August 21, lSJd. ] 



JOURNAL OK HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



115 



more than half buried, and in the heat of Rummer are raised to 

 the surface to let the sun give them as much heat as possible, 

 and at the samo timo to allow the roots during the summer 

 months to pass out of the bottoms of tho pots into the ground. 



The way in which I have applied the heat is, as far as I can, 

 to encourage the growth of roots in winter, and to give a tem- 

 perature to them, when the fruit is setting, above what we get 

 •from tho sun in this climate, and then again, when tho heat 

 begins to fail in early autumn, to give warmth to ripen the 

 wood and get the trees put to rest early, by their having heat 

 and no water. Perhaps it will be best to state how the trees 

 are heated throughout one year. During tho sharp frosts of 

 winter tho hot water is kept going night and day, and I have 

 heat enough to thaw any snow that falls, but I do not raise the 

 temperature of the ground so high as this, but only enough to 

 prevent the roots being so much checked in their growth as to 

 destroy the young spongioles. Whenever the weather is mild 

 the lire is not lighted ; and by the end of February there is 

 rarely any occasion for artificial heat. As soon, however, as 

 the trees are in full blossom, tho tire is again lighted and the 

 heat steadily increased, and kept up till the sun warms tho 

 ground thoroughly ; at this period the fire is lighted early in 

 the morning and allowed to go out at night, and so gradually 

 till artificial heat ceases about the middle of June, or later if 

 the season be cold ; and if a few cold days come, I give heat 

 again during the day. During the blossoming-season the trees 

 have a wide piece of netting over them. The trees now will 

 have got a very great advance upon those in the open ground 

 so far as the ripening of the fruit is concerned, but they do not 

 open their blossoms more than a vory few days before them. 



Then again about the end of August I give heat during the 

 day, and, according to the nature of the fruit, give water or 

 withhold it, as I would encourage growth or ripen the wood. 

 In the latter case it is necessary to cover the pots with slates 

 or wood, to keep the rain off. My rule is to withhold water 

 and give heat as soon as ever the fruit is ripe. When the ter- 

 minal buds are fully developed, the pots are lifted and the pro- 

 truding roots cut off ; the soil taken out halfway down, and the 

 roots so far cut within a few inches of the stem ; fresh soil is 

 put iu, a little water given to the tree, which is placed on the 

 hot border again for about a couple of weeks, and then kept 

 dry till the leaves fall and for some time after. The root- 

 pruning is going on from the end of September to the end of 

 October (I believe it should always be performed before the 

 leaves fall) ; and by giving water and heat the trees do not flag 

 for more than a day, and heal their wounds at once. No doubt 

 much has to be learned here, and it will require many seasons 

 to find out the best treatment. My object is to get the trees to 

 cast their leaves very soon after the wood is mature, and to 

 stop the long herbaceous growth that our damp autumns pro- 

 duce. I need hardly mention that close summer pinching is 

 practised, so that very little winter pruning is needed. The 

 dry heat soon sends the leaves off, and a long rest is given to 

 the trees during the autumn. Some are placed under glass to 

 ripen their fruit ; and all would be, if I had sufficient extent of 

 it ; for as tho trees are merely resting, a small space accommo- 

 dates a great number, as they may be packed close together, 

 and, the pots being dry, no mildew need be feared, as they 

 have at this time plenty of air. Finally, as soon as the rains 

 of autumn aro over and the cold weather sets in, the hardy 

 trees are again put into the hot border. 



As may be expected, the flavour of the fruit is first-rate, and 

 the additional length given to our summers allows many kinds 

 to come to perfection that otherwise we cannot ripen. A 

 month or six weeks is certainly thus added. We have plenty 

 of bight from our long days in summer ; but, excepting for 

 July and part of August, we have no heat iu the ground, and 

 during our long cold and wet autumns the rootlets of our trees 

 rot and die, and they have to grow again before the trees have 

 'strength to swell their fruit. I tried three trees of Beurre 

 Superfin last year, all grafted at the same time and equal in 

 vigour — one in the open ground, one in the orchard-house, and 

 one with root heat and no glass. The Pears from the open 

 border wore about the size of Walnuts, those from the orchard- 

 house fair-sized and good, but those from the hot border were 

 larger and finer than I have ever seen iu the south of England : 

 and it must be remembered that the season was one especially 

 favourable for the open border, the trees in which had not been 

 disturbed for three years, and were kept well mulched during 

 the hot weather. 



