 



3. Violet-Hhaded magenta. 



4. Pui"ple and pink. 



5. \\Tiite and cerise. 



6. Yellow. 



7. Scarlet. 



8. Deep purple. 



9. Light shade 



straw. 



of yellow, or 



The left-hand or opposite border is planted, commencing 

 from the gravel, with— 1, Cerastium tomeutosiim ; 2, Verbena 

 Velvet Cushion, dotted with Geranium Golden Fleece ; 3, Ver- 

 bena Hebe; 4, Stella Geranium; 5, Purple ICing Verbena, 

 dotted with Princess Victoria ; 6, Geranium Bijou ; 7, Calceo- 

 laria Gaines's Yellow ; 8, Purple Zelinda Dahlia ; 9, Calceolaria 

 amplexicaulis. The colours in this border wiU be— 



1. White. 



2. Deep velvety purple 



veUow. 



3. Piuk. 



4. Crimson scarlet. 



and 



r>. Purple and magenta. 

 (>. White and scarlet. 



7. Yellow. 



8. Purple. 



y. Light shade of yellow or straw. 



Wc now pass through the opening made in the Peaeh-wall 

 or centre of the garden, which has already been described above, 

 in a straight line, and come into the upper or north gardens. 

 Two of the most beautiful objects in these borders are Ver- 

 benas General Lee and Claret Queen. These are two of the 

 best of my last vear's seedlings of the old section. General 

 Lee has a 'very fi-ee habit and style of growth with neat foUage, 

 and flowers very profusely all through the season. Good flowers 

 may be seen of' this variety long after all other Verbenas have 

 disappeared. The colour is a rich crimson-shaded pm-ple. 

 This with the following varieties wiU be much sought after for 

 bedding-purposes, as they are quite new in colour, and all 

 possess the desired habit for bedding-purposes. Amongst the 

 manv thousands of Verbenas that I raise yearly, I only se- 

 lect those of good habit, the type of which is Purple Kmg. 

 Those maguiiicent flowers one sees at the London exhibitions 

 are only fit for pot culture, plant them out in the open ground 

 and they are nothing better than weed;;. We do not want form 

 so much in the bcdiling Verbena, but the qualities most desir- 

 able are a great and lasting profusion of bloom, distinct colom-s 

 that are not easily faded by sun or rain, and last, but not 

 least, a good, compact, and erect style of growth. The varieties 

 named above will produce five or seveu trusses of liloom to 

 every one produced bv the strong-gi-owiug large-leaved kinds, 

 such as Foxbunter, Lord Leigh, &c. The foUowmg are the 

 best of my novelties for next year :— General Lee, Claret 

 Queen, General Grant, Loveliness, Laura, and Rosignole. 



On the border on the right hand as we go up the garden, we 

 commence with No. 1, Cerastium tomentosum ; 2, Lobeha 

 speciosa- 3, Golden Fleece Geranium; 4, Verbena General 

 Lee- 5 'Geranixun Flower of the Day; 6, Verbena Purple 

 King ; 7, Yellow Calceolaria ; 8, Purple Zehnda Dahlia ; 9, Am- 

 plexicaulis Calceolaria. 



This border for arrangement of colour, the evenness ot 

 growth of each row of plants, and for general effect I consider 

 the best of the six borders. From the Cerastium in the fi-ont 

 row to the Calceolaria at the back, the border all through the 

 season has presented a perfectly even surface, and this mthout 

 much trouble having been bestowed on it. My great object m 

 arran-nng my ribbon-borders, as well as the beds, is to arrange 

 the plants so that they will each support the others, all the 

 trouble required being merely pulling a stray flower from an 

 adjoining row into its proper place. I also plant them so that 

 the colom- shall harmonise without picking out any oi the 

 blooms from the plants. This system ot pickmg the blooms 

 out always grieves me beyond measure wherever I see it done. 

 The colours" hi this border will stand thus- 



1. \Milte. 



2. Blue. 



3. Yellow. 



4. Crimson-shaded purple. 



5. White and ceiise. 



6. Puriile. 



7. Yellow. 



8. Dark purple. 



9. Light yellow or straw colour. 



1. White. 



2. Blue. 



3. Yellow. 



plexicauUs Calceolaria. The colours in this border are as 

 follows : — 



I 4. Claret. I 7. Yellow. 



.'i. \Vhiteond scarlet. 8. Dark puri>le. 

 I 6. Purple. I 9. Light yellow or straw. 



