1 78 Transactions of the Horticultural Society. 



12. On Or ache, its Varieties and Cultivation. By Mr. William 

 TownsencL Under-Gardener in the Kitchen-Garden Department 

 of the Garden of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick. 



The Garden Orache, or Mountain Spinach, A'trlplex {A, 

 privative," trepho, to nourish; insipid food) hortensis, Ar- 

 roche des Jardins, is more attended to in France than in 

 Britain. In the former country it is used alone, and also 

 mixed with sorrel, for the purpose of correcting the acidity of 

 the latter. The quality of the spinach yielded by the orache 

 is far inferior to that of the common spinach, and even of the 

 New Zealand spinach, Tetragonia; but, the orache being a 

 tall-growing plant, its leaves are produced so abundantly, 

 during the whole summer, that a few plants yield sufficient 

 produce for a small family. 



The sorts described by Mr. Townsend are, the White, 

 Red-stalked White, Green, Red-stalked Green, Lurid Purple, 

 and Red. Nothing can be more simple than the culture of 

 these plants. Sow early in spring in drills two feet apart, and 

 afterwards thin out the plants till they are two feet distant 

 in the rows; or, what is better, sow in a bed or pot, and trans- 

 plant at the above distances. A second sowing about the end 

 of June will insure a succession of leaves, and the size and 

 succulency of these will of course depend a good deal on the 

 richness and moisture of the soil. 



13. On planting the Moist alluvial Banks of Rivers ixith Fruit 

 Trees. In a Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. John Robert- 

 son, RH.S. 



The low alluvial soils through which rivers frequently pass 

 are known to be favourable to the growth of fruit trees, unless 

 in cases where they are subject to protracted inundations, which 

 chill the soil, rot the roots, and canker the branches. Mr. 

 Robertson had a thriving orchard on the margin of a river not 

 liable to overflow its banks, but, in consequence of some mill- 

 weirs being built across it, the water was raised to such a 

 height as to keep the soil of the orchard in a constant state of 

 saturation. The trees soon became cankered, and began to 

 decay ; but, being determined to maintain an orchard there, 

 Mr. Robertson formed the ground into high ridges or banks, 

 with water ditches between, planting the trees along the tops 

 of the banks. They grew rapidly, and produced abundantly, 

 owing, in a great measure, to the roots " always necessarily 

 protruding to the surface, where they receive more immediately 

 the direct influence of the air, rain, and sun, and other agents 

 conducive to vegetation." Almost every drinking pond in the 



