Apiil !), 1874. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



293 



other cases, the interests of the lew must yield to those of the 

 majority. 



We trust that the good sense of the Fellows will not only 

 cheek the further increase of proxy-voting, but take timely 

 stops to abolish it altogether.. 



ORCHARD HOUSES— PRIMULA NIVEA. 



After gathering the fruit I have hitherto placed potted 

 Peach trees in the open air until the end of September. The 

 advantages are more room in the houses, freedom from red 

 spider, and the power of keeping the atmosphere within suffi- 

 ciently dry to enable the later fruit to ripen-off with good 

 flavour. i3ut I have often had reason to complain of the un- 

 healthy look of the trees when they broke in spring. Buds 

 which were plump enough in autumn shrivelled and fell off. 

 The leaves were often sickly, though, as the summer advanced, 

 they regained their health. I thought these defects arose 

 either from the autumn dressing, or from the roots getting dry 

 in winter. Experiment, however, has shown that neither of 

 these is the true cause, and I am led to behove that the wood 

 is imperfectly ripened in consequence of exposure to the open 

 air so late in the year. Last summer I housed the trees earlier 

 — namely, the first week in September, but the summer was 

 not a genial one, and the present state of my trees is such, 

 that if it were not for the following circumstances I should 

 doubt as to the real cause of their sickly look. But I have a 

 tree of a scarce and favourite sort, Abel's Malta, k seedling 

 from the old Malta, and, like its parent, a very shy bearer. 

 Last year, in order to encourage it, I kept it entirely under 

 glass. It has rewarded me by breaking well and setting a fair 

 crop. Hence I infer that if trees are placed out of doors they 

 ought to be housed before the 1st of September. I may re- 

 mark that trees which were started in heat in February, 1873, 

 and had plenty of warmth up to June, though turned out of 

 doors with the rest, have generally broken well, and show a 

 good crop. 



I wish that any of your readers who has had success with 

 Primula nivea, generally miscalled nivalis, would communicate 

 his mode of culture. I treat mine just as an Auricula, but 

 though it lives it does not flourish. Elsewhere I see it in the 

 same state. There used, however, to be an old nurseryman in 

 this neighbourhood with whom the plant grew very vigorously 

 in pots under glass, but it does not succeed with his son : so 

 if he had any secret it has died with him.— G. S. 



FOUNTAINE'S VINERY AT BLENHEIM. 



An article in the .Journal upon the gardens at Blenheim 

 Palace mentions the vinery erected there upon my principle, 

 which, by-the-by, is erroneously called an orchard house. It 

 states that in a portion of the house ti'ees are planted-out, and 

 " involve much less labour in watering." If this is stated 

 seriously as a fact, I fear the principle on which and for which 

 the house was erected is not clearly understood. The trees 

 ought to be out of the house through the summer mouths 

 almost entirely, and exposed to the rains and dew both day 

 night. Under such circumstances it is impossible they should 

 require more watering than trees kept entirely under the cover 

 of the house; indeed, in wet seasons they require ve:^ httle 

 watering at all, and should, especially at the full ripening 

 period, be placed in the house to avoid too much moisture. 

 This house is erected, not for forcing, but as a cold autumn 

 vinery, and constructed so that the principle of the moving 

 trees may be applied to it, and the centre of the house (all but 

 useless in an ordinary vinery) utilised for growing stone fruit, 

 which, from the facility of placing it in the open air, is very 

 superior to that grown in a common orchard house. Peach 

 trees planted as tixtures in this house may, close to the venti- 

 lating lights in front, produce a small proportion of fairly-good 

 fruit ; but I do not hesitate to say that the fruit from trees 

 if so placed in the centre of the house would not be worth 

 gathering, especially if there are a certain number of Vines, as 

 intended, upon the close-spur system overhead. Hot-water 

 pipes are necessary for frost in spring, and to keep the Grapes 

 dry in wet autumns. 



