420 



JOUBKAL OP HOBTICULTTJEK AND COTTAGK GABDENEB. 



I May 28, 1874. 



hare to be much larger than those at Chiswick, even were all 

 these Vines at 8 feet apart loaded with fruit." And so ought 

 the return to be larger as so stated, for the Vines being planted 

 at that distance from each other enables first-rate Grapes to 

 be grown on the whole back wall of the house, which would 

 afford as many square feet of Vines in the aggregate as would 

 the wholfl roof if covered by them ; but Vines on the back 

 wall would be utterly useless if the rafters were quite covered 

 also. As the Vines on the back wall occupy with their roots 

 the soil in the house, no gardener would dream of planting 

 therein stone-fruit trees also, but the trees on the trucks when 

 in the house in no way interfere with the roots of these Vines. 

 The Vines on the rafters should have their roots in a bed out- 

 ride the house. I regret to say this was not done at Chis^ck 

 as proposed by me when the Vines were planted. There were, 

 however, some difficulties as regarded the locaUty of the house 

 for the outside border. 



Mr. Temple says, the only objection he has to orchard houses 

 on the pot system is " the vast amount of labour they give 

 compared with trees planted out." If Mr. Temple has never 

 happened to notice how long it takes to water the trees on the 

 fix trucks at Blenheim I can tell him, and at what cost it can 

 be done, supposing, of course, that the water-supply is not 

 distant. What is done here can certainly be done there. A 

 strong boy can water every pot on the six trucks thoroughly 

 (going over them twice), within the hour, and not hurry him- 

 self beyond his usual pace of work. Thus, if the trees were 

 watered every night for eight months throughout the year the 

 cost would be at the rate of about Is. per week, 32s. for the 

 rear. 



Mr. Temple is quite right to study economy in all his depart- 

 ments, as nothing can be done without it in large gardens ; but 

 would the trees require this " vast amount of labour ?" would 

 they require to be watered every day for eight months ? Cer- 

 tainly not, nor anything like it, when they can have both rain 

 and dew in genial weather. I have deducted nothing as a 

 balance for the watering of the trees planted out in the house. 

 I presume they would always require a certain amount of 

 watering under the heat of a glass roof. 



So much for the disadvantage of the pot system. One of its 

 principal advantages over trees planted out, and which applies 

 to any kind of orchard house, is that if any trees fail to bear — 

 which they will do if overcropped — their places may be filled 

 up at any time from a reserve of extra trees always kept in 

 some corner of the garden, which, from having rested the pre- 

 vious year, are almost sure to bear, but should not be allowed 

 to do so longer than they are wanted for filling-up, which will 

 rest them again for the next year. Thus there will always be 

 a tree ready in the spring to fill up a gap if wanted, and no 

 failure could appear in the house except from ignorance or 

 neglect. 



As to moveable lights overhead, they are now generally dis- 

 carded, as adding immensely to the expense of the house, and, 

 from the weight and thickness of the rafters required to carry 

 them, causing more shade in the aggregate than Vines planted 

 8 feet apart. They are, moreover, not nearly so good for ven- 

 tilation in this case as the free open air under the protection 

 of a south wall, the stone fruit requiring more ventilation than 

 the Grapes. The house at Blenheim has, however, more than 

 usual ventilation as far as front and back top lights are con- 

 cerned whenever required. Perhaps Mr. Temple has never 

 noticed tliat the trees on the trucks when out 4 feet from the 

 waU, get from an hour and a half to two hours' more sun both 

 evening and morning all through the summer than do the 

 trees on the wall ; but such is the case, and is the reason, no 

 doubt, why the fruit has better colour and better flavour; 

 though, strange to say, this never struck me tiU last year, 

 when I made the experiment as to time on the 15th of July. 

 No sooner has the sun passed the line of wall than the wall is 

 enveloped completely in its own shadow, and this quite sud- 

 denly ; whereas after an hour and a half's further clear light 

 upon the trucks, the shadow of a 12-feet wall begins to creep 

 plowly up the stems of the trees till they are very gradually 

 enveloped in shade. The reverse process takes place in the 

 morning. 



In conclusion. Of course I see the drift of Mr. Temple's 

 remarks, but I am, nevertheless, much obliged to him for having 

 made them, as it has enabled me to correct misapprehensions 

 and to establish facts which are incontrovertible, of which 

 those who read may judge. X assure Mr. Temple he has said 

 but one thing which annoys me, and for that he is in no way 

 blameable. Although I had nothing to do with the erecting of 



the house at Blenheim in a trading point of view, I am much 

 vexed to hear that it was not strongly put together. There 

 was no excuse for this whatever, in spite of the other houses 

 in the gardens having, as I understood, cost four times as 

 much in proportion. I am, however, glad to hear that an iron 

 has been applied to the twist, and that it is now in as good 

 order as the other houses. The man who then built the houses 

 has retired from business, and the whole thing is put into tho 

 hands of a London firm. 



