JOTJENiX OF HOETICUXTCTRE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ January S, 1865. 



and they formed valuable auxiliaries to his collection of 

 fixiit ; but they do not seem to have been ^own to any 

 great extent. 



The market has been fairly flooded this season vrith 

 Peaches; for several weeks a daily supply of from 40 to 

 45,000 baskets was calculated to have reached this city, 

 each basket containing nearly a bushel. They come prin- 

 cipally from the States of Delaware and New Jersey, having 

 as a rule most doggedly refused to ripen around New York 

 for some yeai's past. The Peach is grown in orchards just 

 as you wUl find the Apple growing in the Carse of Gowrie, 

 or Devonshire, but the fruit generally averages small, and 

 lacks the luscious richness of the cultivated varieties grown 

 out of doors, from Sutherlandshire to the. Isle of Wight. 

 This deficiency of flavoiu- is the natural result of the quan- 

 tity grown, as the same attention cannot be paid as at home, 

 where every individual fruit receives especial care, no super- 

 fluous foliage being allowed to shade it fi-om the sun, or 

 noxious insects prey on its vitals. 



Nectarines are not known except to professionals, and the 

 few Apricots that I have seen were poor. Plums are very 

 fine, and reach market in large quantities. I noticed some 

 old acquaintances amongst them, such as Green Gage, 

 Damson, Jefferson, &.o. Both Musk and Water Melons are 

 supplied in immense quantities, and a fine sight during the 

 prevalence of the hot weather it is to see this deliciously 

 grateful fruit piled up on the stalls in thousands, a supply 

 of Water Melon being kept cut up ready to quench the 

 thirst of huiTied passers-by, for the small sum of 5 cents. 

 The Musk Melons are retailed from 10 cents, a-piece, and 

 were even finer and more plentiful this season than ever. 



Grapes, both native and exotic, are first-class. The 

 fruiterers have the exotic vai-ieties neai'ly all the year round, 

 comprising those which are so well known to the horticul- 

 tural public, and as theii- cultivation is iu the hands cf pro- 

 fessional gardeners, this is sufficient guarantee of thefr ex- 

 cellence, and could distance be amuhOated, many of the 

 London exhibitors would have to look out for theii- honours. 

 Having been free from mildew, that scourge of Grape- 

 growing districts, the native Grapes were even finer this 

 season than usual. The principal varieties at mai-ket were 

 — Concord, Hartford Prolific, Delaware, Diana, Eebecca, 

 and Catawba, the Isabella being now nearly superseded. 

 The Catawba is principally cultivated for its wine-producing 

 qualities. I should think most of these varieties would do 

 well in the south of England, where the Sweetwater ripens 

 so well, and often when admiring the fine bold outline of 

 the terraces at Foothill from the opposite slope, I have 

 thought what a fine vineyard might be made along their 

 front, where Mr. Beckford shaped beauty out of barrenness, 

 and the present proprietor, the Marquis of Westminster, 

 has done so much to renovate the place, and improve the 

 condition of his workmen. 



Pears are now quite an American institution, most of the 

 fine varieties growing freely as standards, there being no 

 such thing as garden walls for fi-uit trees here, for gardeners 

 to show their skill and waste theii' time, in training trees in 

 all manner of impossible ways, a simple picket fence gene- 

 rally doing duty as an inclosure. Neither Jargonelle, Marie 

 Louise, or Easter Beurre, do much good, but they are almost 

 the only exceptions I know. Williams's Bon Chretien, 

 under the populai- name of Bartlett, is the great market 

 fruit, and I have seen the trees literally loaded to the ground 

 with large, finely developed fruit, and as an instance of the 

 prolific properties of the Pear here, 1 have seen fine fruit of 

 Dochesse d'Angoulirme selling for a cent, a-piece ; but this 

 is by no means a common occurrence. The ibllowing are to 

 be found in every collection of Pears deserving the name, 

 and are all reliable varieties in this climate — viz., Doyenne 

 d'Et(', Kingsessing, Beunu Clairgeau, Beurre Diel, Beurre 

 d'Anjou, Seckel, Beurre Gria d'Hiver Nouveau, Belle Lu- 

 crative or Fondante d'Automne, Doyenne Boussoch, Doyenne 

 Sicullc, Virjtttlieu, P'lemish Beauty, Louise Bonne of Jersey, 

 Onondaga, llrbaoiste, Glou Morceau, itc. Aa a rule inost of 

 thcue varieties thxive much butter on the Pear than on the 

 Quince stock. 



