SS 
1843.] 
THE GARDENERS: CHRONICLE. 
841 
poles set upright with others across, about a foot asunder, 
bound together ; or with timber and cross ryles. Some 
make their fruit-trees to spread their boughs by cutting 
them, and to grow without helpe of rayles or poles.”” 
“ Fruit-trees for an Orchard.—Wee have many sorts 
of Apples, some of the sommer season, such as Dovebills, 
Codlings, Junettings; many of autumn, as Queenings, 
Darlings, Golden Pippins; some of the beginning of 
winter, such as the Pearmaine, the Hervey, the Golden 
ippin ; some that keepe almost the whole year about, 
such as Pippins, Apple John or Deux Ans, some Russet- 
ings, and one kind of Pearmaine. Apples blossome not 
here till thelast weeke of Apriland first of May [Old Style}. 
ears.—Wee have many sorts of Pears fit for standards ; 
some early, as the Katherine ; some middle seasoned, as 
the Sommer Bergamot, Sommer Bon Chrestien, the 
Norwich, the Windsor, the Slip Peare, the Binfield, or 
ove Peare, Messire John, Roy d’Esté, the Lewys Peare, 
St. Michel’s Peare, St. Lezin Peare, the Beurré Peare, the 
iong Green Peare. Some of the end of Winter, as the 
Finor, a French Peare, the Spanish Warden, the Bishop’s 
Peare, the Double Fleur Peare, the Winter Thorn Pear. 
he best Pears for a wall are the Winter Bon Chrestien, 
the Winter Bergamot, Bergamot de Bugi, the two sorts 
of Beurré or Butter Pears, the Greenfield, and all good 
winter Pears for eating or baking. P/uwms,—Wee have 
many sorts of Plums for standards. The Marbled Plum 
and the Turkey are ripe in the end of July, at the farthest, 
against a wall. The Muscle Plum was ripe in standards 
With mee the beginning of August. Cherries.—Only the 
Flanders and the Carnation Cherry doe well in England 
in standards. White Hearts, if they stand warm, and 
the Gascoyne Cherry, which bears indifferent well also in 
Standards, if well sheltered from wind. Quinces.—Wee 
ve the Portugal Quince, which is the best, and the small 
Wie Quince. Félderts.—There is the Red kind and the 
ite, 
“Of Colonel Blunt's Vineyard, 1665.—The Soyle of 
ae Vineyard (which was a part of Blackheath, near 
Teenwich, in Kent) is extremely barren, (as it seems to 
e,) of a light whitish sand mixt with small stones, in the 
earth naturally grows nothing but ling and furze. The 
ela is on the side of a hill, which lies full facing the 
gt) el defended by the hills from the north and west 
deme as parcel of ground was between one and two 
adiieed in € earth was in the summer time or autumn 
ae Chis shallow trenches and ridges. A little before or 
gids eae the plants were set in the trenches two 
Pauiged nm ae Between each rank of vines there was a 
nel aa ce eet Wide, to goe betwixt the vines, and dig 
Batten em. rom each root two of. the strongest 
ewe fon ly were allowed to grow up every year, which 
HSE up toa stake about four feet high, and soe stood 
e time vines begin to sprout out, which is in April, 
and then the tops of each of these two shoots are bound 
down to a stake stuck between every two roots, and tied 
ee to the said stake, one of the two shoots is tied to 
he right hand stake, and the other to the left hand stake. 
These two shoots aforesaid, bowed soe down, put forth 
es branches at the joynts, which will fall and hang 
ne to the very earth, and bear grapes to the ground; 
ee Owest grapes are sweetest, because of the reflection 
ae the earth. The shoots which have once borne fruit 
ae oe back within one joynt of the old stock, which need 
ae e a foot higher than the earth; and two of the 
meet shoots produced and tied upright in summer are 
mt as those of the former year, and soe on.” 
