ORCHARD-HOUSES. 31 



shoots, is about 18 inches in height, and is in 

 better health than last year. 



In all cases, especially in reference to luxuries, 

 the cost of production is a necessary or reasonable 

 inquiry. In this respect there is no comparison, 

 not only with fruit that requires forcing, but with 

 wall fruit. A house 60 feet by 20 feet wide, costs 

 about 100, and will produce, say 150 dozen a-year. 

 This is a moderate calculation. There is no reason 

 to expect failure in a well-managed house. How 

 much wall would be required to give the same 

 results with certainty ? Then, in respect to flavour, 

 in the average of seasons, there is no comparison 

 between wall and orchard-house fruit. A Peach 

 or Apricot which has only one side exposed to the 

 sun, can never be evenly ripened, nor, conse- 

 quently, of the highest flavour. How stupid it 

 must be to perpetuate this in fruit-houses, as is 

 often done with Peaches on a trellis. I have 

 heard the observation, "Why, these are like Cape 

 Peaches, not at all like English ones; they are 

 so full of juice, and so much higher in flavour 

 than any I have tasted in England : " the reason 

 being that the sun had shone all round the tree, 

 and the fruit had been protected by the foliage. 



