SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. id 



such as tlie cherry, which never looks well after the month of July, or the 

 plum, which ripens its fruit in August. The quince is one of the most orna- 

 mental of fruit-trees, and might be used for the centre bed, but unfortunately 

 it is rather an uncertain bearer, 



116, The back garden. — If the back garden lies in the direction of east and 

 west, then the wall, having a southern exposure, may be planted with 

 peaches, nectarines, and apricots. The wall facing the east or west might be 

 planted with baking plums and cherries, and the wall with an aspect to the 

 north with morello cherries and currants, or with baking apples and pears, 

 including some of the earliest sorts, and some of the latest. If the back 

 garden lies in the direction of north and south, then the only wall having 

 a southern exposure will be one of the end walls, and on this grapes or peaches 

 may be planted ; while the two side walls may be covered with pears, apples, 

 plums, and cherries, with a gooseberry or a currant between each, to be 

 removed as soon as the fruit-trees require more room. We recommend only 

 kitchen fruits, as being the most profitable for pies, puddings, &c,, to a 

 family ; but some table fruits may be introduced, if the occupier prefers them, 

 A vine may be trained against the house, 



117, Selection of fruit-trees. — As the object in view in planting this garden 

 is rather to produce the fruits most useful in a family, than to grow a great 

 variety of sorts, the first point is to consider what kinds are best adapted for 

 the kitchen. Of these apples are the most wholesome for children, and are 

 not only useful for pies and puddings, but excellent roasted, or boiled down 

 with honey, so as to make a kind of sweetmeat, resembling that called by the 

 French resine, to eat instead of butter with bread. Pears, when of the 

 melting kinds, are both very agreeable and very wholei^ome to eat raw ; but 

 they are seldom used in England for any purposes of cookery except stewing; 

 and this dish, when made palatable, is generally too rich for children. Of 

 stone fruits, damsons are the most wholesome, and most easily preserved; and 

 morello and Kentish are the best cherries for cooking. Gooseberries, rasp- 

 berries, and red currants, with a few black ones, are also extremely useful for 

 all pvirposes of cookery, pa;rticularly preserving. One of the most useful apples 

 for the kitchen is the Hawthornden, which comes in early, bears abundantly, 

 and falls (softens) well in boiling; but the fruit does not keep, and, in some 

 soils, the tree dies off at an early age. The Keswick codlin is also a good and 

 early kitchen apple. The Ribston pippin is an excellent fruit, either for the 

 kitchen or dessert ; but the tree is not quite so hardy or so good a bearer as 

 either the Bedfordshire foundling (a very large apple), or the king of the 

 pippins. The Brabant bellefleur and Wormsley pippin are also very exceller.t 

 apples. The best keeping apples for winter use are the northern greening 

 and the French crab, the latter of which will keep two years. For pears, the 

 best for the table are the beurre de Ranz, the glout morceau, and Eyewood, 

 all excellent bearers, and all keep well. The earliest of the fine-flavoured 

 pears is the jargonelle; but it will not keep longer than a week or ten days, 

 Marie Louise is next in ripening to the jargonelle, but it also will not keep 

 long. The best pear for keeping is the Easter beurre. The best cherries for 

 the kitchen are the Kentish or Flemish, for the early crops, on account of 

 their juiciness, and the ^mallness of their stones; and, in the autumn, the 

 morello, for making cherry brandy and preserving. The wild, or black 

 cherry, which ripens between the kinds mentioned, is a very rich fruit for 



