November 14, 1865. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



403 



to propagate. This season I have not had a singlo entting of it 

 that has failed. Thoy were treated as follows : — About the UOtli 

 of August 1 took the number of cuttings that I recjuired, and 

 put each in a soiiarate thumb pot ; they were then placed on 

 ashes in a sheltered corner of the garden, and in a fortnight or 

 three weeks the little pots were full of roots. I only wish some 

 of the best silver-edged ones would do as well with ine as the 

 Cloth of Gold. 



Perhaps it may not bo out of place for mo to mention that I 

 found a sport from the Cloth of Cold, above a year since, with 

 an entire gold-coloured leaf, of which I have now a good many 

 plants, and it does quite as well with mo as its parent, but I 

 fancy it is of a more spreading habit, and, as yet, it has not 

 shown the least signs of going back to the original. 



In conclusion, I trust that these remarks and tliose that have 

 come from others in favour of Clotli of Gold may induce Mr. 

 Flittou to "try again." — \Vm. L.^whenson. 



Mn. E. Fisn, in his " Doings of the Last Week," asks if any 

 one has experienced the same facts as he has with Cloth of 

 Gold Geranium as a bedding plant ; and as I have grown it 

 largely in three different positions during the jiast summer, I 

 may, perhaps, be doing some good by stating thu results. 



1st, In May of this year I planted two bods in the parterre, 

 which were fully exposed to the sun's power, and from that 

 time until the plants were taken up last month these had not 

 grown an inch, but, on the contrary, they gradually became 

 less, until they were unsightly objects. 



2ndly, I planted another bed under a terrace wall, where the 

 sun did not reach it until just after mid-day. Although this 

 bed has done much better than the last-named, the plants only 

 made slow progress, and were by no means up to the mark. 



3rdly, I planted a quantity on a border, backed up with 

 trees and shrubs, and situated so as to receive the morning 

 sun up to eleven o'clock, and there I found the plant quite 

 at home, thriving and making foliage of a splencUd colour : 

 consequently doing good service as a bedding plant. 



The facts here stated not only coincide with those of Mr. 

 Fish, but prove that in order to have this plant in perfection in 

 our gardens it must have a partially shaded position. Golden 

 Chain I do not grow largely enough to give an opinion of. — 

 Thomas Eecobd, Gardener to Colonel Loyd. 



i METEOROLOGY OF OUR FRUIT-IIOUSES. 



There has gone abroad somehow an opinion that a Peach 

 tree grown in a Peach-house should be treated in a different 

 way from a Peach tree grown in an orchard-house, and also that 

 a bush tree grown in an orchard-house is, in some unexplained 

 way, stronger and hardier, and able to stand greater vicissi- 

 tudes than one grown in a Peach-house. Now, I think that if 

 these two systems are fairly examined it will be proved that 

 there is only one treatment applicable to them, and that if this 

 is not foDowed success should not be expected. 



In my previous letters I tried to show the possessors of lean- 

 to vineries and Peach-houses that by keeping the sun's rays 

 ont they lost in summer what was equal to the value of their 

 pipes ; and, again, to prove to those who had large orchard- 

 houses in the south, that they, whether they knew it or not, 

 had as much heat as is required in any forcing Peach-house or 

 vinery. As the correctness of the temperatures I gave as ob- 

 tainable in these two classes of houses — viz., lean-to houses, 

 where the sun's rays were not obstructed, and large span-roofed 

 orchard-houses, has been called in question, it may be interest- 

 ing to some of your readers, as well as satisfying my own 

 desires, if I give a few meteorological facts to show that my 

 assertions were not made at random. 



The following table I have taken from Mr. .T. C. Morton's 

 " Farmer's Calendar," and he gives the Astronomer Royal as 

 his authority : — 



GrentcBt 

 heat. 



M»y 



June 



July 



August 



September 



94.5 

 93.5 

 92.0 

 86.4 



Lowest Hitrhest 

 max. min. 

 heat. cold. 



65.0 I 45.3 



72.7 62.7 



72.7 54.0 



70.8 49.9 

 66.7 53.5 



The mean between columns 1 and 2 must, I think, be taken 

 as a fair criterion of the temperature on a sunny day, and that 



between 3 and 4 as an average of the night temperature to be 

 expected. I have also given the number of wet days. I will 

 now contrast this with the Chiswick return for tlie month of 

 Sciitember last— the highest was«.S"". I find one day the ther- 

 mometer is marked as HO", and fifteen others aro above ; I shall 

 tlierefore assume that this figure 80" is not too much for a fair 

 average for the month this year, and that Mr. Rivers was un- 

 fortunate in his choice of a day to obtain an average upon, as, if 

 it were correct, instead of proving his large orchard-houses to be 

 equal to the climate of Toulouse and the south-west of France, 

 it would only show that they are the same as the open air at 

 Cbiswick. 