As Mr. Temple lays so much stress upon the £ s. d., I ought 

 to have mentioned the smaller front trucks for winter vege- 

 tables. Strawberries, or flowers according to the gardener's 

 fancy ; but the same remarks as to management apply in both 

 oases. Whatever may be said against the houses in a com- 

 mercial point of view, though they were not proposed for that 

 purpose, the opinion expressed by the late Mr. Veitch at Chis- 

 wick will carry weight with many — viz., that "an immensity 

 of work might be done with such a house." — John Fountaine, 

 Sonthacre Rectory, Brandon. 



[Here this passage of pens may cease, for each combatant 

 has fuUy maintained his own view of the question. — Eds.] 



BOTAL HORTICULTUBAL SOCIETY. 



May 27Tn. 



Feuit Committee. — The only subject submitted to the Com- 

 mittee was Watson's Antagonist Cucumber, a white-spincd 

 variety, exhibited by Mr. Watson, nurseryman, St. Albans. 



Flok.u. Committee. — R. B. Postans, Esq., in the chair. There 

 was less shown at this than at any meeting during the present 

 year, no doubt owing to the Manchester Show, the holidays, and 

 exhibitors holding back for the Society's gi-eat exhibition on the 

 4th and 5th of June. Messrs. Haage & Schmidt, of Erfurt, ex- 

 hibited a number of doable Cinerarias in which the florets of 

 the disk have become, at least the majorportiou of them, coloured 

 like those of the ray ; for this novel strain a first-class certificate 

 was awarded. From the same firm came also a number of 

 varieties of Myosotis alpestris. J. S. Law, Esq., South Lodge, 

 Enfield Chase, had a cultural commendation for Lilium Hum- 

 boldtii, together with L. coneolor. Master R. P. Barr, New 

 Road, Lower Tooting, sent, in competition for Messrs. Barr and 

 Sugden's prizes, a group of cut flowers of Liliums, chiefly varie- 

 ties of L. monadelphum, together with pyreuaicum, teuuifolium, 

 and Pomponium. Messrs. Veitch exhibited Lihum monadel- 

 phum speciosum, together with Boronia elatior, which was 

 noticed at a previous meeting. They also exhibited for J. Smith 

 Dorrien, Esq., cut spikes of Puya chilensis, SJ feet high, which 

 blooms in the open air at Tresco Abbey, in the ScUly Isles. Tho 

 flowers form a large head at the summit of a column-like flower 

 stem, and are greenish yellow, with couspicuoas orange anthers. 

 A full account of the plant is given by Sir William Hooker in 

 the " Botanical Magazine," t. 4715. 



Mr. Watson, nurseryman, St. Albana, exhibited a portable 

 stove boiler, called " "The Masterpiece," which is especially in- 

 tended to be used in the case of a boiler becoming unserviceable 

 during frost, and which may also be used for heating smalS 

 houses. 



FLOEENCE INTERNATIONAL HOBTICULTUEAL 

 EXHIBITION AND BOTANICAL CONGRESS. 



No. 2. 



In our last report we briefly referred to the collections of 

 Terrestrial Orchids. Those shown by Professor Carvel were 

 in very creditable condition, well established in the pots, well 

 cultivated , and well bloomed. There were twenty-two species in 

 all, and among them Serapias cordigera, Ungua, and neglects ; 

 Orchis laxiflora, longicruris, piota, provincialis, rubra, tephro- 

 santhos, and tridentata; Ophrys aranifera, bombyliflora, fusca, 

 lutea, and oxyrhynchos ; and Isias triloba. From the Turin 

 garden Professor Del Ponte sent, besides those named above, 

 Cypripedium Calceolus ; Himantoglossum ; Nigritella angusti- 

 folia; Orchis coriophora, globosa, palustris, papilionacea, 

 Eivini, tridentata, vuidis ; Ophrys Eertoloni, lutea ; and Se- 

 rapias lougipetala. There were thirty species in this collection, 

 but we have only mentioned those that are the most rare 

 with us. 



Up to Saturday the 16th the only prizes of which we had 

 any ooguisance were Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, first prize 

 for a collection of Nepenthes, and first prize for Cypripediums. 

 BOUQUETS. 



We expected to have seen among the bouquets and table 

 floral decorations designs which were at the same time novel, 

 graceful, and artistic, but we were disappointed. The designs 



