828 



JODBMAI. OF HORTICnLTUBB AKD COTTAGE OABOEKEB. 



[ iltj I, isoai 



and created no excitement in the horticultural world, when the 

 production of a solitar; (rait at long intervals in some of our 

 most extensive eatabliehments throns the whole community 

 into ecstacies. — B. H. 



FRUITS IN THE ORCHARD-HOUSE AND 

 GARDEN. 

 I HAVE heard and read of orchard-houses in various parts of 

 the country, but I am not aware that they exist to any extent 

 in this county, Shropshire. My first experience in this matter 

 dates from last autumn twelvemonth, when I had a Ican-to, 

 20 feet by 12, erected. The I'each and Nectarine trees, owing 

 to the pots not being ready when they arrived, remained in an 

 outhouse in the baskets, only portially unpacked, for nine or 

 ten days, being kept too dry ; and when afterwards potted, being 

 overdosed with water, they cast their buds, and so far for the 

 first season were a failure. Perceiving, however, from the 

 character of growth last summer, and a nice sprinkling of Plums 

 and Cherries, that orchard-house cultivation was likely to be a 

 success, I, last autumn, built another house the same size as 

 the preceding, and matters at present are very promising. 



Having understood that Apricots were not easily fruited in 

 pots, I am pleased to lind that the two I have, a Kaisha and 

 Moorpark, have their fruit set very thickly, so that the scissors 

 will have to be used pretty freely in the thinning process. 

 Here let me say how well orchard-houses are adapted for re- 

 tarding as well as protecting the blossom. This matter was 

 Etrongly recommended by the late Mr. Errington, and is, I 

 conceive, extremely important. Having had occasion to go 

 some distance from home on the 23rd of February, I was sur- 

 prised to see the walls covered with Apricot bloom at that 

 early date, while my trees were scarcely showing white at all. I 

 hod had the ventilators of the house for the most part open 

 night and day throughout the whole of that unusually mild 

 January, and hence the buds were still in embryo when others 

 were bursting into bloom. AVe may easily suppose where pro- 

 tection has been withheld what has been the result of an in- 

 clement March. A friend in the neighbourhood, who had a 

 fine bloom of this fruit on his wall, told me a few days ago that 

 half a dozen would be the outside of the produce, ilr. Bivers, 

 in his book, recommends the ventilators to be shut night and 

 day during January. The advice is, no doubt, sound in the 

 main, but the best rules must occasionally be departed from. 



Though the Peaches and Nectarines are at present pictures 

 of beauty in their full bloom, it is yet too soon to speak about 

 results ■ but I hope in the autumn to report good progress in 

 that direction. The Plums seem especially promising, and I 

 can see already that a Keine Claude is setting its fruit so 

 thickly that some hundreds will have to be taken off. 



With regard to fruit generally, it is remarkable how little 

 the theory of thinning in productive seasons is understood and 

 practised, the results of its neglect being deteriorated produce 

 in the current year, and a total failure in the next. I cut off 

 last year three thousand from one Orleans Plum tree, and it 

 would have been all the better if 1 had taken off a thousand 

 mere. A crop of two bushels still remained. 



The soil of my garden, a tenacious loam on a clay, or, other- 

 wise, rocky subsoil, seems to be very suitable for the gene- 

 rality of fruit trees. The Itibston and Hawthornden Apples 

 do not canker in the least ; and from that decaying of the 

 ends of young branches so often seen, my trees never suffer. 

 Strawberries never (ail with me. The British Queen, of which 

 complaints are so freq'.mt, always fruits abundantly. The 

 last two dry summers have been no exception. I make fresh 

 plantations every other year. 



Like other people, I have been plagued from time to time by 

 the birds taking the hnds. Let not person, however, rashly 

 charge sparrc^ws with the offence. They are bad enough in 

 their way, and those who have Peas coming up where sparrows 

 abound must be on the look-out, or the rows will present a 

 very naked and unsatisfactory appearance ; but my opinion is, 

 these birds never injure a bud. The real depredators are bull- 

 finches, tomtits, and, I am inclined to think to some extent, 

 chaffinches. These are sometimes sad nuisances. I never 

 found till this year the buds of the Quince taken, but one in my 

 garden a mcnth ago, had in two days every incipient blossom 

 devoured or deetroyed. 



Gooseberries, however, are the special objects of their attacks. 

 A gentleman in the neighbourhood in(ormed me, that ho had 

 on this account every Gooseberry tree in hie garden grubbed 



up. One does not, however, like to bo beaten after that fashion. 