I first began the system of bottom heat by plunging Straw- 

 berry plants in an open hotbed and planting them out after 



giving them a rest in the autumn ; and the result induced mo 

 to try the plan on a larger scalo with very various kinds of 

 fruit. One very useful application of tho hot border is for 

 grafting young trees : the stocks potted early in the autumn 

 and treated like the other trees during tho autumn and winter 

 and early spring are quite vigorous enough then for grafting, 

 and they push strongly and get no checks, and so there is no 

 trouble in keeping back tho scions till the stocks are roady. 



Last year I put a row of Potatoes just over one of tho 

 hot-water pipes, at the same time that the ordinary crop was 

 planted. Some time afterwards my man (who is not learned in 

 gardening, though thoroughly trustworthy and interested in bis 

 work), came to me and said, " The taties on the hot pipes are 

 not thriving like those in the grand." I asked him what made 

 him think so ; and then it came out that he was judging by tho 

 tops. However, in a few days more the ground over those in 

 heat swelled and broke up like mole-hills, and we had in the 

 beginning of Juno the best Potatoes I have had at any time 

 since I came here six years ago. 



I am now making preparations for giving bottom heat with 

 glass overhead, and I shall be very glad to work out any 

 systematic experiments on the use of heat without glass, glass 

 without heat, and heat and glass united ; but I am sure that 

 unless our experiments are based upon some principle to begin 

 with, they will never be of value for making correct induc- 

 tions : and so I shall be glad to give some time to experiments 

 of a scientific kind in order to obtain results that, as an indivi- 

 dual, I should never live long enough to see, but which by the 

 united efforts of many may be arrived at in a very few seasons. 

 So please do not think that in the account I am giving you, I 

 suppose my system to be anything more than an experiment, 

 or that I should consider it otherwise than a hasty induction 

 to declare from it that the principles which for the sake of 

 clearness I have stated, are in anywise proved to be correct. 



CELERY CULTURE. 



Eight-and -twenty years ago my father grew the best Celery 

 in the county. For nearly twenty years it was grown on the 

 same spot. His system had something peculiar in it, and to a 

 great extent had to be adopted through the force of circum- 

 stances. The soil of his garden was a uniform depth of 3 feet 

 of light sandy loam, where Pcai-s were either cracked or gritty, 

 Cauliflowers always clubbed, Carrots worm-eaten, and the 

 main crop of these was always grown on some distant part of 

 the home farm ; but Apples were healthy, fruitful, and their 

 skins shining and glossy. We never since saw snch Hawthorn- 

 dens, Oslins, or Golden Pippins ; and the Raspberry quarter, in 

 a moist rather shady corner, was a perfect labyrinth of tall 

 strong canes. Below the 3 feet of soil lay a fine clear yellow 

 sand, upon which we used to speculate in our budding geo- 

 logical fancy whether it reached through to the other side of 

 the earth ; but our convictions on that point are now a little 

 more matured. Just outside the wall stood a green rocky emi- 

 nence commanding a view of the whole garden, on the top sf 

 which used to stand two venerablo umbrella-looking Scotch 

 Firs. That will ever be a green spot in our memory, recalling 

 reminiscences of struggles then unfelt, of a large family on 

 scanty fare, scanty clothing, on a gardener's very scanty wages. 



It was a very dry hungry soil, and but for its depth, readily 

 became parched. In summer the Celery required great quan- 

 tities of water, often repeated, and far to carry; and being 

 scarce of both water and labour, my father economised both 

 by adopting the following system : — The Melon ground stood 

 in an open part of the garden, on a declivity to the south, with 

 the river Doveron running near the lower end. Large quanj 

 tities of stable manure were annually used for Melon, Cucum- 

 ber, and other beds, in ranges running from east to west. The 

 Celery trench, about 5 feet wide and 18 inches deep, lay 

 parallel to the dung-beds at the lower side. The surrounding 

 ground was quite hard from long treading, so were the bottom 

 and sides of the trench. The Celery trench was part and 

 parcel of the Melon ground, and was annually in the spring 

 cleared out ; the soil which was used for earthing-up was laid 

 to one side ; the wasted manure in which the Celery had grown 

 the previous year was wheeled away, and the trench was re- 

 charged with a quantity of the old dung from the Melon-beds. 



The Celery, raised in boxes in one of the frames, was pricked 

 out at once in rows across the trench, where it had to remain, 

 the earliest being for some time protected and encouraged by 

 having a few sashes from the frames laid across the trench ; 



