HORTICULTURE. 



189 



HM Walk, lag their situation colder than it' they were at a distance 

 ""Y"" 1 from the wall. Curved or semicircular walls are there- 

 fore no longer constructed. The inclining of walls to 

 the horison, in order to their receiving the sun's rays 

 more directly, is excellent in theory, but not adapted 

 to practice. Trellises may be so inclined, or close 

 " palings: such indeed have been successfully 

 ed in some gardens, as at Brechin Castle, the 

 of Mr Maule of Panmure; where curved walls 

 ay also be seen. A stone or brick wall, however, 

 eould not be sufficiently inclined without the support 

 of a bank of earth, and this would inevitably keep the 

 wall continually damp and cold. A coping is neces- 

 sary to preserve the wall, not only by preventing the 

 rain from sinking into it at top, but to throw it off from 

 the sides, where its trickling down would do much 

 damage. The best coping is formed of long pieces of 

 freestone, neatly hewn from four inches thick in the 

 centre to two at the plinth ; the edges being made to 

 project beyond the wall about two or three inches, and 

 a groove being run underneath the plinth, to collect 

 and throw off the drop*. 



What is commonly called the tilcken-garden has, in 

 in modem times, become almost the only walled enclo- 

 swe. It is likewise the frwt-ganlen, the walls being 

 chiefly hltannVd for the protecting and training of fruit- 

 tnatv These, it is to be understood, are planted on 

 both sides of the wall ; the exterior fruit-bonier being 

 defended generally by a sunk fence and an evergreen 

 hedge, with a wire fence for the exclusion of hares. 

 If, after all, the enclosing walls afford too little room for 

 training, crow wall is built in the middle of the 

 garden ; or, where the establishment is large, and 

 where fruit is much in demand, two crow walls are 

 reared. These cross walls are not placed nearer to each 

 other than a hundred feet ; if they be two hundred 

 ft M perhaps better. They can scarcely 



the garden ; on the contrary, they 

 might be defended M tending rather to enliven its ef- 

 fect, by presenting new scenes as the successive central 

 doors are opened. They seldom need to be high ; be- 

 ing generally destined for peaches, nectarines, or plums, 



ArlTUfc 



BstWiDj. 41. It may be proper in this place to say a few words 

 of flued walls, as by much the beat time for their con- 

 strnction is at the original enclosing of the garden. 

 Hot wall* are of two kinds; such at are intended to 

 have sloping glass-fames attached to them, thu- t a 

 certain extent farcing the fruit ; and such as are not 



' - * 4l_ 1. 1 i . i 



for 45 or 50 feet of such frame- work. When the new Hot \V-ilK 

 wood of the tree is sufficiently ripened, the whole is "* "Y*** 

 taken down and carried under cover. When there is a 

 considerable extent of hut wall, adapted fur the recep- 

 tion of glass frames, perhaps 25O or 800 feet, particu- 

 lar trees may be forced or omitted, and an opportunity 

 is thus afforded of restoring trees, by allowing them a 

 year's rest. For these hot walls, fire heat is required 

 only for about four months, from the end of February 

 to the end of May, and again for two or three weeks, 

 when the new wood is ripening. 



Flued walls, with an apparatus for temporary cover, 

 ings of canvas, oiled paper, or woollen nets, are neces- 

 sary for the perfect production of the finer sorts of 

 peaches and nectarines in all parts of Britain north ef 

 Yorkshire. Without the aid of artificial heat, the young 

 wood of these trees is seldom sufficiently ripened, in 

 ordinary seasons, to ensure a supply of good flower- 

 buds for the following year, and unless the buds be 

 strong and plump, the chance of a crop the ensuing 

 season is proportionally lessened ; and frequently, after 

 a sufficient quantity of fruit has been brought to full 

 size, unless heat be supplied artificially, in autumn, ma- 

 turation is not effected. In the northern parts of the 

 island, therefore, it is always proper to construct a por- 

 tion of the garden walls with flues : the additional ex- 

 pence of forming the flues, particularly where the inside 

 racing only is of brick, is but trifling; and little consi- 

 deration should be attached to the ex pence of the small 

 quantity of fuel that may be necessary for promoting 

 the irllmg of the fruit, and for ripening oil' the young 

 wood in autumn, the time when it is chiefly wanted. 



The floes are commonly eighteen or twenty inches 

 deep, and nine inches wide, inside measure, and they 

 make as many turns as the height of the wall will per. 

 mit. Formerly they made only three turns ; but it has 

 been found, that the oftener the flues are returned, 

 provided they draw well, the leas heat escapes by the 

 chimney, and consequently the more is evolved from 

 the surface of the wall. The sole of the flue to the 

 length of the first turn, is generally a foot above the 

 level of the border. The front wall of the flue is 44 

 niches thick, or a brick on bed, without any inside 

 plastering. In same places a wooden trellis covers the 

 wall ; but in general, the trellis does not extend higher 

 than the first range of the flue, the heat above this 

 not injuring the trees : where neatness is much studied, 

 the trellis rods are sunk into a small recess purposely 

 left in the wall, thus preventing the appearance of 

 bulging, which is otherwise unavoidable. 



eskulasml for having this appendage, but merely to 

 haw screens over the blossoms in the spring. 



. 



are generally built about ten or twelve feet high. 



In the first kind of hot wall, ground plate or low 

 parapet, a foot high, and at the distance of perhaps five 

 feet from the wall, is, in some places, formed for the 

 glass frames to rest npon, these being heavy and strong ; 

 the trees are trained on a trellis within a few incheaof 

 the waU.^and along the border in front of the trees, 

 early crops of pew, kidney .beans, or strawberries are 

 raised. In other places, the frames are of very slight 

 construction, and easily manageable : they are about 

 two feet shorter than the height of the wall ; and this 

 deficiency is supplied by a boarded parapet, on which 

 rest the rafters for supporting the sashes : the space 

 between the bottom of these and the wall, seldom ex- 

 eeeda three feet. One furnace is reckoned sufficient 



4 



Both 42. The improvement of the soil naturally becomes 



an object of great importance at the first formation of a 

 garden ; and its subsequent management, or keeping 

 in heart," at gardeners term it, is a matter of equal 



Hltrrft. 



The various soils distinguished by gardeners and 

 horticulturists consist of the simple earths (as they used 

 to be called^ of the chemists, particularly argil, silex and 

 lime, mixed in different proportions. It is well known, 

 that some of the principal offices of the soil are merely 

 mechanical ; such are, the giving proper support to the 

 vegetable by means of its roots, and the supplying these 

 with water in a slow and convenient manner, the super- 

 fluous moisture draining off. A mixture of clay and 

 sand it called lo*m ; and according as the one or other 

 of these earths predominates, the soil is denominated a 



