January 9, 1866. ] 



JODENAIi OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



23 



MY ORCHARD-HOUSE. 



I TOOK my first idea of the construction of an orchard-house 

 from Mr. llivers, ami in erecting my houses I followed the 

 directions contained in his excellent work on the " Orchard- 

 House." I went economically to work, had my rafters and 

 plates all cut and planed by macliinery, and hired a handy 

 cai-penter at 4s. a-day, who, singly, built, glazed, painted, and, 

 indeed, planted my house. I repeat, that in erecting the struc- 

 tiu-c I followed the directions of Mr. Eivers, but iu selecting, 

 planting, and pruning my trees, I as implicitly followed the plan 

 recommended by the KeV. T. C. Brchaut. in training my trees 

 I indulged a fancy of my own. 



One line day, happeijing to be in Longmans' shop in Pater- 

 noster Row, i stumblud upon m3' friend Mr. Brehaut's treatise 

 on " Diagonal Cordons," which at once rivetted my attention, 

 and determined uie to erect an orchard-house. Accordingly, I 

 tried my hand on a small span-roofed one, about 40 feet by 10, 

 and 12 feet high, but was very unfortunate, as in the second 

 year (two years ago), I overdosed my house with the smoke of 

 gas tar to kill the aphides, and this stripped my trees of all 

 their leaves, and gave them a check from which they have only 

 this last season recovered. Nothing daunted, I set to work, 

 and my man built me another span-roofed house, length 

 162 feet, breadth 2o feet, height 15 feet to the apex, and 7 feet iu 

 height at the sides. There are five wooden platform walks the 

 whole length of the house, the centre walk 5 feet wide, and the 

 other two walks ou each side 2 feet wide. These walks are 

 made of deal boards, planed, and have an aperture of about an 

 inch, so as to allow the " skyey influences " to have their e0ect 

 on the subjacent soil. 



1 planted my trees 3 feet apart ; and according to my 

 friend's direction, I commenced to train them at an angle 

 of from 6.5' to 70', until the period arrived to lower the 

 branches to their proper berths — viz., to the angle of 4.3°. 

 Previous to planting my trees I had strung my house through- 

 out with thin galvanised iron wire. No. 14, a foot apart, at an 

 angle of 45°. These wires, commencing about a foot from 

 the ground, extended first to within a foot of the glass, in a 

 line with the platform walk, then, at the same angle, following 

 the slant of the roof up to within a foot of the apex, and so 

 continued down the other side at the same angle, so that my 

 trees on one side have an inclination to the north, and on the 

 other to the south, which has a beautifiU effect. Of course, 

 one tree fills thi-ee wires, the branches being a foot apart in 

 accordance with my friend's instructions. I have another row 

 of trees between the two platforms on each side, all trained in 

 the same way. The outer platform on eaclr side is close to the 

 glass, and to the ventilating-doors, which are 14 iuciios deep, 

 extend the whole length of the house, and are let down out- 

 side on hinges so as to just clear the ground. These doors, as 

 well as three larger ventilators which I thought necessary to 

 place in the roof, I have always kept wide open, night and day, 

 after the third week in May. I have fruit trees of all idnds, 

 but chiefly Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots, all pinched u la 

 Elvers, and pruned a la Brehant ; indeed, were the trees not 

 so pinched and pruned they would soon become a mass of 

 confusion ; whereas, now, the branches are all fringed round 

 with short shoots reduced to obedience. No gourmand shAot 

 can live under such severe discipline. I had a most abundant 

 crop last year, too many indeed, and I am now busy pruning. 

 " I cut boldly and fear not," as my friend enjoins, and I iicd 

 the observation of Mr. Pavers quite correct, that " Cut as you 

 wUl you are sure of plenty of fruit ;" but I recommend all 

 amateurs to follow the rules prescribed for wood and fruit. 

 In addition to the diagonal cordons of the centre, X have one 

 hundred pyramids — viz., fifty on each side, alternately in pots 

 and in the borders, but I mean to remove them if they at aU 

 mar the progress of the diagonal cordons, which are to be the 

 permanent trees. 



I fear that I am trespassing on your space, but I cannot refrain 

 from exulting in the idea of the magnificent spectacle which 

 the centre, or crinoline walk as I term it, will present with the 

 groined arch of beautiful fruit trees overhead ; for akeady in 

 this, the third year, some of the trees are advancing towards 

 their destination, the apex. In describing my house, I omitted 

 to state that I have at the north end of it a lenn-to Iiwuse 

 80 feet long, and 13 feet broad, and of the same height as the 

 span-roofed house, which rmis into it, and, in fact, the two 

 form one building. The trees on the back are on diagonal wires 

 8 inches fi'om the boards, and, of course, fringed all round 

 like a sweep's flue-brush. Most of these trees have reached 



the top of the house. I water my trees with two longitu- 

 dinal gutters, one on each side, made of zinc, and perforated 

 at the bottom with holes a foot apart, just large enough to 

 admit of being closed with galvanised round clout nails, so 

 that I can, at pleasure, alternate the supply to my trees, as I 

 have an abundance of water. This gutter I make fast to the 

 rails which extend the whole length of the bouse, and to which 

 the diagonal wires are attached. I have about 450 trees in my 

 large house. 



