364 



JODKNAL OF HOKTICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ Hay 13, 1875. 



" Monkey Puzzle" (Arauoaria imbricata) does well, the tree 

 retaining its branches near the ground, growing less freely 

 than in sheltered positions, but ia better furnished. 



Deodar (Cedrus Deodara) is, in an exposed place, cut by the 

 winds, losing its leaves in spring, especially after a severe 

 winter. A number of young plants from seed had from Flo- 

 rence are growing freely, and may be more hardy. 



Mount Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica) becomes a spreading 

 tree, the exposure causing it to grow laterally, and yet it is 

 very handsome, very much quicker growing than G. Libani, 

 which does not succeed, becoming a scrub. In moderately 

 sheltered positions C. atlantica grows quickly, and for growth 

 compares favourably with the Corsican and Austrian Pines. 



Graceful Cryptomeria (C. elegane), very handsome ; its aspect 

 being unique from the chocolate tint of its leaves and branch- 

 lets. Winds tell adversely upon it, though in moderately 

 sheltered positions it does fairly. It is said to do well near the 

 coast. C. japonica, by a cold exposure, becomes browned and 

 dwindles away. 



Lawson's Cypress (CupressusLawsouiana) is slightly browned 

 on the wind tide, and especially seawards (east) in the most 

 exposed positions becomes a spreading bush. With moderate 

 shelter it grows freely and is very beautiful. Its varieties are 

 equally hardy and desirable. C. stricta is hardier than C. Law- 

 soniana, and very much darker in foliage. C. Lambertiana, or 

 macrocarpa, has disappeared. 



Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis) grows slowly, but is 

 not cut by the land (west) or sea (east) breezes, and is very 

 ornamental. The common Juniper (J. communis), Irish (J. hi- 

 bernica), Swedish (J. suecica), have the young growths cut in 

 winter, especially the latter, yet with a moderate shelter they 

 do fairly. 



Bed Cedar (J. virginiana) grows moderately and forms a fine 

 columnar head, having dark-green foliage. A very distinct 

 and hardy form of Bed Cedar is Juniperus virginiana Schottii ; 

 it is of fine pyramidal growth, with foliage of a much lighter 

 green than the species. — G. Abbey. 



THE OECHAED HOUSE. 



It seems but a few years since orchard houses were in their 

 infancy — when those who undertook to rear these promising 

 bantlings were invited to register facts and to chronicle expe- 

 riences. I suppose that this pleasing method of fruit culture 

 is DOW thoroughly understood, and that the art has already 

 arrived at the dignity of a science. The fact has been esta- 

 blished that a correct mode of culture commands success ; the 

 converse of which proposition is also true — the mode of culture 

 which ends in failure must be the reverse of correct. 



Now, I am often asked. Is it worth while to invest in an 

 orchard house ? and to this I reply — If you intend to take 

 pains in the application of the rules laid down in the best 

 manuals, and think you have the patience to bear some disap- 

 pointments, the perseverance to conquer some difficulties, and 

 the spare time to devote to your new pastime. Yes, and I can 

 promise you much pleasure and abundant fruit ; but if yon 

 are inclined to think that all is done when you have signed 

 your cheque — if you have no intention of personally attending 

 to yonr trees, but of allowing them to take their chance, as too 

 many amateurs do, why then No. In your case I give the 

 same advice as Mr. Punch did to those about to marry — 

 " Don't." Your trees will be a short-lived luxury to thrips, 

 aphides, red spider, and scale, but to yourself no good at all. 



People congratulate me upon my success, but I can tell them 

 it is the result of no small painstaking on my part. I will not 

 say trouble, because the toil is mingled with so much pleasure. 



My chief object in writing this letter is to impress upon your 

 less- experienced readers that success in orchard-house culture 

 depends very much upon the promptitude with which the first 

 apbidian incursions are met. The most frequent cause of 

 failure is an apathetic toleration of these pestilent insects in 

 the sweet springtide. Do not helplessly look at them, but take 

 instant measures for their extinction. You must war with 

 them ab ovo, or you will never advance nsque ad ma!a. Am I 

 extreme in saying that every single tree would perish as a 

 matter of course unless steps be taken for the repression of 

 aphides ? No. This should be the first consideration imme- 

 diately the fly shows itself on the young and tender foliage. 



