478 



Retrospective Criticism. 



examine the tree, and found it quite hollow, from the ground upwards, through 

 the trunk, and into the main branches. — M. Said. Fori Green Cottage, 

 Garstang, July, 1842." 



Art. IV. Retrospective Criticism. 



Fruit Corridors. — In looking over the Gardener's Magazine for May, I 

 find a paper (p. 273.) by Mr. Forsyth, very interesting on account of its novelty, 

 but which, I fear, may tend to mislead. I agree with Mr. Forsyth entirely in 

 the subject of his exordium, viz. that an extremely fruitful garden is a source 

 of the highest gratification ; but about the means of obtaining such I must, in 

 some degree, differ from him. It is a subject that I too have felt highly in- 

 terested in for some years, and I never read a paper on the subject of accli- 

 matising exotics, but I immediately think what might be done in the case of 

 our tender fruit trees. I am afraid that what I now write will, of necessity, 

 assume a controversial character. I must, however, disclaim all idea of con- 

 troversy, as I have neither time nor inclination for a career of the kind. 

 What is published is in the hands of a public which, sooner or later, in all 

 matters, arrives at the truth. 



Mr. Forsyth is, I perceive, all for " corridors," which, in plain English, as 

 applied to fruit trees, I suppose mean a much wider coping than is usually given 

 on supporters, and which, instead of being flat, rises a little in front. The 

 principle, at first sight, appears good, and I can only wish that Mr. Forsyth 

 had given a slight sketch of what he intends. However, in the absence of such 

 sketch, I will put a case as near 

 his ideas as can be well gathered. 

 We gardeners do not travel by 

 railway every day, but as far as I 

 remember of the " corridor " of 

 the railway at Derby, it is a build- 

 ing of some 8 or 10 feet wide, 

 with a roof at an angle just suf- 

 ficient to carry off the rain, as is 

 usual in such cases ; in fact, some- 

 thing like the annexed section, 

 fig. 53., which Mr. Forsyth will 

 perhaps call a " hybrid." 



Now, a, is the back wall ; b, the 

 front pillars ; c, the floor line ; 

 d, the roof; and e, the supposed 

 position of the sun for 2 or 3 

 hours every day, for, we will say, 

 six weeks, viz. from June 1. to 

 about July 12. 



I do not exactly know what Mr. Forsyth's arrangement of trees may be, but 

 he speaks of a trellis. How is this to be placed, so that the sun's rays may strike 

 every part? I can only say, the kind of corridor here described is just the 

 sort of place to which good country-folk fly out of intense sunshine and the 

 " mid-day glare ;" and I humbly suggest that it is this very heat and glare which 

 tender peaches, &c, like ; for, as the frogs in the fable, " what is play to them 

 is death to us." However, this is neither more nor less than a modification 

 of the conservative wall so often proposed, and an excellent proposition too; 

 only, in my opinion, Mr. Forsyth has pushed the idea much too far, or written 

 too loosely about it. 



Let me suggest the following plan, founded on the same principles, but not 

 carried so far ; in fact, a wider coping than usual carried upwards, with the 

 addition of a " conservative curtain " of some kind. Train the trees in the 

 old way on the back wall, and leave all the rest to the result of shallow 



Fig. 53. Supposed Section of Mr. Forsyth's 

 Fruit Corridor. 