I subjoin the official report of 1873 sent to me in the winter 

 from the Royal Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick, where a 

 house exactly similar to the one at Blenheim was erected to test 

 the system with all the other houses in the gardens ; one of these 

 is a splendid orchard house filled with trees both plauteJ-out 



and in pots. Of course the house is managed on my principle, 

 but I believe the hot-water pipes ere not yet added , as the Society 

 had so many great expenses to contend with. The whole 

 report is as follows : — " We did not have a very fine crop of 

 Peaches anywhere this season. Those treated after your 

 principle were, without doubt, the highest-flavoured. The 

 Grapes, especially the Madresfield Court, in your house have 

 been superb, and have won the admiration of everyone." A 

 gentleman in the south of England, for whom a larger house 

 than the one at Blenheim was erected, writes to me that he is 

 more than ever pleased with the house, and that he had taken 

 the first pri7,es both for Peaches and Grapes at some very largo 

 exhibitions. Under these circumstances I venture to think 

 there must be soms misapprehension of the object and manage- 

 ment of the principle at Blenheim. — .Tohn Fotjntaine, ,Soi(f/incr(' 

 Ttertoni, Brandon. 



MR. WILLIAM PAUL'S ROSE MANURE. 



This manure was brought under my notice in the spring of 

 1872, and having, by the kindness of' Mr. W. Paul, received a 

 sample for trial, I am glad to be able to pronounce it a boon 

 to amateur Rose-growers, and especially to those who, like 

 myself, have to grow Roses in a soil anything but favourable 

 to the well-being of tho plants or the perfection of the flowers. 

 Judging from the result of the trial during one season only, I 

 have confidence notwithstanding that by a simple and inex- 

 pensive process — that is, according to the directions supplied 

 to those who use, or will use, this manure, a vast amount of 

 trouble will be saved, and not an inconsiderable degree of 

 disappointment avoided. The mode of procedure is plain and 

 easy. 



In a plantation of Roses on the Manetti stock, the rows 

 being about 2 feet apart, with an interval of 20 inches between 

 the plants, I selected a single average row for experiment. 

 After the spring pruning, and as tho plants were starting into 

 growth, I scattered the manure around the plants to half the 

 distance, both sides, to the next rows, afterwards loosening tho 

 soil with the points of the prongs of a small spud. The flowers 

 produced by this row were good and abundant, full, of correct 

 form, with petals firm and well coloured; on the whole de- 

 cidedly better than the generality of the flowers in the re- 

 mainder of the plantation ; at the same time vigorous growth 

 began to manifest itself in most of the plants of the row. 

 Towards the end of July a second dressing of the manure was 

 applied in the same manner, and by the end of the growing 

 season the plants had acquii'ed a strong and healthy appear- 

 ance, with shoots varying from 3 to 5 and C feet long. These 

 shoots produced excellent flowers in the following season — that 

 is, in the summer of last year. — Adolphus H. Kent, BUtrh- 

 tngley, Surrey. 



A MAMMOTH ROSE BUSH. 



A .iiAjiMOTH Rose bush, the largest we think in the United 

 States, adorns the cottage of one of our correspondents, Mr. 

 S. A. Rendall, Santa Rosa, Cahfornia. 



From the description forwarded to us wo take the following 

 facts : — It was planted in 1858, and is of thoLamarque variety, 

 well known as one of the most beautiful of the white- coloured 

 sorts. It has grown during the past fifteen years from a small 

 slender bush with astonishing vigour, just as all Roses do in 

 the wonderful air and sunshine of the Pacific coast, until it 

 has clambered over the window and covered the very roof to 

 the summit. Imagine a huge garland, or rather mountain of 

 Roses, 2.T feet in height, 22 feet across, splendidly developed, 

 blossoming over a surface of 400 square feet, and having upon 

 it at one time no less than 4000 full-blown Roses and 20,000 

 buds. 



The stem near the ground measures 24 inches in circum- 

 ference. Just above the ground it separates into three prin- 

 cipal stems that grow over 12 feet to the cottage eaves without 

 lateral branches. These main stems pass between the eaves 

 and a strong support attached to the house. — (Aninican Hnr- 

 ticidturist.) 



THE WALNUT TREE. 



" It's of no use for you to plant a Walnut tree, sir." "Why, 

 Perkins:'" "Because it wo'n't bear for twenty years, sir." 

 " Then let one be planted now, for there is no time to bo lost, 

 as I am fifty." This conversation took place, and the master's 