 For some yeare I delayed pmning till late in the epnng, and 

 persevered with the thread and egg-shell system, but to little 

 purpose. For the last two years I have pruned early, and well 

 whitewashed every shoot and bud with considerable sucMae. 

 I had a good crop last year, and have at present the prosp«ot 

 of an extra largo one. I think I have derived one advantage 

 by the buds being so taken formerly. Not enduring the naked 

 appearance of the trees, I cut them in close, and am now 

 decidedly of opinion that the young wood for the Gooseberry ig 

 the best, especially for the preserving sorts. Most of my trees, 

 now twenty years old, might well pass for five or six, all the 

 wood of some of them not being older than three years. People 

 are sometimes astonished to see the strength of the shoots, 

 some of them upwards of 2 feet long, and covered with bads 

 or fruit. 



There are various specifics for extirpating the Goosebeny 

 grub. I have managed for years to keep it down by taking off 

 the first perforated leaves. The grubs are easily enough seen, 

 and in five minutes as many are destroyed as might constitute 

 a legion. — i. M. 



PEACn-GRO\\TN'G IN NEW JERSEY. 



I AM a subscriber, and on the principle of distance lending 

 enchantment, derive, perhaps, as much satisfaction from yonr 

 Journal as those nearer your door. 



A writer en the " Meteorology of Fmit-tree Houses," in the 

 Number of December 19th, says, " It would be highly interest- 

 ing to learn from the United States, taking New Jersey for 

 instance, wh^re Peaches are grown so largely, how the day and 

 night temperature varies in the ripening season, and whether 

 it is ever as low as our brick walls and orchard-houses." As I 

 live in New Jersey, and, indeed, in the Jfrseijist part of New 

 Jersey, I propose to give you a few facts on the subject 

 referred to. 



Peaches ripen here chiefly in August and September. The 

 maximum temperature in August is about 95°, and the minimum 

 is from 52° to 55°. In September the maximum is from 78° to 

 80°, and the minimum about 40°. In August, the weather is 

 generally of a sultry heat both by day and by night, especially 

 during the earlier part of the month ; but towards the end of 

 the month the nights become more cool and refreshing, often 

 with very heavy dew. The minimum mentioned above is 

 chiefly reached during a cold storm from the east or north-east. 



I live three miles from the salt water, and fifteen miles from 

 the sea. In my neighbourhood the soil is extremely sandy. 

 Indeed, in verj' much exposed situations, the wind drives the 

 sand about to such an extent that scarcely anything in the way 

 of vegetation finds a resting place long to grow, even if it conld 

 find any nourishment for support. On one of our small hill 

 sides, fully exposed to the violent north-west winds, a sort of 

 Heather (Hudsonia ericoides), is the only plant that has gained 

 a foothold, and maintained it. This is only found in dry sand 

 near the coast. 



For milts about me, certainly not more than one acre in ten 

 has ever been cultivated. The woods having been nearly all 

 cut away, a low growth of Pine, scrub Oak, and underbrush has 

 sprung up, clothing most of the rounding hill slopes as far 

 as the eye can reach. This underbrush is, in great part, com- 

 posed of Blackberry and Whortleberry bushes, the fruit of 

 which begin to ripen early in July. The berries are picked by 

 women and children, and sent to New York, twenty-tive miles 

 distant, where they find a ready sale, at prices varying from 

 '2d. to OJ. a-quart, of your money. When this woodland is 

 cleared, the sand is found to be rich in vegetable matter, as 

 you may suppose, and, with the aid of a dressing of farmyard 

 manure, grows many fnits, flowers, and vegetables in per- 

 fection. I'each trees in this soil make an astonishing growth, 

 and the flr.vour of the fruit is the concentration of excellence, 

 far finer than when the trees are grown on the heavy land a 

 few miles distant. The trees themselves will not live so long 

 as in heavier soil; but I'each orchaids are easily renewed, and 

 in fruit ten years of perfection are better than twelve of me- 

 diocrity. In this case, " a short life and a merry one " is no 

 bad motto. 



At the risk of troubling yon with too long a letter, I want to 

 say a word or two regarding the soil, as influencing the flavour 

 of fruits, a subject, I think, not sufliciently considered. As 

 an example : Melons which are wonderfully fine in our new and 

 sandy ground, when grown on a heavy clay loam, about seven 

 miles distant, are reallv not worth eating. So, too, the Pear 



