Jnl; 22, 1869. 1 



JOTJBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



65 



ons fruit, and no more are left than what the trees ought to 

 bring to perfection. My gardener considers it to be bad prac- 

 tice to leave the trees to thin themselves during the stoning 

 process. Here sach a thing as a fruit falling off, except when 

 ripe, is not known. 



I had the pleasure of seeing Jlr. Rivers and his garden this 

 spring, and was surprised to observe the almost total failure of 

 his Peach crop. He attributed the loas of this fruit to the 

 extreme moisture of the atmosphere while the trees were in 

 flower. This wet made the pollen into paste. He was, how- 

 ever, quite unable to explain how it came to pass that the wet 

 did not injure the pollen in my garden. I think we must look 

 elsewhere if we would account satisfactorily for this failure. 

 Strange as it may sound to many persons, I em convinced that 

 last year was anything but a favourable year for the ripening 

 of the Peach wood. The trees suffered from the extreme dry- 

 ness of the soil throughout the summer, and were not improved 

 by being stimulated into growth by the autumnal rains. The 

 mischief then done developed itself in the spring. Here the 

 long shoots shed almost all their flowers, which showed that 

 the wood had not been sufficiently ripened in the autumn. 

 But I never look for a crop from the long shoots ; they are 

 simply considered to be exhausters to draw the sap and pre- 

 vent the spurs from being stimulated into growth by the 

 autumn rains, and they performed this duty last year to ad- 

 miration. My trees were covered with short well-ripened spurs. 

 These this spring were first clusters of flowers, then dense 

 knots of fruit. My Peach trees trained on this system have 

 not failed for the last seven years to carry good crops. 



The Cherry trees, as usual, are loaded with fruit. Pears set 

 an enormous crop, and they provided my gardener with several 

 days' work, first in thinning the trusses of bloom, and then in 

 cutting off the superabundant fruit. 



My Plum trees have to a great extent failed to perform their 

 proper duties. There is but a sprinkling of fruit on six large 

 trees, and I should have comforted myself under this failure 

 by growling out something about pasty pollen and north-east 

 winds, but it so happened that I had three Plum trees forked 

 out of the ground last autumn, as I wished to satisfy myself 

 as to the state of their roots. These three trees have each of 

 them a good crop. So, then, it cannot be the winds, nor yet 

 the rains, but the cultivation that is in fault. The fact is, our 

 fruit trees are in too many instances left to take care of them- 

 selves. If they bear fruit, well ; if not, it is the season — the 

 wet or the dry, the winds, or the scarcity of bees, or the multi- 

 plicity of birds, or the flight of insects — anything, in fact, ex- 

 cept the true cause. The Victoria Plum is as prolific as iisual. 



I have also an average crop of Apples. Those trees that 

 have been grafted on the Paradise stock are doing better than 

 those on the Crab. So you see I can with all thankfulness 

 adopt your motto — " All's well." — C. M. 



In an able article in The Eecord of July 7th on the food-pro- 

 ducing prospects of the year, the writer observes that " Of 

 fruit and vegetables there must be, under any circumstances, a 

 lamentable paucity." In the case of fruit the assertion is un- 

 fortunately true enough, but as regards the supply of vegetables 

 it is not so correct. Vegetables, so far as I have seen, are both 

 abundant and of a fair average quality. The only crop to 

 which any exception can be taken is that of some Potatoes ; 

 and even in this case, wherever a weakness of growth is per- 

 ceptible, it is due more to the capricious weather of last season 

 than to the inclemency of the past spring. But although the 

 supply of vegetables is good, that of fruit is very much below 

 par. Never did a year open with brighter prospects for fruit- 

 growers than this, and never were hopes and trees together so 

 ruthlessly blighted. After so hot a summer as that of 1808, 

 tending to make the wood firm and well-ripened, with an abun- 

 dance of blossom buds, it was reasonable to expect a fruitful 

 year had the spring been favourable. But all these bright 

 hopes have been dissipated, for surely never was known so dis- 

 astrous a spring — from all parts come reports of scanty crops, 

 foliage bruised, and in exposed situations torn to shreds ; nor, 

 so far as I can learn, are there any exceptions to this tiufortu- 

 nate state of affairs, but trees under almost all methods of 

 training and culture have suffered alike. It is only on trees in 

 very sheltered positions that fair crops are to be seen. 



