AnpiBt 81, 18G6. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENKR. 



141 



exposed to the heat of the sun hefore I use it for either water- 

 ing or syringing. I believe this to beim excellent plan. I will 

 not add to tho length of this communication by obtruding any 

 hints of mine on the subject of orchard-houso culture. Suttieo 

 it to say, that I go by book as closely as I can. I must frankly 

 own, indeed, that my trees will not invariably grow in lich i 

 manner as to square with Mr. Proliant's theory, where he lays 

 down that each spur should be furnished with two shoots, one 

 for wood and one for fruit, yet I regard that formula a>.' the 

 embodiment of a very important principle, and I follow it as 

 nearly as my judgment enables mo and Nature seems to permit. 

 There are two mistakes against which I should like just to 

 warn beginners, and say. crede experto, — do not ram the 

 earth into your pots when it ia at all wet, especially if it be of 

 a clayey nature; and, secondly, do not be in too groat a hurry 

 to pinch-in your young shoots. Experience has taught me to 

 rectify these two radical errors, and I can only say, but not in 

 a vaunting spirit, that success has crowned my efforts. Patience 

 and observation have enabled me to overcome many difficulties, 

 and I can thankfully add that my orchard-house has been to 

 me a source of unmixed happiness, giving me delightful occu- 

 pation during my leisure moments all the year round, and 

 affording me a never-failing source of interest and pleasure. 

 I feel my mind refreshed as I walk along my orchard-house 

 and view my thriving cordon trees, my graceful pyramids, my 

 splendid bunches of Grapes, my luscious Figs, and I think of 

 that scriptural picture which is presented to us of almost per- 

 fect human happiness and contentment, where we read that 

 Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his Vine and 

 under his Fig tree, all the days of Solomon. Once I was one 

 of Izaak Walton's enthusiastic disciples; but, alas ! streams 

 are polluted now, and I care not to issue forth, rod in hand, 

 when so many common sewers are permitted to disgorge their 

 unsavoury contents into every noble river and babbling brook ; 

 but I have that at home which makes ample compensation for 

 the loss of piscatory pleasures, and am inclined to think that 

 if any relics of primaeval Paradise still linger upon this much- 

 abused earth of ours, they are still to be found within the pre- 

 cincts of a garden — in the simple cultivation of fruit and 

 flowers — still to be traced in the glory of the gaily ornamented 

 parterre, in the perfume of the sweetly-scented conservatory, 

 and in the beauty of the spring blossoms and autumnal pro- 

 duce, even of the more humble, but no less enjoyable, orchard- 

 house. — A Constant Reader. 



ENCROACHIN< ! TREES. 



The trees (Elm and Ash), of a neighbour's plantation are 

 placed so close to my garden as to do me great mischief by 

 overhanging, and the roots running under the fence into my 

 borders. As I believe this grievance is not an uncommon one, 

 I address you, in the hope that you will say what remedy I 

 may legally have in my power to adopt. The overhanging 

 branches were pruned at my request three or four years ago, 

 when I was asked to lop off any offending branch thenceforth ; 

 but the trees have now grown so large and overhanging from 

 the very top that no pruning, and, I believe, nothing short of 

 removal, can be of any permanent advantage. — A Subscbebeb. 



"We do not think that you eoidd compel your neighbour to 

 remove the trees, and even if he were willing to do so, perhaps 

 you would hesitate from urging him to take that course, if 

 they are ornamental, or shelter his grounds. Tho remedy, 

 however, is in your own hands, for you have permission to 

 remove the offending branches ; and such permission is much 

 better than compelling the owner to lop them off, which he 

 could be compelled to do, for no branches have a right to hang 

 beyond the boundary of their owner's ground. As to the in- 

 vading roots, they may be effectually repelled. Close to your 

 boundary have a trench dug 2 feet wide and sufficiently deep 

 to be below the roots, cutting through all that penetrate your 

 soil. Fill the trench with stones rammed in hard without 

 any earth admixed, and the roots will not attempt to trespass 

 again/ 



The Saw -eiudgewoeth ORCHAim-HorsEs. — Those of our 

 readers who are interested in orchard-house cultivation should 

 seize on opportunity to visit Messrs. Rivera's extensive esta- 

 blishment at Sawbridgeworth, which now offers great attrac- 

 tions, particularly to such as are fond of fruit-tree culture. 

