Angnst 12, 1869. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



117 



heated orchard house, in which the trees have stood too thickly 

 together for several seasons, can have but a poor chance in un- 

 favourable springs for setting the blooms. The trees must 

 gradually have become full of dwarfed shoots, and the foliage 

 been a prey to insects, whereby the energies of the tree were 

 diminished. It would be impossible to regulate the shoots in 

 such a bouse, or to obtain a free circulation of air, or even to 

 renew the dressing of the pots. When, therefore, the exhaust- 

 ing blooming process was at hand, there was no reserved vitality 

 in the trees ; they had acquired a feeble habit of growth, and 

 had nothing for an emergency. If to such a state we add the 

 presence of Peach trees trained up the rafters, or worse than this, 

 of luxuriant young Vines obstructing the sun's precious rays, 

 can we wonder at the crop either not setting or not stoning? 



Where the demands of a large establishment require a supply 

 of early salading, or young Peas and Beans, or early Potatoes 

 in pots thickly placed between the fruit trees, and a row of 

 promising Strawberry pots lines the front, not to speak of a 

 large stock of valuable bedding plants of all sizes and kinds, 

 all of which require abundant supplies of water at the very 

 period when the evaporation from it is fatal to the bloom — 

 where these and such exist, why need we accuse the climate of 

 faiUng to set our fruit without fire heat ? Again, it is a theory 

 with some, that ventilation cannot be too free in orchard 

 houses, and often we are glad to escape from these into the 

 open air, on account of the deadly cold draughts. Many orchard 

 houses are most injudiciously placed, and all low and ill-drained 

 localities are prejudicial to the setting of bloom. For the same 

 reason stagnant and damp air is fatal when enclosed within 

 glass. Another, and to my mind an especial cause of failure 

 in cold localities, or generally in such springs as the present, 

 is the faulty construction of many orchard houses. On this 

 large subject I will here only say that a few such experiences 

 will show that lean-to houses with solid back walls are far more 

 favourable for Peach culture than span-roofed houses. The 

 latter, though handsomer, are unfit for the colder counties. 

 They cool down more thoroughly than lean-to's, and lose far 

 more of the earth heat during the winter. By means of extra 

 thick walls, and judiciously husbanding winter gleams of sun- 

 shine, a good lean-to is a week or two in advance of a span- 

 roof at all seasons, and can better carry the bloom through the 

 period of risk, being warmer at night, and more equably warm 

 at any time. The use of a stove would also be more economical 

 in a lean-to. A short brick flue, not very expensive to make 

 nor to use, would save any crop in a very large lean-to, and by 

 a judicious selection of very early Peaches, the crop would be 

 weeks in advance of that in an unheated span-roof. In the 

 last, I may here say that late Peaches should not form any 

 large proportion. 



But not to dwell on this portion of the subject, I here 

 wish to add, that I am still of opinion, in spite of that clever 

 writer " Akchambaud's" adverse criticism, that "trees can 

 really be made to acquire a habit of production which shall 

 render them independent of atmospheric changes " — that is, of 

 course, when under the artificial condition of culture in glazed 

 structures. I have this season a very fine crop, abundant, well- 

 coloured, and of unusually good size. Some sorts which I was 

 on the point of discarding are wonderfully resuscitated this 

 season. Golden Purple has its old rich lake mottles and pink 

 ground, while Canary has become a 9-inch round Peach, dis- 

 solving, and rich, but its fault, alas ! is that it is a shy bearer. 

 I can fancy my good friend Eivers sitting in his arm chair, 

 ■with his usual pipe, and laughing at my " clerical error," in 

 stating Early Eivers to have been 8i inches "in diameter," 

 but in the next paragraph he says that 1 have " correctly de- 

 scribed it."(!) It is, without doubt, the best very early Peach I 

 have seen. The stones were quite perfect, and have been sown 

 already. 



Is it too much to consider that having my usual amount of 

 crop in this year of general shortcoming, it may be due to the 

 habit of the trees themselves ? It is they, after all, which have 

 done it, and it was because for so many years having been re- 

 gularly thinned down to much below their powers of production, 

 they had a reserve of vitality (favoured, no doubt, by last year's 

 sun), which store of energy they have used up in a gracious 

 effort to oblige their master. A plant will, year after year, be 

 made to produce about the same number of flowers, provided 

 in no one year any extraordinary demand shall be made on its 

 strength. Should my trees be weaker next season, it will only 

 be because this year the crop is unusually large. 