The plants are put out thickly when the borders are first 

 planted, so that the ground is covered almost directly. We do 

 not have to wait till the summer is nearly over before the 

 ground is covered. The number of plants required for the six 

 ribbon-borders every year is upwards of 13,000. — J. Wills. 

 (To be continued.) 



The opposite or left-hand border commencea with— 1, Ceras- 

 tium next the gravel ; 2, Lobelia speciosa ; 3, Golden Fleece ; 

 4 Verbena Claret Queen ; 5, Geranium Bijou : 6, Verbena 

 Purple Kin" ■ 7, YeUow Calceolaria ; 8, Purple Zelinda ; 9, Am- 



FORMS OF OUR FRUIT-HOUSES. 



After the lean-to foi-m the orchard-house is, undoubtedly, 

 the next in importance ; and though in discussing its merits I 

 run the risk of offending some of its advocates. I do not think 

 I can properly elucidate my opinion of how important it is 

 that the shape of the house and the mode of cultivation 

 should each be adapted to the end in view, without entering 

 upon it ; the better, therefore, to guard against a misunder- 

 standing, I wiU commence by defining what I understand the 

 term " orchard-house" to mean. 



My first was 12 feet wide, span-roofed, with five-feet sides ; 

 my next 20 feet wide, also with a span roof, and the same 

 height at the sides ; my third 3fi feet wide, with three ridge- 

 and-furrow roofs, each 12 feet wide, and 7 feet high at the 

 sides, and now, I beheve, they are built 30 feet wide, with a 

 single roof. Let me take these as samples of orchard-houses 

 — that is, a span-roofed house of some sort, having glass all 

 round, and with no more pipes than are sufficient to keep the 

 frost out. Lean-to houses are not orchard-houses, even if 

 fruit trees are grown in them. They have been used for forc- 

 ing dwarf trees, either in pots or iflauted out, since Miller's 

 day, and I am confining my attention to what may be called 

 the orchard-house system of cultivation, leaving out the ques- 

 tion of pruning and the merits or demei-its of growing trees in 

 pots. 



These houses have succeeded in presen-ing the blossoms 

 from frost, and, m the south of England, ripening the fi-uit ; 

 but as you come north their success has depended on their size 

 till the midland counties are reached, where their usefulness 

 ends, even with tlie addition of pipes, and can only be restored 

 by turning them into forcuig-houses. 



My orchard-houses went the usual way ; the first year my 

 new "trees had abundance of blossom, but the fruit fell off 

 with the cold winds ; the next year I had a wider and larger 

 house ready for them, but less bloom, and the summer's result 

 was the same. Still, reading of the advantages of large houses, 

 I persevered and built a larger ; in this I had little bloom and 

 less fruit. How many hundi-eds of gentlemen and gardeners 

 can say the same was their experience ? The large houses keep 

 the spi-ing frosts out, but in the autumn the sun has not power 

 enough to ripen either the fruit or the buds. The small houses 

 I saw described in yoiu- Journal of September 5tb, in the 

 " Doings of the Last Week," by " R. F." under "Fruit Garden." 

 I have already commended this description to one gentleman's 

 attention, who " has a beautiful large orchard-house, supphed 

 with pipes to use in cold weather, and whose Peaches are over 

 out of doors, but in the orchard-house are not ripe yet, though 

 he has had this year a new gardener who knew bow to manage 

 them." I said if they would use the pipes they could, I thought, 

 ripen them before November, at v/hich time " R. F." wishes to 

 ripen his Plums. 



He is quite right ; their proper use is for retardiug-houses. 

 Let me give the quotation. " One great advantage of orchard- 

 houses is, that in a foi-ward season like this you may prolong 

 the season, by keeping the house with abundance of ventilation, 

 so as, in fact^ to make it cooler than the out-door temperature. 

 If ever we should get the chance we would have a cool glass 

 house for such Plums as Reine Claude de Bavay, and Coe's 

 Golden Drop, as in many seasons, we believe, they could be 

 thus had beautifully coloured and rich in flavour up to Novem- 

 ber." This is exactly what I did for four years under the ad- 

 vice of Mr. Rivers. Turn to his book on orchard-bouses, and 

 imder the head of " ventilation " you will find — " Now let me 

 advise any one, who has such a servant, to open all the shutteis 

 about thefirst week in July, and have them nailed so that they 

 cannot be closed ; they may remain so tiU the first of Septem- 

 ber." Last year, in the third week in August, I had a visit 

 from a French friend of mine, with whom I bad often stayed, 



