220 Retrospective Criticism. 



the nature of things, sometimes happen, I am induced to trouble you with the following lines, in 

 answer to your remarks relative to my house in Bagshot Park. ' ... 



Nothing truly, is more likely to promote improvement than plain and disinterested criticism ; 

 but I must' assure you that your candour and sincerity have led you into a mistake in the particu- 

 lars of my house. The house stands on a gentle rise one foot above the level of the ground in its 

 immediate vicinity, which I consider quite sufficient to carry off all rain. The subsoil is a gravel, 

 and it is the driest situation within the range of the garden. Having no occasion for the two 

 underground cellars which you mention, that would have been a useless trouble and expense. 

 The bedrooms are not six but eight feet high in the clear. You proceed by stating, that the 

 humane way of keeping the house from obtruding on the walks would have been to have had all 

 the rooms on the ground-floor. Now, in my humble view of the case, even supposing the rooms 

 as low as you state, I would rather be in danger of knocking my head occasionally against the 

 ceiling than of risking the pains of rheumatism, ague, &c, from sleeping on a ground-floor over 

 cellars I have delayed writing to you hitherto in order that I might prove the dryness and comfort 

 of my new residence ; and I am now happily settled in it, and congratulate myself for so great an 

 improvement in my domestic comforts. I am under no inconvenience from damp or any other 

 disagreeable, and find the rooms quite high enough for an honest man to walk uprightly, and 

 therefore feel no disposition to follow your advice in pulling down and rebuilding. Whatever 

 fault however, may exist in the construction of the house, I believe I must take it entirely on 

 myse'lf. With my best thanks for your kind intentions, I am, Sir, &c. — Andrew Toward. Bagshot 

 Park, Jan. 5. 1830. ', „ s ■ 



Hanwell Souring Apple. — Sir, Mr. Lawrence (Vol. V. p. 731. ), in reply to an 

 enquiry about the best sorts of apples to be planted in an orchard, recommends a few kinds, of 

 which I will say nothing, as thev are, for the most part, nearly unknown to me. Without mean- 

 ing, therefore, to find fault with 'his selection, I may be allowed to observe " unus abest," one is 

 wanting, which for its merits is deserving of a place in every orchard, though large enough only 

 to contain two individual trees : I mean the Hanwell Souring, of which a short account will be 

 found in the fourth volume of the Horticultural Transactions, p. 219. This apple takes its name 

 from Hanwell, a village on the S. E. borders of Warwickshire, where I conclude it was originally 

 raised. It is recommended as a baking or kitchen apple; and its merits are, that it is a good 

 bearer and an excellent keeper, retaining its flavour and firmness till very late in the season. I 

 have found them very good in the end of July, and have no doubt they would have kept longer had 

 I not had occasion to use them. As the apple is not, I believe, generally known in the nurseries, 

 nor, perhaps, much cultivated out of the midland counties, I shall be happy to send you grafts 

 for 'distribution, should you think them acceptable. Yours, &c. — IV. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, 

 Dec. 12. 1829. i 



Our correspondent has sent a few grafts to Mr. Charlwood's seed-shop, Great Russel Street, 

 Covent Garden, which Mr. Charlwood will distribute among the trade. — Cond. 



The deterioration of Orchard Fruit When I first read Mr. Knight's book on 



this circumstance, I was a convert to his opinion. Since, then, however, I have observed that 

 the same trees which from their decaying appearance seemed to justify his assertions are now 

 recovering, and promise restoration to former vigour. This, then, would seem to have been a 

 temporary defect, rather than a general failure. — Superficial. Feb. 1829. 



Baillys [French] Pamphlet on ringing Fruit Trees. — This is a very old affair ; it 

 is mentioned in London and Wise's translation of the Jardinier Solitaire, p. 22. ; and being in 

 italics, it is probable was an addition of their own. They mention it as having been tried ten 

 years before, and that though some trees had perished from the operation, many had borne it 

 without damage, and had in consequence become more fruitful. — Id. 



Preservation against Insects. — This, it was supposed, could be effected by boring 

 a hole in the stem or branch of an infected tree, filling it partly with quicksilver, and plugging it 

 up. The destructive quality of this mineral was expected to diffuse itself throughout the whole 

 structure of the plant, and in course destroy or offend the insects. But this expedient has been 

 found to be completely nugatory. —Id. 



Mr. Harrison's method of pruning the Peach and Nectarine. — Sir, Observing in 

 p.55. an article on the pruning of peach and nectarine trees, by Mr. J. H. Newington,in which mention 

 is made of the mode of treatment practised upon the peach and nectarine trees at this place by 

 my father when gardener here, and that such practice Mr. Newington considered a bad system, I 

 be" leave to inform him, through the medium of your Magazine, that the same principle which 

 he^recommends, and upon which it is stated his trees are pruned, is that which has uniformly 

 been practised here for many years, and which is minutely described in the Treatise upon Fruit 

 Trees, published by my father; upon the perusal of which Mr. Newington would find it sytemati- 

 cally and clearly stated, or by viewing the trees at this place, or in the gardens of the Earl of JEgre- 

 mont Petworth House, Sussex, where my father is now gardener, he would find it in operation. 

 The uniform system acted upon by my father in the treatment pursued with all fruit trees under 

 his care, " but particularly with peach and nectarine trees," has been, as far as practicable 

 (keeping in view a supply of healthy bearing wood for succeeding years), to divest the trees of 

 every shoot, or part of a shoot, that could possibly be dispensed with. This is strictly attended to 

 in the spring dressing of the young shoots, and in cutting away the shoots in May or June ; also 

 by the early autumn pruning of the trees. The attention thus paid is not performed in a random 

 manner, but systematically done. Permit me to add, that the same system, acted upon here, has 

 not only been abundantly successful at this place, but, having been pursued in many other situ- 

 ations, and in some such as Mr. Newington considers unfavourable, in none has it failed for a 

 season that I have heard of; but even in very unfavourable seasons has been uniformly successful. 

 It the trees be planted, pruned, and otherwise attended to as directed in the treatise already 

 mentioned, the same advantages will be realised which have attended its practice here. I am, 

 Sir, &c. — Joseph Harrison. Wortley Hall, Feb. 5. 18j0. 



Mr. Newington s Remarks on training the Peach Tree. (p. 55. ) — Sir, Mr. 

 Newington says that he has frequently heard complaints from gentlemen, with the confession of 

 gardeners themselves, that they are more deficient in the management of the peach than in most 

 other parts of their profession. It is true that there is an equal degree of skill required with the 

 peach as with most other products of the garden ; but this does not prove that " every cultivator " 

 of the peach is less acquainted with its culture. Mr. Newington says, " the failure of these crops 

 arises from the manner in which they prune their trees," and that " it is the endeavour of every 



