Gardens of Herefordshire. 211 



the size of hemp-seeds, water, holding in solution or suspension 

 a mixture of lime, and flowers of sulphur, and soot, was thrown 

 upon the peach trees above mentioned with an engine, in sufficient 

 quantities to wet the whole of the trees and wall, but not ma- 

 terially to affect the colour of the wall. No injurious effects fol- 

 lowed, and not a single blistered leaf has appeared upon my 

 trees, which are bearing an abundant crop of fruit," &c. In the 

 same paper, he confesses his inability to account for this preven- 

 tive action of the liquid, the blistering of the leaves being ge- 

 nerally supposed to arise from severe cold destroying their 

 organisation. Previously to the application of this liquid, the 

 trees were usually very much injured by the disease alluded to : 

 had it not been so, the absence of blight might, with reason, have 

 been ascribed to the innate vigour of the trees, which, having 

 been recently raised from seeds, are now, as it were, in the man- 

 hood of their existence. A fine tree of the mountaineer peach 

 had the best crop of fruit upon it that I have seen this year in 

 the open air. The nectarine having been one of the parents of 

 this variety, its fruit partakes of the nectarine character in a 

 greater degree than that of other peaches : its constitution is 

 hardy, and it seems altogether well adapted for a cold situation. 

 The fruit of one seedling nectarine was particularly handsome, 

 and also well flavoured ; but I could not discover any great dif- 

 ference between it and the violette hative : another, called the 

 imperatrice, is a small fruit, with remarkably firm flesh, and 

 a high vinous flavour. Mr. Knight prefers the almond for a 

 stock for peach and nectarine trees. 



The Nerii fig is, in Mr. Knight's opinion, the best of all the 

 kinds known in England, and also the most difficult to grow, 

 owing to the great tendency of its fruit to fall off the tree before 

 maturity. It is cultivated in a large pit, the trees being planted 

 in a narrow but deep bed of soil inside the pit, and trained to a 

 trellis under the glass. I tasted one of the figs, which, although 

 very good, was not superior to some of the more common sorts. 

 Persian melons are cultivated nearly on the same system as the 

 fig, except that these have their roots confined in very large 

 tubs, which are ranged along the front of the pit, and supported 

 by bricks above the flue. Each tub contains two or three plants, 

 and round the stem of each plant there is a flower-pot without a 

 bottom, to prevent the stems from being wetted when water is 

 given ; as from this cause the troublesome disease known as the 

 " canker " frequently arises. Wires, sufficiently distant from 

 the glass to permit the proper developement of the leaves, are 

 stretched from end to end of the pit, and to these the shoots are 

 trained, rather widely apart : the fruit, which, otherwise, would 

 hang beneath the leaves, and be shaded by them, are supported 

 by light wooden cradles resting upon the wires. The plants may 



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