118 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Kngnai 12, 1860. 



time to plant ; they will make good growth, and form freph 

 roots, and almost a feason will be gained ; at any rate, a mach 

 finer diaplay may be secured next eeason. — D., Deal* 



PAPERS READ AT THE HORTICULTURAL 



CONGRESS AT MANCHESTER. 



COVERING WALLS WITH GLASS FOR THE PROTECTION 



OF FRUIT TREES. 



Thr nncertAinty. of fwcnring good crops of onr finer fmitfl, each 

 as Pe&cbes. Nectarines, and Apricots, owin;; to the injaries from 

 spring frosts, makes eomo kind of protection almost a necessity in our 

 climato. 



Lately orchard honscs have been prominently advocated by Mr. 

 Rivers and others, and when properly managed they have been a sonrco 

 of interest and profit to amatears and gardeners with limited means of 

 jifTOwinK fruit on walls or in bothonces. Where there are walls with a 

 sontbem aspect in pardcns, n covcrint; of plaes will, however, bo found 

 tbo cheapest and most certain ^ay of securing crops of our finer fruits. 

 Where Peaches. Nectarines, and Apricots are only required to ripen by 

 the natural heat of the season the expense of beatinf* ench structures 

 artifirialh- need not be incurred. The spriuf* frosts likely to occur in 

 March and April will not injure the blossoms, for I have proved this 

 here on an Apricot wall temporarily covered with glass lights. Last 

 year on the l*2tb of April the temperature was H*^ bolow freezing, yet 

 the fruit trees in bloom, and young Apricots as large as filberts, were 

 uninjured under the glass covering, but on the open walls the crop was 

 quite destroyed even where protected by branches and nets. For the 

 last seven years the crop has never failed on this wall until the spring 

 of the present year, for some varieties of Apricots are only thinly set 

 with fruit. The season, therefore, may be called an exceptional one, 

 and the failure in the crop accounted for by the exceKeivu warmth iu 

 February followed by a dull and cold March. The trees showed plenty 

 (rf healthy blossoms, but the pollen seemed clued together and did not 

 disperse, and even the fruit where set dropped off from the sudden 

 cessation of the flow of sap. Some varieties of Apricots on this wall, 

 however, have set a good crop, such as the Kaisba, Breda, and Musch- 

 Masch. In the midland districts nil unheatcd orchard houses have 

 very thin crops this year, showing that artificial beating is requisite in 

 such structures in sprin-^s like the past. 



When the new kitchen garden was planned at Welbeck, a ranpo of 

 south wall ncarlj HOD feet long was covered with glass on a novel 

 principle. All the framework is of iron, and the roof made on the 

 ridge-and-fnrrow mode, and glazed with strong plate glass cast on pur- 

 pose to suit the curve of the roof. The openings for top ventilation 

 are made in the back wall, and every alternate light in front is opened 

 and shut by machinery worked from the inside. The height at the 

 back wall inside is 13 feet, iu the front 7 feet 6 inches, and the inside 

 width 7 feet -1 inches. The struf.tnro is heated by hot-water pipes, 

 and they were found very useful this spring. Good crops of Peaches 

 and Nectarines have been secured, as well as plenty of Chenies, Plums, 

 and Pear.^ grown in pots. Fire heat is only used in the blooming 

 time or in the autumn to ripen the wood, as tbo object is to get a suc- 

 cession of Peaches and Nectarines after the hothouse ones are over. 

 In such structures, if unheated, it is advisable not to exceed 5 or 6 feet 

 of inside width, so that the bent stored up in the back wall may have 

 snfficient power to expel any frost when the trees are in bloom. In 

 March and .*.pril the sun beat in clear frosty weather is often very 

 strong, and when the house is shut up early in the afternoon there is 

 quite heat enough reflected from the hack wall to keep the blossoms 

 safe. 



The long range of glass-covered wall here has a very light and 

 imposing appearance from the absence of any timber in the conilrnction, 

 and from the ornamental iron bays placed every '2*2 feet in the inside. 

 The?o bays are for growing hardy Grapes on, and some varieties have 

 this spring shown plenty of bunches to festoon the tops of the bays. 

 AU the iron work in the interior is painted of a light Sky-blue tint, and 

 the effect is very pleasing. The walk inside is a stone pavement laid 

 on brick-on-cdge walls, eo that the roots of the fruit trees may run 

 between them. 



Besides the advantage of furnishing a promenade in bad weather, 

 this extremely long range is useful for so many purposes that I must 

 detail them at length. In the front, where the two rows of 4-in<'h 

 pipes are plared, there is au iron grating covering them. Its width. 

 2 feet, is sufficient for a long row of three hundred fruit trees in pots 

 to stand on. In April and May bedding plants in immense quantities 

 can be placed between the pots, in order to harden off for planting out 

 in Jane. 



The fruit trees grown in pots consist principally of Cherries and 

 Flnms, and a few of the best varieties of Pears and Apples. No 

 Apricots arc required here for pot culture, as a sufficient supply is ob- 

 tained every year from a wall protected by glass lights. The Cherries 

 grown in pots come iu about two weeks before those grown on the walls, 

 and consist of the following kinds according to their time of ripening 

 — Belle d'Orleans. Early Purple Gean, Werdor's Early Black, May 

 Buke, Waterloo, Black Tartarian, Clevedon Bigarreau, and, for the 

 latest, Florence and Late Duke. The following kinds of Plums are 

 grown in pots in quantities — viz., Early Favoarite and Mirabelle 



Braby's Green Gage, .Jefferson, Cox's Emperor, Kirko's, OuUins 

 Golden Gage, Magnum Boduuj, and Golden Drop. The Pears and 

 Apples grown in pots aro confined to a few varieties esteemed for their 

 oarlinesfl. fine flavour, or colour. Pears.— Citron des Carmea. Doy- 

 ennt- d'Et/-. Yat. Jargonelle double-grafted on the Quince, which beon 

 freely; Williams's Bon Chntien. Mario Louise, and Beurrc d'Amanlis 

 Ponarbc, a variety beantifuUy striped with red; Doyenot- do Cornice, 

 and BL-urr. Clairceau. Apples.— Coxs Pomona, beautifully coloured 

 when grown in pots : Cox'fi Grange Pippin ; Melon and Northern Spy, 

 both American Apples ; and a beautiful Russian sort named the Rod 

 Transparent. 