Nevertheless, 1 have much faith in my tried cordons, which 

 have never yet failed. Nor do I consider that potted trees or 



standards could compete at all with these at any time, and on 

 occasions like this would have no chance. Potted trees have 

 their exclusive merits, and so have standards, but the bulk of 

 my crop has been, and shall all the more in future be taken 

 from cordons in the borders. As to pyramidal trees planted 

 out, the less we use them the better for profit. Diagonal 

 cordons on the back walls, or parallel with the houses ; spiral 

 cordons in the borders intermixed with pyramids in pots ; a 

 row of potted trees near the glass, and some vertical cordons, 

 single, double, or triple, for the sides and comers ; the whole 

 house kept free from bedding plants or such lijie ; the roof per- 

 fectly clear ; ample means judiciously used for ventilation ; 

 careful thinning of the crop ; no overcrowding ; adaptation of 

 the form of the house to the site and climate — these form what 

 are chiefly required in unheated orchard houses. 



Next season, let us hope, will find our trees refreshed by rest 

 frsm production ; not, however, that such irregular cropping is 

 advisable. By not expecting too much from unheated houses, 

 we shall arrive at a fairer standard. I have had visitors who 

 looked with evident disappointment at excellent results, as I 

 thought. Almost the first idea of cultivators is to grow a little 

 of everything, by doing so they shortly arrive at growing 

 nothing at all. 



The above remarks apply, of course, to beginners, of whom 

 there are many ; but there is no doubt whatever that orchard- 

 house culture has made wonderful progress, and much sotmd 

 knowledge is current among amateurs. — T. BBf:HAiii. 



RUBUS AECTICUS. 



I OBSERVE in a recent number an inquiry by " G. S." as to 

 whether any of your correspondents ever fruited this elegant 

 but neglected plant, which he has seen thriving in the open 

 air so far south as Warwickshire, and the fruit of which was 

 stated by Linnjeus to be delicious, and commonly preserved in 

 Sweden. I grew a bed of this diminutive Raspberry for eight 

 or ten years at an altitude of about 450 feet in Midlothian, on 

 an easterly exposure where the sun never shone after 9 o'clock 

 A.M. The soil I used was good sandy peat, such as would do 

 well for growing Heaths in, and which was laid about a foot 

 deep over a bed measuring 4 by 8 feet. The Eubus spread in 

 it rapidly till the bed became densely filled, and yielded a 

 profusion of its pretty red flowers in spring, which were suc- 

 ceeded in due course by about a third of their number of pretty 

 bright red Easpberry-like fruit, of which I had no difficulty 

 some mornings in gathering a handful, which were really 

 delicious. I have noticed that it will not thrive, or at least 

 fruit well, if shaded by overgrowing trees or shrubs. My bed 

 was shaded from the midday sun, as before stated, by a wall, 

 but was otherwise perfectly exposed ; and I have often thought 

 that the Arctic Easpberry would form an excellent and appro- 

 priate fruiting plant if cultivated in the gardens of Highland 

 shooting lodges, where it would be an estimable rarity to 

 sportsmen about the 12th of August, after leaving the Straw- 

 berry season in the south. 



I may also mention that alongside of the Eubus I had a 

 similar bed of that pretty namesake of the immortal Swede, 

 Linuaea borealis, which in May or June was profusely covered 

 with its tiny, drooping, deUcately-scented, flesh-coloured flowers ; 

 and throughout the year its prostrate, creeping, leafy stems 

 formed a beautiful verdant carpet, vastly superior to many of 

 our modern fashionable bedding plants. Having on one occa- 

 sion been favoured by a visit from a Swedish agriculturist, he 

 became quite ecstatic on seeing it in full bloom, jumping and 

 bawling out at the extreme pitch of his voice, " Linnasa ! 

 Linniea ! our Linnsea ! " — W. G. 



SUPERIOR BEDDING PELARGONIUM. 



Among a rare collection of Scarlet Pelargoniums by far the 

 most beautiful bedder I have this year is Bayard, raised by 

 Mr. Pearson, of ChilweU. In a trying situation, and through 

 two months of a trying season, whether in heat or cold, wind 

 or rain, it has been in brilliant beauty, the trusses many and 

 large, and the intense crimson unimpaired. My gardener finds 

 it equally good for forcing, and, indeed, hke its namesake of 

 old, I think it sans reproche. — Sans pedk. 



EosES ON THEIR OwN KooTS. — I would fain remind those who 

 wish to try Eoses on their own roots, that now is the best 



