SUPPLEMENT. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Orchard-houses, as will have been seen by the remarks of 

 Mr. Brehaut, as well as by the treatise of Mr. Rivers, and 

 other writers upon the subject, are, in fact, a real necessity 

 in the climate of Great Britain, where the peach can only 

 be successfully raised on walls or espaliers in sheltered gar- 

 dens, or in houses erected especially for that purpose ; and 

 where even the finer pears cannot be depended upon for an 

 annual crop, so variable and uncertain is the weather in the 

 spring of the year, often accompanied with severe late frosts, 

 which injure or destroy the blossoms ; and when they escape 

 these, the want of solar heat prevents the fruit from attain- 

 ing that perfection which it acquires in a warmer atmosphere, 

 and under clearer skies. Hence orchard-houses are a boon 

 to English cultivators, and it is not surprising that so much 

 interest has been taken in th& subject, or that such a large 

 number have been introduced into English gardens, since 

 they were first advocated by Mr. Rivers. 



But in the climate of the United States the same causes do 

 not exist. Every fruit, unless we except the fig, fl.ourishes in 

 the open air, and ripens its crop in perfection even in our 

 more northern sections of the country ; the peach, it is tru.e, 

 is subject to injury from the great alternations of heat and 

 cold, during our long and severe winters, but even this is 

 only occasional, say two years out of five, while in the Mid- 

 dle and Southern States it is about as certain as the pear. 

 Orchard-house culture is, therefore, not a necessity with us, 

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