 The new Peaches and Nectarines which Mr. Rivers ho 

 ceeded in raising, and which will supersede all the old varieties, 



are of themselves a study; and the profusion of fruit with 

 which they and the Apricots in pots are laden cannot fail to 

 astonish even those who have no practical knowledge of the 

 subject. 



ROSES AND STRAWBERRIES AT SEEND, 



WILTS. 



The Rose is not only an Englishman's national emblem, but 

 also his favourite (lower; lie is proud of it e be B( it en- 

 twined with the Thistle and the Shamrock, and hi' thinks that 

 the best portion of tho device is his ; he grudges not the Scotch- 

 man his Thistle, nor the Irishman his Shamrock; and as to 

 tl e Welshman's national vegetable — well, he would rather have 

 nothing to do with that. But the Englishman is not only 

 proud of the Rose, he loves it. Watch the crowd in Cheap el. , 

 and men of business though they be, they have their favourite 

 flower, and that flower is the Rose ; and dear, round-faced, 

 smoek-froeked Hodge — smoek-frocked at church on Good Friday 

 and Ash Wednesday, but in good broadcloth (black usually, 

 with an eye to a good appearanco at buryings), on a Sunday — 

 well, does not he cram his button-hole with Cabbage Roses? 

 (Fancy a Scotchman with a Thistle in his coat!) And, more 

 than that, does he not tell his Mary, as lie pours bucket after 

 bucket of milk into her cheese-tub, "that her cheeks be like 

 two full-blowed Roses?" Well, of course he does, the Rose 

 being his ideal of beauty. We all love the Rose. In babyhood 

 we did. when with chubby plucking fingers we littered our little 

 carriage floor with petals of Damask and China, Roses. Child- 

 hood succeeded babyhood ; still we loved the Rose, and prized 

 most of all that Maiden's Blush in our little garden. Youth 

 next. Ah! then we gathered carefully the choicest half-opened 



buds, and gave them with such a look and meaning to our . 



But no more ; these reflections will not do. Ah ! 



" That was tbc time of RO! I 

 We plucked them as wc pa i t; ' 



But putting aside the poetry of life connected with the Rose, 

 it is certain that each year the love of Roses is on the increase. 

 This we owe to raisers of Hybrid Perpetuals. Blessings on 

 tin man who brings out a good Rose which will bloom from 

 .Tune to December. That is the Rose for popularity. It needs 

 no wrapping up in lavender in the winter, no potting and 

 repotting, no taking up, &c. No, there all winter long it stands 

 in the garden uninjured, and for half the year is an object of 

 beauty. 



One miserable, rainy day last February I received a hearty 

 word-of-mouth invitation from Mr. Ambrose Awdey, the head 

 of one of our oldest, happily most numerous, and most re- 

 spected Wiltshire families, to bo present at his annual Rose 

 and Strawberry gathering, held on his ancestral acres at Seend. 

 Now, knowing Mr. Awdey to be one of our best and most en- 

 thusiastic rosarians, and that his Strawberries made people 

 open their eyes and their mouths too, I accepted the invitation 

 readily and gladly. I often thought about the treat in store, 

 laid my head back in my study chair on windy days — my 

 horror — and said I shall enjoy myself then. I sniffed at the 

 treat at a distance, as an alderman may be supposed to sniff at 

 turtle soup when a mile off. I longed for the time to come, 

 intending to give myself up to enjoyment like a very child. 

 At long-last the Rose time came round, and with it a note 

 fixing the day of the Rose and Strawberry festival. There had 

 been a good deal of '-am those first four days of July, but why 

 should it he wet on the 5th '.' Besides, the word Seend means 

 sand, so the roads will not be very bad if there be rain. 



On reaching Seend by rail, I ascend from the station, and 



climb a steep hill and soon enter the village, seeing a break 



before me full of ladies (flowers on their way to the flowers). 



Then I enter the village street ; a pretty clean-looking village 



it is, with a sufficient number of good houses near enough 



together to make a charming band of country neighbours — 



who would drop in to tea with each other after an after- 



walk, and have pleasant parochial chats about the school 



and the poor, " how nervous the governess is about the coming 



of that terrible government inspector, and they intend to give 



her an hour's help each day;" and then the poor, ■■ iiow 



Martha Smith needs beef tea, and Molly Dull wants an outfit 



foi In- daughter, who is going to her first place of service." 



I In fact, I liked the look of Seend, and almost coveted the 



i arson's place. 



Having reached my host's house we had n. light lunch, only 

 a standing lunch— cake, and wine, and biscuits, and Straw- 



