Queries and Answers. 231 



I have now mentioned those sorts that I should consider best adapted for profit, and should plant 

 six or seven of each in preference to a greater variety. 



Pears. 



In giving a list of pears for making orchard trees, as they are not grown here to a very great 

 extent, I shall limit myself to a few sorts that both grow and bear well in this county. I daresay 

 all of them may be known to your correspondent ; but, nevertheless, a list may not be unac- 

 ceptable. 



The Crawford. Early yellowish green pear, good bearer. 



Green Chisel. Great bearer, rich, melting, much liked here as an early fruit. 



The Huntingdon. A great bearer, well adapted for a market fruit, but apt to turn mealy. 



Welbeck Bergamot. A very fine fruit, superior flavour, good bearer, and keeps well. 



Sivan's Egg. An old pear, bears abundantly, and keeps well ; melting, and good flavour when 

 kept late, but in some situations is apt to die at the top. 



Aston Town Pear. The most abundant bearer of any, and of very good flavour. 



I have now, as far as lies in my power, answered J. S. L.'s queries; but he must bear in mind, 

 I only state what are chiefly cultivated in Nottinghamshire, and I trust it will meet his views. 

 Yours, &c. — T. Wood. Chilwe/l Nurseries, March 23. 1829. 



Select List of Apples and Pears. — In answer to Mr. It. Errington (p. 111.), 

 I should recommend for early dessert the Egglestone Summering, Waterloo Pippin, and Perfect's 

 Juneating ; for middle season, the Burgin, Lord Lennox, Pike's Pearmain, and Blenheim 

 Orange ; for late keeping, Wollaton Pippin, Bess Poole, Keddlestone Pippin, and Hertfort's Russet. 

 For kitchen use : Early, the Mank's Codlin, American Summering, and Hawthornden ; for 

 middle season, Greenup's Pippin, Maltster, and Barton Free-bearer ; for long keeping, Caldwell, 

 Normanton Wonder, and Northern Greening. All of the above will do well as dwarfs on Paradise 

 stocks. — Id. 



The Bess Poole Apple, and the Advantage of raising Seedlings. — The Bess 

 Poole is much used in this district. There has been much controversy about the origin of its 

 name, some calling it Best Poole, others Bell Poole or Powe ; whereas, in fact, it took its name 

 from one Elizabeth Poole, in whose garden it was raised; and I lately conversed with a brother 

 clergyman on the subject, who was personally acquainted with the said Elizabeth. Query, May 

 there not possibly be more than one apple confounded under the same name? We have also a 

 local apple in these parts called the Low bough, with small fruit, but an immense bearer, and 

 keeps till summer, when it is by no means to be despised for dessert. I have raised a great many 

 apples from seed, which have now come into bearing ; none first rate for dessert, but many valu- 

 able for baking. We lie near the rock here, and apples in general do not succeed very well ; but 

 these seedlings, reared on the ground, succeed better; and the consequence is, that, whereas for- 

 merly we had scarcely enough for the use of the house, we have now abundance, unless it be in a 

 very bad year. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, near Coventry, Jan. 16. 1830. 



Vines Jbr a Geranium-house. — Sir, Your correspondent who styles himself 

 " A Constant Reader," (Vol. V. p. 733.) requests some advice in the choice of vines for his gera- 

 nium-house. I will endeavour to give it him, and shall, at the same time, throw out a few hints 

 on the cultivation of them, which may be acceptable to those of your readers who are not exactly 

 practical cultivators. Your correspondent must not think of planting late vines for that purpose, 

 as one of his chief difficulties will be (if the geraniums are of paramount consideration) to get the 

 wood of the vines well ripened before the geraniums are housed for the winter; and if he can 

 manage to get the geraniums all turned out of the house by the end of April, he may probably 

 shine in the grape way ; if not, it will be complete hodge-podge, and, as usually happens, neither 

 vines nor geraniums will be worth looking at. Now, supposing the geraniums out, and the period 

 in question the beginning of May, my advice is, keep up a day heat of from 65° to 80°, and a 

 night heat of 55° to 65° ; the chief object in this case being to get the grapes well flavoured, and 

 the wood well ripened for the ensuing year. Again, in the autumn, unless there has been a long 

 and warm summer, the fires should be at work towards the end of August, and if the heat can be 

 kept from 75° to 85°, night and day, so much the better, as night heat, in this part of the process, 

 cannot do any harm. The leaves of the vines, when the geraniums are housed for the winter, 

 should be quite yellow, and if they are dropping so much the better. The six vines for this house 

 I should choose as follows : — Two Black Hamburgh, two White Muscadine, one White Frontignac, 

 and one White Sweetwater, observing to put the Frontignac at the warmest end of the house. 

 With regard to their general cultivation, I shall contend that although the spirit of the age, 

 shaped by the progress of scientific research, has sufficiently, in theory, exploded the notions 

 formerly held of making deep borders, thinning the leaves to admit light, and other erroneous 

 works of supererogation ; yet in practice they are still followed, more or less, by one half the 

 horticultural world. One of the most valuable papers that has appeared in your Magazine is, 

 in my opinion, one by Mr. Robert Hiver (Vol. V. p. 60.) (whom, by the by, I know not) ; and had 

 I a score vine borders to make, I would not make one of them more than 1 ft. 9 in. deep in soil, 

 but would depend considerably on top dressings for their after support : for, in my opinion, the 

 quantity of heat required, whether natural or artificial, to flavour the fruit, and properly mature 

 the buds for the next season, is in direct proportion to the average depth of the roots ; therefore, 

 if this hypothesis be right, those who deepen their borders 3 and 4 ft. are only creating extra-ex- 

 pense in fuel hereafter to ripen the wood or fruit. Here I must observe that by ripening the wood 

 I do not mean simply turning its colour, but enabling the vine to cast its leaves spontaneously 

 through the medium of heat alone and a dry atmosphere ; a process which many a one gets the 

 frost to do instead (a sad mistake). I need say nothing about the formation of the borders, the 

 systematic draining, or the air pipes of Mr. Forrest (an excellent plan), as those things, I pre- 

 sume, cannot be better done than at Syon, as described in Vol. V. p. 502. of this Magazine. All I 

 shall now say is, that I think it would be highly desirable to get a perfect command over the sur- 

 face of the vine border (of such, of course, as are planted outside) with regard to wet, and this 

 may be accomplished by having a tarpawling made to roll and unroll occasionally ; and I am sure 

 that in seasons anywise wet and cold it would be found extremely advantageous. I would have 

 tarpawling rolled on the border in all heavy rains from the middle of July until the fruit and wood 

 were ripe ; and towards October I would remove it altogether, and give the border a heavy top 

 dressing of rich manure, and this should again be removed to any of the garden ground in March, 

 to give place to as much more of fresh manure. This latter dressing, I think, should not remain 

 on after the middle of July, but be removed altogether, and the border raked smooth, as the 

 deeper the sun's heat penetrates the border at this season the better. It is a common practice to 

 keep applying top dressing in large quantities, without taking any off, by which means the depth 



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