When once the leaves are curled you may know that you are 

 having the worst of the battle. You can then hardly reach 

 the inrolled blighting pest. Before, you might have washed 

 off the embryo brood from every infected leaf with an old 



shaving brush dipped in pure water. I prefer pure water to 

 boiled quassia chips and soft soap and tobacco water, which 

 if too strong will destroy the aphis, leaf, and all; and then U 

 not the remedy co-extensive with the disease ? Yes. 



" To heftl diFeaee all torturea are endured, 

 A pig is killed that bacon may be cured." 



Having neglected pure water (which, by-the-by, must not be 

 applied during sunshine), then nothing will serve your turn 

 but instant and thorough fumigation. Y^our former dUatoriness 

 has entailed upon you this necessary expense. I, for my part, 

 make up my mind for an annual outlay of one guinea in pur- 

 chasing Mr. Appleby's compound tobacco paper, which I do 

 not grudge so much as the money I am forced to pay for the 

 terrible and increasing demands of local taxation. I must 

 confess that I have never had such a hard battle to fight with 

 these persistent insects as during the late cold season. 



I have no antipathy to the insect as an insect. It must be, 

 I should think, rather a pet with the entomologist. The ant, 

 as Mr. Darwin tells ns, extracts a limpid drop of sweetness 

 from its excretions. Its reproductive powers are marvellous, 

 but inasmuch as it is death to my fruit trees I give it no 

 quarter. Nothing but its utter extermination satisfies my 

 repugnance to it. 



I feel I must not add to the length of this letter. I will only 

 say that the setting of the bloom on my Peach, Nectarine, and 

 Apricot trees has been eminently satisfactory this year. I 

 enclose a specimen from a cordon tree which, sloping at an 

 angle of -15° on a wall 12 feet high, has been " a thing of 

 beauty," and on it from top to bottom literally every bloom 

 has set ; while another tree equally flourishing, grown on the 

 same soil and tended with the same care, has hardly one set 

 blossom on it. Does the reader ask, Why this discrepancy ? 

 I answer. For the same reason that there are anomalous nouns 

 and verbs in every grammar. 



I must not omit that the emptiness of my tanlis shows that 

 the rainfall during the last winter has been inconsiderable in 

 this part of Herts. A second season of drought will, I fear, be 

 very prejudicial to the crops. — A Constant Keader. 



[The Peach branchlet enclosed was 5 inches long, and on it 

 were nine well-set Peaches. — Ens.] 



AUEICULA SHOWING. 



The Metropolitan Floral Society deserves credit for endea- 

 vouring to restore a correct system of judging, for of late years 

 quantity rather than quality has been considered, and plants 

 with two or three trusses of bloom have had more weight with 

 the Judges than any adherence to properties ; but on looking 

 through those staged at the Eoyal Botanic Society's Show on 

 Wednesday last I noticed that by far the larger number of 

 plants had their flower stems supported by sticks. Now, 

 amongst the older Auricula growers this was never tolerated. 

 It was considered that one point in a plant was that it had a 

 stem sufiiciently stout to support the truss, and no artificial 

 support was needed or allowed ; and I think the Society would 

 do a good work if it prohibited at its next exhibition anything 

 of the kind. — An Old Fancies. 



WINDOW GAEDENING. 



The management of plants is, I fear, but little understood 

 by those who strive to cultivate a few homely flowers, and 

 whose only garden is the window-ledge, and I am induced to 

 offer the following suggestions in the hope that they may 

 prove of some value to readers of humble horticultural pre- 

 tensions, and assist them to preserve their plants in a healthy 

 state. 



The leaves of plants perform most important functions — 

 viz., the exposure of the fluids to the influence of air and 

 light, and the absorption of carbonic acid and moisture from 

 the air by means of pores on their surface. It is most im- 

 portant, therefore, that they should be kept tree from dust, 

 which by closing the pores interrupts their functions and in- 

 jures the health of the plant. I frequently observe the plants 

 in window gardens encrusted with dirt and presenting a most 

 sickly appearance, doubtlessly attributed by the owner to any 

 cause but the right one. 



The best method of cleansing plants is by syringing, or in 

 the case of plants with smooth leaves by sponging. Aftrr 

 syringing overhead the plant should be inveited to clean the 

 under side of the leaves. By attending to the foregoing rule 