Colonel Blunt says that vines cannot stand too dry, 
x : 
an need watering, and prosper best in a shallow 
if there 
c 
olonel Says hee uses no dung nor compost to this barren 
> 
S. each, Peaches—Newington, two sorts; Mignonne 
My? Orleans, Red Nutmeg, Roman, Queen’s, Royall, 
Duk » Arabian, White Nutmeg, 2s. each. Cherries— 
Wine Flanders, Moyes, Morillions [Morello], Red, 
cr €, Black, and Amber Hearts, Prince Royall, and 
fat ation ; allthese at 8d. the tree. Pears—Thirty-four 
Pe 5 EG at 12d. the tree. Apples — Sommer 
cue n, Holland Pepin, Russet Pepin, Kentish Pepin, the 
nate Supposed in England, Russeting, Gilliflower, Mus- 
ae ie Queen, John Apple, King Apple, Golden Reinette, 
on ae Hollow-crowned, and Common Pearmains, Old 
Ge? onsuch, Figg Apple ; all these are at 8d. the tree, 
pt the Figg Apple, which is 5s.” 
AMATEUR’S GARDEN.—No. XLVIII. 
cultivati greatest drawback, which we experience in the 
Rete of the more tender kinds of Chinese, Tea- 
ing the, and Bourbon Roses, is the difficulty of preserv- 
without 4 through the winter and early spring months, 
borders eing killed to the ground. :-It is true that if the 
Preserved; mulched with short dung, the roots will be 
but the ee will break strong'shdots again in'the spring; 
and the, i ese shoots will not bloom before midsummer, 
Most tht Ore during the time the bloom would be the 
tively RMR ae the Chinese Rose-garden is compara- 
evise so ‘ank. Itis therefore necessary that we should 
winter cee of protecting the plants through the 
Tune: Seite ed, so as to have them in bloom in May and 
Operation hi that purpose I have some experiments in 
which I flatter myself will answer the purpose. 
and the branches of the Roses’are kept pegg s 
that they are a mass of bloom when the plants are in 
flower. co ' 
Now, with a view to the protection of the plants, I 
have had them pegged close tothe ground, and alt 
the superfluous and young succulent: wood. cut out. 
At present they are uninjured; but as soon as severe 
weather sets in I intend to cover them: six inches thick 
with dry fresh leaves, and to keep them from blowing 
away I shall cover them with the: braiiches of ever- 
green trees. Over some of the more delicate kinds a 
have placed drain-tiles, so as to allow a'current of air 
to pass through them, but to be stopped in severe 
weather; and one of the beds is so arranged as to allow 
a current of air to pass between the plants and the 
covering. If these plans answer, the plants when un- 
covered next April will be quite sound, and after being 
regulated and pegged out, will afford me, I expect, a fine 
bloom in May and June. In_ pruning the Chinese 
varieties in the summer, I generally make it a rule to cut 
the old branches close out to the root as soon as they cease 
to produce bloom, and replace them with young wood. In 
this way they bloom with considerable vigour, and it 
affords an excellent opportunity of manuring or regulating 
the beds several times in the season. 
In America, I believe, they find it necessary to bury all 
their Roses in the winter season, for the frosts are so 
severe that the stocks they are worked upon—the Wild 
Briar of our hedges—are not sufficiently hardy to with- 
stand them. If this is sufficient protection there, I think 
my plan will be all that we require for tender kinds in 
this country. 
Standard plants of the tender kinds must be protected 
by dried fern and a waterproof covering, as directed in 
the early part of the year, with a thick hayband round the 
stem, and a little mulching dung over the roots.— WP. 
Ayres, Brooklands. 
HOME CORRESPONDENCE. 
Peat-draining. — Observations made at the Preston 
Agricultural Society, Oct. 14, 1843, by Wilson France, 
Esgq., of Rawcliffe Hall, on Peat-draining.—“ He had been 
blamed for saying that turf-draining was the only sort of 
draining they should attend to ; but he had said no such 
thing. He had said that those situated like himself, on 
turf-moss, would find turf-draining the best and the 
cheapest. He quoted from an article by Sir James Gra- 
ham, in one of the first volumes of the Royal Agricultural 
Society’s Transactions, where he said it had always 
appeared to him that skill in'Agriculture does not so much 
consist in'the discovery of principles of universal applica- 
tion,.as in the adaptation of acknowledged principles to 
local circumstances. If they found turf the best and 
cheapest, they ought to adopt turf; if they found tile the 
cheapest, let them adopt tile; or if stone wears’ the best 
let them adopt stone. He had said that whenever 
they found turf the best they should use turf. _ He 
had brought that day, and would produce to them, 
turf that he could prove had been put in a drain 
fifty-six years since, and they would bear him out 
in saying, it was now perfectly good and sound. This 
proved that turf was serviceable, and as a means of 
draining should not be neglected when it was applicable. 