The Apple also comes in for its »luire of public patronage, 

 and well does the famous Newtown or Fall Pippin deserve 

 its name, as it makes both a first-rate dessert and good 

 cooking Apple. The Baldwin, Spitzenburgh, Astrachan, and 



a few others, make their annual appearance in the market, 

 but all fall immeasurably short, in point of merit, of the New- 

 town Pippin, as no housekeeper will use any other while she 

 can get this, a very sure test of the general utility of any 

 variety of fruit. — David Foulis, New Xork, Seceniber 12tf». 



THE SOMEEFOED YINEBIES— DISTAJS^CE 

 BETWEEN VINES. 



In Mr. Q. Eead's report on the Somerford vineries in your 

 Journal of the 6th ult., it is stated that the back walls are 

 planted with different Vines, and that these bore fruit 

 neai'ly down to the ground. 



Presuming the houses to be of the lean-to form of the 

 ordinary dimensions, about 15 feet -wide, and about as much 

 high, the canes on front rafters being planted as usual and 

 trained on the spur system, my question is. Whether the Vines 

 on the back wall wiU have light and sun enough, so as to be 

 still fruited downwards, when the front Vines are full grovra ? 



I am an amateur fruit-grower, principally of Vines, and 

 am just about erecting two other lean-to vineries. In my 

 former houses I made use of the back wall by training some 

 Vines almost up to the top, and then di-viding them into two 

 horizontal branches, as in the MontreuU mode of training. 

 In this way the Vine catches the top light and thrives very 

 well, but a great part of the lower wall is entirely without 

 fruit. For this reason the Somerford-way is to be pre- 

 ferred if the lower parts of the stem really receive light 

 enough for fruiting well. Then I have another question to 

 ask. I find the distance at which it is generally recom- 

 mended to plant Vines in a Vine-border is 2i or 3 feet; I 

 never planted them nearer to each other than 4 feet, and 

 even with this distance the laterals, although on the proper 

 spur system, almost meet. Now, with closer planting they 

 must partly cross each other, even with close pinching-in. I 

 should, therefore, like to know whether 3 feet is really the 

 distance generally adopted in England ? 



Allow me, before concluding, to remark on a notice in your 

 paper the other day regarding the Black Hamburgh grafted 

 on the Chasselas Musque. I practised this five years ago 

 ■with vei-y fair success. The growth is rather strong on this 

 stock; the bunches and berries are large, but lighter- 

 coloured than those of another Vine on its o-wn roots ; the 

 skin of the berries, however, is more tender, the flesh very 

 sugary, but of rather less flavour. — John W., Hamburgh, 

 Germany. 



[In reply to your German coiTCspondent's very reasonable 

 question, I wish to say that the vineries at Somerford Park 

 are not ordinary lean-to's, but what may bo termed nearly 

 half span-roofed. The inside dimensions of the houses are 

 as follows : — Width, 15 feet ; height of back wall, 10 feet 

 3 inches ; front to the underside of the rafter, i feet 6 inches ; 

 height to the ridge, 12 feet; with a north light 4 feet 



3 inches in length. The Vines in front are 4 feet apart, and 

 are planted on the inside, but provision is made for the roots 

 to go outside when the inside border becomes somewhat 

 exhausted, the front wall being arched for that purpose. 

 The Vines at the back wall are planted 5 feet apart, and 

 two rods are taken from each Vine, thus making the rods 

 2 feet inches asunder, and at the time of my visit the 

 lowest bunches on these Vines were 2 feet 6 Inches from the 

 ground. 



Now, I consider there is a very considerable advantage 

 in a house of this description over an ordinary lean-to 

 for planting Vines at the back, as 4 feet of rafter and 



4 or G feet of the back wall can be relied on to pi'oduce 

 good Grapes after the Vines have reached the top and 

 become established. It is not to be expected that the Vines 

 will continue to produce good fruit so near the ground aa 

 they have done this yeai', but about one-half of the back 

 wall may be depended on as being productive. 



I do not wonder at your correspondent's back wall in hia 

 ordinai-j- lean-to vinery being unproductive, but I should 

 expect his branches trained horinontuUy near the top, not 

 only to grow weU, but also to bear plenty of fruit, provided 

 the Vines are in a healthy condition. 



With regard to the distance Vines are planted apart, it is 

 now becoming almost general in England to plant much 

 closer than formerly, and there is no objection to their being 



1 



