364 



JOURNAL OF HQKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



t Slay 7, 1874. 



cheap house there, and I have no doubt but all will conaider 

 the invention a very interesting contrivance ; and Mr. Barron, 

 who is most courteous to visitors, will give every information 

 on his experience with the system h la Fountaine as he did 

 to me. 



The last idea promulgated in Mr. Fountaine's paper is that 

 "the open air is the life and soul of stone fruit." So it is 

 when our changeable seasons are warm and dry — but not so 

 last year and 1860 — at least compared with the same kinds 

 grown under glass with plenty of air passing through them. 

 The fresh air could always be at command through the ven- 

 tilators, at the same time the fruit was kept from the cold damp 

 which is deleterious to the finer kinds of stone frnits. It is a 

 well-known fact that Peaches and Nectarines have been and 

 are annually produced under glass, such as are not surpassed 

 for flavour in the open air in the most favoured districts. 



I have now touched on the principal points noted in Mr. 

 Fountaine's paper, and need add little, as it can be easily seen 

 that I have undone nothing that was established in the orchard 

 house here, and I have not had, nor am likely to have, any 

 opportunity of growing Vines in the house, as my employer 

 (who has made this house a speciality) is strongly opposed to 

 it, and I think that I ought to make the best of it as it is — 

 save expense and labour. Both have been on the increase 

 of late years in most places. I have made inquiry to-day 

 (April 29th) why the Vines were taken out of the house, and 

 the reply naively given was that the house was such a weakly 

 fabric that it was feared a crop of Grapes would pull it down. 

 It had become twisted and was apparently losing its hold, but 

 bars of iron and bearers were placed to hold the roof together, 

 and now that the putty is replaced and painting going on it 

 will look as comely as any of the other twenty houses on the 

 place. — M. TEMrLE. 



BAELY-EIPENED PEACHES. 



In page 330 of your issue of April 23rd, in reference to the 

 Early Beatrice Peach shown by Captain Ashby's gardener at 

 South Kensington on the 15th of April, you state that "We 

 doubt if Peaches were eeer ripened on the Slst of March in 

 England before." You are in error there. I have a Knightian 

 medal that I received from the late Dr. Lindley for Peaches 

 exhibited on the 18th of April, 1843. The first of these was 

 gathered on the 7th of April. In the Gardrncrs' Chronicle 

 of the following Saturday the Doctor had a leading article on 

 them. Now, it must be borne in mind that the above were 

 not the small Early Beatrice, but fine Noblesse. You will see 

 from this that an allowance of several weeks must elapse be- 

 tween the ripening of a very early and a late sort. Well, the 

 following year I gathered a ripe Noblesse on the 23rd of March, 

 as can be seen by referring to " Loudon's Magazine " of that 

 year. 



Ton also state that " Some of the members of the Committee 

 remarked that hitherto it was considered skilful cultivation to 

 have such fruit in May." Why, I have known them ripe in 

 April for at least thirty years. My old friend Mr. Gardiner, at 

 Weston Hoase in Warwickshire, has taken prizes for Peaches 

 several times in April. I believe Mr. Marnock, when at Bretton 

 Hall, ripened Peaches in AprU before I did. 



Had the Early Beatrice, or Rivers's Early, been in being 

 when I used to force Peaches early I would have had no trouble 

 m producing them in March. — W. Hutchinson, The Gardens, 

 Llicyndu Court, Aburijavenntj. 



WHAT IS THE USE OF PROTECTING? 



There was a frost on the night of the 1st of May. At ten 

 o'clock my gardener, seeing it was coming, took some canvas 

 which had been used to protect Peach trees and that had been 

 taken down, and threwit over some Potatoes whose haulm was 

 about 6 or 8 inches high. To his utter surprise, when he took 

 it off in the morning he found that most of the plants under- 

 neath had been injured by the frost, while those that had been 

 left uncovered stood firm and uninjured. I imagine that few 

 of your readers would believe this to be possible, and yet I 

 myself saw it. Now, what explanation can be given of a fact 

 so strange? and of what use will it be henceforth, or has it been 

 in time past, to hang canvas in front of our walls under the 

 idea that it will protect the trees from frost ? 