He could make them at 2s. 9d. per thousand, and could 
cart 1,000 with two horses, or even 700 with one horse. 
They could be inserted as a wedge in the drain; they were 
not brittle, and in the use of the subsoil-plough, which 
ought to be used after draining when the substratum was 
clay, suppose the plough came in contact with the drain, 
and even cut an inch off his turf, it would not injure the 
drain, as the turf was spongy, and would give way. If 
they touched a tile with the plough they knew the effect, 
the drain was broken into. He cut his drains 11 ins. 
wide at the top, removing away no more soil than was 
necessary for the formation of the drain. He made them 
30 ins. deep, never less than 30, and the width of the 
drain tapered, until at the bottom it was only 2 ins. wide. 
The turf was cut in a certain way, 9 ins. or 10ins. long, 
3 ins. wide at the bottom, and 4} ins. at the top part. 
This fits in the drain as a wedge, leaving a channel for the 
water of G ins. deep, and even when the drain was com- 
plete, as he had already stated, the subsoil-plough coming 
jn contact with the turf and cutting off an inch would not 
injure it. There was no question that the longitudinal plan 
of draining,‘ or down the field, was the best; the general 
distance of the drains should be 6 yards, or 18ft. apart, 
and the ordinary drains run into main drains, which should 
flow into the ditches. The turf which he produced, 56 
| years old, was cut so as to rest upon shoulders, and by the 
pressure of soil had been in some degree bent, but though 
pressed, the drain had not been spoiled. These drains 
had been laid across the field, but it was better to drain 
| down. In favour of the superiority of turf-draining he 
| would refer them to the last Number of the Transactions 
| of the Royal Agricultural Society, by the Rev. Copinger 
| Hill, of Stowmarket, near Ipswich. After Mr. Hill had 
| described the several modes of draining in Suffolk, he says, 
| « Better than all peat cut for the purpose in the fens’ of 
| Cambridgeshire, in length 15 ins. and 3 ins. square ; it is 
| pressed gently into the top of the:narrow drain, made 
| 1Oins. wide at the top, 2ins. at the bottom; and 30 ins. 
deep, and then the earth thrown in upon it. The peat swells 
speedily, becomes firmly fixed, and is very durable. In 
| peat-draining, when we come to stony or gravel spots, two 
pieces of peat instead of one are placed in, side by side, 
and in bad cases the sides of the drain are built with 
turf as well as the top.” Sir H. Davy says, ‘‘ inert peaty 
matter remains for years exposed to water and air without 
undergoing change.” This was proved by the turf which 
had lasted 56 years at Raweliffe. The size of Mr. Hill's 
ged down, so | drains were the same as his, Mr. France’s. Peat sells at 
the rate of 6s. per thousand, and eight score rods of 
draining to the acre, the rod measuring 53 yards, takes 
2000 feet. This was an important testimony to the 
advantages of turf, and this was not mere theory, but the 
experience of a gentleman. He was himself unacquainted 
with the county of Suffolk, and could not speak of the 
facilities or difficulties of obtaining tile or stone. The 
secret of farming, he said, was to produce the greatest 
possible crop at the least possible expense. Now it was 
important to notice the expense of these turves, which had 
lasted 56 years, as he could prove (the old man who laid 
them was now living on his estate) and were no worse 
(he did not see why they should not last 556 years). He 
would put it in this way: it would take about 28 turves to 
drain a rod of seven yards, which, at the rate of 2s. 9d. 
per 1000, would cost 1d. He was anxious to pay the 
wages of his labourers at such a rate that they could earn 
from ls. 8d. to 2s. per day, and the price varied for 
the cutting of these 28 turves from 3d. to 4d.—say 4d. 
These turves he gave to his tenants free of all charge. 