The selection of Peaches and Nectarines planted against the back 

 wall comprises some of the new kinds raised by Mi. Rivers and tho 

 best of the old varieties. The Peaches, according tn their time of 

 ripenint?, are — Eariy Beatrice, Early York, Early Alfred. Dr. Hogg, 

 Early Mignonne, Grosse Mignonne,' NoMefse, Malta, a delicious-fla- 

 voured and medium-sized Peach of the Noblesse sectiou ; Stumpthe- 

 World.^ Harrington, Late Admirable, Walburton Admirable. Gregory's 

 Late, T. ton de Venus, and Salway. The Nectarines, in the order 

 of ripening, are- Fairchild's Early, a very old small red kind ; Hunt a 

 Tawny, Rivera's Pine Apple, Violette Hutive, Elruge, Murroy, 

 Downton. Rivers's Albert Victor, and Victoria. 



Another great use of this glass-covered wall is for producing salads 

 in the winter months, for without much trouble a succession of fine 

 succulent Lettuces and Endive can be had every day when wanted. 

 The Endive is lifted with halls of earth and put into covered boxes in 

 the Mushroom house, where it becomes suflicientlv blanched in three 

 or four days. The Lettuces are planted in the border in the autumn, 

 and a slight covering of hay preserves them from severe frosts should 

 the hot-water pipes not be used. A good supply of blanched Chicory 

 is likewise had by sowing it in July on a north border, and lifting it, 

 when wanted, to plant in large covered pots, where it soon blancheo, 

 and forms the oarbc dc aqfucm of the French salads. — Wii.uam 

 Telleey, Welbeck, 



ON THE RESULT OF A FEW EXPERIMENTS WITH 

 SUBTROPICAL PLANTS AT BATTERSEA PARK 



DURING THE WINTER OF 18G8-69. 



ALTHoroH subtropical gardening has found a home np to the pre- 

 sent time only in the affections of the few, and consequently any 

 remarks upon the subject can have only a partial interest ; yet horti- 

 culture having planted one of its earliest standards in Lancashire, 

 and met with signal and the most flattering support id and around the 

 great city of Manchester, it is felt that no apolugy need be offered for 

 introducing the subject I have chosen on this occasion, feeling that 

 whatever is connected with the advancement of horticulture will not 

 bo without interest. 



That the season referred to was a remarkably mild one, preceded by 

 one of the finest English summers on lecord, is a fact that will he 

 fresh in the recollection of all present. It may, therefore, with some 

 force be argued that the same results would not follow a severe and 

 nnpropitious winter as those which have called forth these remarks — 

 which, however, is a point we may reserve for the present, to be an- 

 swered by future experience — soffice it to say that the experiments 

 carried out at Battersea last winter were based upon similar teste 

 made on a smaller scale during the last five years ; and as regards 

 Cannas, Erytbrinas, Aralia papyrifera, and other plants, it may be 

 asserted that if a covering of drj* litter, or other loose non-conducting 

 material, such as leaf mould, cocoa fibre, &c., of sufficient thickness 

 to exclude frost, be employed, the plants beneath the covering would 

 not be injured by cold, no matter how severe the frost. We have a 

 parallel case described in reference to a plant of a totally different 

 habit from those before alluded to — namely, Mu^a Ensete, tho great 

 Abyssinian Banana. The stem and roots having been effectually pro- 

 tected from frost and wet by similar means, it was preserved in per- 

 fect health during the winter of 1HG6-7 in the open air in a garden 

 near Paris, producing a most luxuriant growth, and being admired by 

 all who saw it, in the following summer (iSCT) ; and it is probable that 

 the stems of Eucalyptus, and similar tender trees, which readily pro- 

 duce vigorous shoots from the stem, may be preserved in the open air 

 in this countrj- by similar means. 



A covering of dn.- litter is the most simple means we possepg for 

 the protection of plants, and in adopting it a principle is involred 

 that may be made subservient to the tastes and requirements of 

 cultivators of subtropical plants, by employing such non-conducting 

 material to exclude frost from the plants to be protected, as may 

 enable the cultivator to nurse np evergreen shrubs, and 60 mou 

 and render ornamental the otherwise unsightly subtropical beds 

 during winter. 



By means of the covering of litter alluded to, a bed of Canna pem- 

 viana. edged with C. expansa. 80 feet by 8 feet, has been preserved for 

 the last two winters from injury, the former ba%'ing attained the 

 height of 12 feet last year, and it is now growing luxuriantly, and 

 .5 feet high. A bed 15 feet by 7 feet of Canna Annei, another of 

 the same variety, 70 feet by 8 feet, the former bed having stood one 

 winter, the latter two— in these tho plants grew 1*2 feet high last year, 

 and aro now over 5 feet. Other beds of Canna, varying in size from 

 60 feet by 8 feet to 20 feet by 6 feet, have been preserved out of doors 

 by the same means, and are now equally rigorous. They arc planted 