I know that harm is done by any protecting material that 

 touches the leaves of a wall tree and beats their tender brittle 

 tissues in the hour of their weakness ; but here there was no 



movement in the sheets of canvas which lay stretched out on 

 the ground, and as a veil they were worse than useless. — 

 Wteside. 



PRE-PUBLISHING THE NAMES OF .JUDGES. 

 Long ago you started a suggestion that the names of the 

 judges ought to be pablished in the schedules. I send yoa 

 a schedule by the post, by which you will see that we have 

 always carried out the suggestion, but I do not observe that 

 it is generally acted on by societies. Could yon not make the 

 suggestion afresh ? One of the great drawbacks in many places 

 is the incompetence of the judges, and the partiality and bias 

 of local men. If exhibitors are to have confidence in the 

 management they ought to know that the judges are above 

 suspicion as to both ability and integrity. The publication of 

 names can alone enable an exhibitor to judge whether there 

 will be fair play — too often wanting at provincial shows. — 

 G. F. Bareell, Hon. Secretary, Spalding Show. 



SAWING PRECAUTIONS. 

 The following {firi. 1) represents the usual appearance of a 

 cut-off branch, caused by cutting on one side, and the weight 

 of the branch drawing over and splitting down the bark. A 



Fig.]. Fig. 2. 



good workman cuts a little on one side first (seefirj. 2). When 

 it falls over, it then comes off with a clear smooth surface. 

 After large branches are cut off, the wood should be painted or 

 tarred to keep the wounds from decaying nntU the bark grows 

 over. Very small branches do not need this, as the bark 

 covers them long before decay seriously commences. — {Ame- 

 rican Gardener's Monthly.) 



PLAGIARY OF THE "FRUIT MANUAL." 



HooG V. Scott. 

 (Before Vice-Chancellor Sir Charles Hall.) 



Counsel for the Plaintiff— Mr. Fischer, Q.C., and Mr. J. C. 

 Wood. Counsel for the Defendant — Mr. Osborne Morgan, Q.C., 

 and Mr. R. H. Sandys. 



This was a suit instituted by Dr. Hogg, one of the Editors of 

 The Journal of Hobticultuhe, and the author and proprietor 

 of the " Fruit Manual " and other horticultural works, against 

 the defendant, Mr. Scott, a nurseryman of Crewkerue, Somer- 

 setshire, for the purpose of obtaining an injunction restraining 

 him from printing, publishing, selling, or otherwise disposing of 

 any further copy or copies of a work published by the defendant 

 called " The Orchardiat," containing any passages copied or 

 taken from the works of the plaintiff called the " Fruit Manual," 

 " British Pomology," and the " Gardeners' Year-Book." It ap- 

 peared from the statement of Couusel on the part of the plaintiff" 

 that in the year 1868 the defendant published a work entitled 

 " The Orchardist, or a Cultural and Descriptive Catalogue of 

 Fruit Trees," and that in such work the defendant had copied 

 to a very great extent, frequently verbatim, and at other times 

 with slight or merely colourable alterations, from tlie " Fruit 

 Manual " and the " British Pomology." It was not, however, 

 until after the publication of the second edition of tlie defend- 

 ant's book that the plaintiff became aware of the extensive piracy 

 which had been committed, and which he only discovered by 

 the fact being called to his attention by his manager. He there- 

 upon obtained a copy of tlie defendant's book, and took the 

 necessary steps to assert his rights. It was alleged that tho 

 publication of the defendant's second edition of " The Orchard- 

 ist" was doing injury to the plaintiff in forestalling the new 

 edition which the plaintiff was about to issue of the " Fruit 

 Manual," the fli-st edition of that book being out of print. The 

 plaintiff's book contained two hundred pages, and it would teem 