I may add, that I have on my ground, constructed a Pear 

 and Plum trellis about 4.30 feet long and 15 high, on which 

 I am training my trees after JI. Du BreuU's ijlan, each tree 

 14 inches apart, and pruned a la Breliaut, and trained at an 

 angle of 45°, but I have dispensed with diagonal wires, and use 

 instead horizontal wires 18 inches apai-t, to which I attach 

 osier rods, which are I'emoveable when you w.iut to lower the 

 branciies to the proper angle. Indeed, were I to start du novo, 

 I would adopt that plan in the orchard-house, and dispense 

 with diagonal wires altogether, as there is some trouble in keep- 

 ing them tight. — Eichard Clay, Rose Ban!;. 



P.S. — Since w ritiug the above, I notice that in a late Number 

 Mr. Brehaut makes mention of the method of training adopted 

 in my orchard-house. 



CYCLAMENS. 



In reply to Jlr. Abbey's inquiries, I regi'et to say that I am not 

 able to name the varieties of Cyclamens which I found grow- 

 ing in Sicily, Syria, &c., fori unfortunately lost my dried speci- 

 mens of them. My impression is that it was C. neapolitantmi 

 which I found growing in such profusion in Sicily during the 

 latter part of March. I happen to know that it was the earliest- 

 flowering variety, because a botanical friend, who travelled 

 by the same road a fortnight before me, could not find any then 

 in flower. This last spring was very late in Italy, he.avy snow 

 fell low down the sides of Etna late in March. As regards the 

 soil in which they grow, I invariably found them growing on as 

 hard a bed as possible, never on a soft, loose soil, l)nt as invari- 

 ably covered with a loose, open, friable soil, often composed of 

 decayed leaves mixed in the soil, and sometimes of soil alone, 

 as loose and open as the mould of an ant's hill. Of one fact 

 I am certain — of the three or four varieties whifli I found all 

 were more or loss deeply covered with loose, open soil ; and the 

 stalks of the leaves and stems of the flowers appeared so much 

 to enjoy, and to derive so much benefit from their contact with 

 the humid soil, that I am an advocate for providing all varieties, 

 wheftier in pots, pits, or open beds, with their natural require- 

 ment. 



I am quite sure that Mr. Abbey does not mean to be satirical 

 in saying that •' imitating nature sounds well. It is little car- 

 ried out in practice." That is the very point to which I -wished 

 to di'aw the attention of yom' readers — viz., that if we diverge 

 from the path of nature by endeavouring to grow to perfection 

 certain plants without providing certain accessories which we 

 find them enjoying in their native localities, we are retarding 

 rather than promoting the eujojinent of Nature's best gifts, in 

 fact, I may say we are actually placing imnecessary difficulties 

 in our own way ; for if Mr. Abbey could see the thick succulent 

 stems of the leaves and flowers when bared from the soil, he 

 would not hesitate for a moruent in deciding that a covering 

 of loose soil or vegetable compost is not only advantageous, 

 but actually requisite, for the weU-being of all members of the 

 Cyclamen family. 



I have long been of opinion that the principal diffieulties 

 which we have to encounter in the cultivation of plants is our 

 ignorance of their actual n;'.tural condition and requirements, 

 and a reference to some of your older volumes will show that I 

 have endeavoured to point out tliis requirement in some of our 

 British plants, now, alas ! becoming so rare as to be deemed 

 almost extinct. As a case in point I would mention a circum- 

 stance connected with a plant not nnUke the Cyclamen in leaf. 

 Some years ago I sent you a specimen of Asarum virginicum, 

 of which I had managed to raise a good length for an edging 

 plant, on account of its rich glossy leaves. Your excellent co- 

 adjutor Mr. Beaton wrote immediately — " I have not seen that 

 plant for twenty years, pray teU me how yon managed to grow 

 it so well ;" and another of youi' correspondents asked me to 

 exchange with him a )ilant of it, for which he sent me another 

 variety of Asarum. When it arrived it appeared to be different 

 from my own, it had a thin, pale green leaf, different from the 

 thick, dark, shining, green foliage of my own plants ; but after it 