He then said they might either pay a per centage for 
the outlay or join him in the cost; he preferred the 
latter mode, because it gave the tenant an interest in 
the work, and being a paymaster as well as himself 
the tenant could remonstrate if any of the work were not 
done properly, The marl had to be carted from the drain 
to the pit, the expense of which would be 1d., making 
the whole cost only 6d. per rod or 2/. 18s. per statute 
acre. The results arising from his draining were quite 
astonishing. He had been highly gratified at seeing fields 
formerly thick with rushes recently covered with luxuriant 
green crops. Another field very rushy had borne an 
excellent crop of Oats, and from which he calculated 
74 to 8 loads of meal per acre. Draining was the first 
move to good farming ; land was grateful, and made ample 
returns for whatever was bestowed upon it. There were 
many instances where the expense of this should be shared 
by the landlord and tenant, and others where the landlord 
should do all and the tenant pay a per centage ; and con- 
sidering the confidence that ought to exist between land- 
lord and tenant there should be no difficulty in such a 
matter. Hewas anxious to have field fences in straight lines ; 
fields when large should be square, and when smail should 
be of an oblong form ; in number they should be accord- 
ing to the size of the farm, 8, 12, 16, or 20, so as to suit 
a proper rotation of crops. The shape of the field had a 
material influence in the labour of the ploughman ; sup- 
posing a field of 4180 yards or a statute acre was 10 
chains long and 1 broad; the furrow nine inches wide 
or 88 furrows in the 66 feet: the horses in ploughing 
this, travel 11 miles exclusive of turning, which make one- 
tenth, and then the horses travel-12 miles and 176 yards. 
If the field is shapeless and requires cuts, how much the 
distance and the time are increased! The loss of time ia 
turning the furrows was not an idle game. He stated it 
upon first-rate authority, Sir John Sinclair, in the first or 
second book of whose Treatise on Agriculture they would 
find it, Yes, there was a loss of one tenth of the time, 
and in shapeless fields there would be a loss of one fifth. 
The tenant should have his fields so that he could plough 
them without any unnecessary loss in turning. It was 
necessary that these things should be attended to; he did 
not think produce would be much higher in price, indeed 
he hardly thought it should : prosperous times, as times 
of high prices were sometimes called, did not make the 
best farmers, for if the farmer could pay his way with 
half a crop, he would make no exertions to have a whole 
one. The present times hastened improvements ; it 
and made them exert themselves to 
Rawcliffe, and if they came they should see the old drain 
which he was now crossing.” Mr. Wilson France then sat 
down amidst great applause. t 
history of Peat-draining for the last56 years, andby referring 
to the Gardeners’ Chronicle of the present year, page 737, 
we have Mr. Fair’s account of a further improvement in 
thePeat-draining inwhat he calls the tile-turf. The Duke of 
Hamilton hasbeen forsome years adopting thePeat-draining 
on his estates in Lancashire on the same plan as Mr. France, 
and there is no doubt but a great quantity of land will be 
brought into cultivation by these improvements which has 
remained uncultivated for ages. The Duke has also been 
adopting what Mr. France has pointed out respecting 
fields and their fences. Here may be seen some of the 
uke’s wire-fences, which I suppose are half-a-mile long 
and quite straight, and the fields made about 17 rods 
wide, parallel to each other, which gives them a very 
striking effect when viewed from a distance. ]—Facile. 
Pear Training.—Going over the Pear quarter at the 
Royal Gardens at Versailles, I found from the head 
gardener that he considered the tying down the branches 
a sufficient check to overgrowth, without the assistance 
of root-pruning, except as regards any very free-growing 
varieties. Nothing could, to my mind, exceed the neat- 
ness and geod bearing of the Pear-trees; they were of a 
conical shape, and all the branches tied down so as to 
present the appearance of a conical chandelier, and of 
course much more bearing wood obtained than in the trees 
which were stunted by root-pruning. I believe Mr. 
Rivers (whose experience in root-pruning is great) does 
not agree with me. LT have no doubt but that he will, on 
seeing this, favour us with his views.—Totly. [In con- 
sidering how far French gardening is applicable to 
England, we must never lose sight of one mosé important 
