76 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



pies or puddings ; but the stones are large in proportion to the pulp, and it 

 continues in season but a very short time. Of plums, the green gage, the 

 early and late Orleans, and the Shropshire or prune damson, are the best 

 The wine sour and mirabelle are also frequently used for preserving ; and 

 Gisborne's plum is an extraordinary bearer. Of grajies, the most productive, 

 in the open air, are the esperione and the white muscadine ; the best for 

 wine-making is the black cluster. Of peaches, the best bearers are the grosse 

 niignonne, the Royal George, and the Bellegarde ; the last a most excellent 

 sort. The best nectarine is the Elruge, and the best apricot for the table is 

 the Moorpark ; though the Breda, which is a very abundant bearer, is most 

 useful in the kitchen, as it not only makes a delicious preserve when ripe, but 

 excellent tarts when green. The best bearing fig is the large blue or purple 

 fig, which ripens well in the open air, and early ; but the brown Brunswick is 

 also much recommended. The best gooseberries for preserving green, and 

 making green gooseberry wine, or British champagne, are the rumbullion 

 and the white Dutch. The Warrington, the whitesmith, and the early rough 

 red are great bearers, and afford excellent fruit for the table, and for pre- 

 serving when ripe : the roaring lion is the best bearer of the large sorts. The 

 common, or Dutch, red currant is the only one used for pies and puddings, 

 and is the best for preserving. The black currant is used for making a kind 

 of jam, called rob, which is thought good for sore throats ; the black Naples 

 produces the finest fruit. The best white currant is the white Dutch. The 

 red Antwerp raspberry is the best, both for the table and preserving ; and 

 the white Antwerp has the finest flavour for the dessert. The only straw- 

 berry that is suitable for preserving is Keen's seedling, and it is also the 

 best and most regular bearer. The red alpine is high-flavoured, and con- 

 tinues in bearing many months, but the fruit is small. The scarlets are the 

 kinds mostly used for flavouring ices, and the variety called the Duke of 

 Kent's scarlet is esteemed the best. The old pine is the finest flavoured of 

 all the strawbei'ries, but it is a very uncertain bearer. 



118. Walks and borders. — On the supposition that the walks are of flag- 

 stone, supported on brick piers, then the wall borders need not be more than 

 18 in. wide; as the space under the flagstones (the latter not touching the 

 soil) will be almost as available for a border for the roots of the wall trees, as 

 if it were fully exposed to the sun ; while, in effect, as we have elsewhere 

 observed, it adds all the space occupied by the walks to the superficial area 

 of the garden. If the walks are of gravel, then the width of the boi-ders 

 between them and the wall on which peaches and grapes are to be grown 

 ought not to be less than 5 ft. ; and those for the other hardier fruits not less 

 than 2 or 3 feet. \^fig. 34., the direction of the side walls of the back garden 

 is east and west : and, the walks being supposed to be of gravel, the border 

 to the wall a, having a south aspect, is 5 ft. wide ; that to the end wall b, 

 having a west aspect, is 3 ft. wide ; and that to the south wall c, having a 

 north aspect, is 2 ft. wide ; d is the rubbish-pit. The interior of the garden 

 is laid out in beds for the cultivation of kitchen crops. 



119. Planting the central plot of the bade garden, — The object being to 

 grow culinary vegetables in it, on no account would we recommend standard 

 fruit-trees to be planted there; because the sliadc of them is injurious to the 

 flavour of the vegetables grown beneath them ; and because the trenching 

 and digging of the ground necessary to bring the vegetables to a large size, 