We also differ in our estimate of the increase of heat on a 

 fine day. I'erhaps if wo notice the variations out of doors it 

 may help us a little ; I will take the month of June. Between 

 the maximums on the '2nd and Oth, are 10°; between the 

 0th and I'ith, 17°; I'ith and 14th, 12°; ICth and 18th, 21°; 

 IHth and 21st, 30°; 23rd and 26th, 21"; 2Hth and 29th, 14°. 

 I will then reduce my estimates a little, and say that, taking an 

 average of the five hottest months, a large orchard-house placed 

 at Cbiswick should have for eighteen days in each month a 

 temperature, with fair ventilation, of from 90" to 110", and I 

 am still of the opinion that this heat is more than it would be 

 safe to have if it were oblained by any other means. Let mo 

 now examine the minima and see if I am supported in say- 

 ing that narrow span-roofed orchard-houses are only fitted 

 for retarding-houses. Columns 3 and 4 will give the average 

 night temperature according to the return of the Astronomer 

 Royal, but I will also take the Cbiswick register. During August 

 I find eighteen nights below 51°, but including 41°, and seven 

 below 41"; in September sixteen below 51°, but including 41°, 

 and seven below 41°. This leaves only six nights in the first 

 month, and seven in the second, that were over 50". 



Trees that have been growing in a warm climate — that is, with 

 the ventilators closed till July, are more easily acted upon than 

 those which have always been in a colder climate, and, there- 

 fore, will be sooner brought to a standstill, though they may 

 not lose their leaves and go to rest till they have had their 

 usual time of growth. Pjut what does Dr. Bennet say ? — that 

 the deciduous trees were kept at rest till April at Mentone by a 

 night temperature " in fine weather of from 40° to 48°, in bad 

 weather sometimes below 40°." The average maxima he 

 gives as, January, 52.4° ; February, 53.8° ; March, 58.6° ; April, 

 64°. Perhaps it will be the most satisfactory if I also add the 

 average minima for each month, January, 43.3° ; February, 

 45.4°; March, 46.3°; April, 49.2" ; the April table only includes 

 to the 15th, at which date Dr. Bennet returned home. 



I gave in my letter a range of from 95° in the day to 45° at 

 night, and some may have thought this was a greater alteration 

 of temperature than would be wise to permit. Mr. Rivers 

 wonders that the trees were not killed — Peach trees are natives 

 of a climate where there are greater vicissitudes than we have 

 in ours, but let us see what we have as shown by the Cbiswick 

 report for September. I count six days upon which the dif- 

 ference between the maximum and the minimum was 40° and 

 over, the highest being 46° ; twelve had 35° or over, but under 

 40" ; four had 30° or over, but under 35° ; four had 25" or over, 

 but under 30" ; four had 15° or over, but under 25° ; by this we 

 see that upon eighteen days of last September there was a 

 change, during the twenty-four hours, of more than 35° at 

 Cbiswick in the open air. The exact average of these eighteen 

 days is 39°. 



This subject, the meteorology of hot-houses and orchard- 

 houses, is one that merits the attention of all who desire the 

 advancement of horticulture. I am glad to testify that I have 

 studied with great advantage the works of Messrs. Rivers, 

 Brehaut, and Pearson on orchard-houses, and shall order with 

 renowned interest the next editions if they will add a chapter on 

 this subject. I believe it is the one thing needed to make 

 orchard-houses universally successful, and I advise all who 

 have trouble with theirs to look to the night temperature, for 

 with ventilation the atmosphere is soon changed, and unless 

 there is a back wall that has been warmed by the sun, to give 

 out its heat all night, they may find that they are unwittingly 

 engaged in retarding their August and September Peaches in a 

 manner that, if they have pipes enough, wiU enable them to 

 ripen them in November. — G. H. 



Plums. — Too much praise cannot be bestowed on Rivers's 

 Early Favourite. A few years ago I purchased of Mr. Rivers 

 a few trees, one of which! planted against a south-west wall; 