Standard Plum trees in most instances have a miserable 

 crop of abortive bladder Plums, stoneless and deformed ; while 

 Cherry orchards, whose trees were "clouds of bloom," and 

 whose fruit at one time appeared to be setting thickly, have 

 shed their fruit to a ruinous extent, to the great loss of many 



fruit-speculators. A custom prevails in most parts of Kent, as 

 soon as the blossom of orchard trees has fallen and the young 

 fruit are visible, to sell the crop by auction. This year the 

 prices obtained were generally very high, and consequently it 

 win probably prove a disastrous season to the buyers. In one 

 case, so abundant and so promising was the crop, that although 

 the crop of last year was good, yet the highest bid of last 

 year was almost doubled. Bush fruits do not appear to be 

 materially affected. "When looking over my neighbour Mr. 

 White's fruit trees lately, I was amused to find him, v/hile 

 suffering from the loss of the greater part of his Apple crop, 

 arranging for the planting of an additional half acre of Goose- 

 berry bushes ; and a very sensible proceeding I thought it, for 

 Gooseberries are always marketable, and, taking the average 

 price of the crop of a moderate-sized bush at 6d. — a sate figure, 

 an acre containing 1200 bushes gives the very handsome sum 

 of £30 annually. 



I noticed a remarkably fine old Pear tree growing imder the 

 shelter of a steep clifi near Mr. White's house, ou which the 

 fruit clustered almost as thickly as Hops on a pole — an uncom- 

 mon sight this summer, and I was assured that the same tree 

 actually produced thirty-six bushels of fruit last year. Its 

 name was unknown, but I fancy it is either the Swan's Egg or 

 the small Autumn Bergamot. 



Amongst Pears ou walls Jargonelle, Louise Bonne, Napoleon, 

 and that king of winter Pears, Winter Nelis, have good crops. 

 Beurrfi Diel, too, has an excellent crop, which kind, although 

 not a first-class dessert Pear, is yet a most useful hardy variety, 

 and may almost invariably be depended upon for an annual 

 supply. A tree growing here on an east wall has produced a 

 full crop of fine fruit for five consecutive years, nor does its 

 crop of the present season appear to be at all affected by the 

 ungenial spring. 



AH the dwarf-growing fruits, such as Raspberries, Currants, 

 and Gooseberries, are abundant. The last have been selling 

 in the green state at from 5s. to 6s. per sieve of eight gallons to 

 the dealers hereabouts. Concerning Strawberries, as I intend 

 to offer some notes later in the season, I will only remark here 

 that that most robust kind, TroUope's Victoria, has a heavy 

 crop of fine fruit, quite equal to that of any other season. 

 Peach, Nectarine, and Apricot trees have very healthy foliage, 

 and are growing vigorously, but are, with very few exceptions, 

 without fruit. Filberts and Cobnuts are also a short crop. 

 Of Plums, a few trees on a south-west wall have a moderate 

 sprinkling of fruit, but the Green Gage is a total failure. 



But the most vexatious trial of all is that of those who have 

 the care of unheated orchard houses. Their great failure will 

 doubtless in many cases be a source of annoyance ; yet if it 

 result in the introduction of even a couple of pipes through- 

 out the entire length of the orchard house, it will be fraught 

 with much future good, not only to the fruit trees themselves, 

 but by rendering the orchard house a most useful auxiliary for 

 growing other crops, especially early in spring. So obvious 

 are its uses in spring that it is almost unnecessary to recount 

 them. If I did so, bedding stock, salading, Strawberries in 

 pots, pot Roses, bulbs, and a host of other useful subjects 

 would £laim a notice, for no one will willingly trust any tender 

 or half-hardy plant to our fickle springs, whose cold cutting 

 blasts so often alternate with the tempting brightness of an 

 April sunshine. Thatched hurdles, mat screens, and ,all sucb 

 makeshifts are very well in their way ; but, after all, it must be 

 granted that a bright glass structure with a genial temperature, 

 a free circulation of air, and where the wants of the plants can 

 be attended to in all weathers, is altogether more convenient 

 and more conducive to the health of the plants, not to mention 

 the comfort of those who have the care of them. — Edwaed 

 LuCKHUKST, Egerton House Gardens, Kent. 



PELARGONIUM FLOWERS FALLING. 



Attached to the back of my house in a northern suburb, 

 with aspect nearly due south, is a small glass house, about 

 8 feet by 6, with board floor (being, in fact, built over the 

 scullery). About five or six weeks ago I bought of a hawker 

 half a dozen Pelargoniums and two Fuchsias in full bloom ; 

 these were placed at once in the house, and the next morning 

 all the blooms had fallen. This I was not much surprised at, 

 as t'ne plants had evidently been grown in strong heat, and the 

 sudden change of temperature I considered was sufficient to 

 account for the misfortune. I have, however, just sustained a 

 similar mishap under exactly opposite conditions, having pur - 



