126 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGL' GARDENER. 



t Angnst 10. 1876. 



Scarcely an insect or a speck of mildew was to be seen. Pare 

 cold spring water is the only cleansing medium resorted to, 

 and with this the trees are syringed freely. The plantations 

 of miniature bush and pyramid Pears, Apples, and Plums are 

 many of them bearing freely. Notioeable amongst the latter 

 was The Czar, anew, fine, dark, and most productive Plum, 

 ripening immediately after Early Rivers. These with Oullin's 

 Golden Gage and Prince Englebert are considered to be 

 amongst the profitable Plums at Sawbridgeworth, and are 

 largely planted for market purposes — that is, for producing 

 fruit for sale. Some of the most profitable Apples for dwarf 

 trees are Cox's Orange Pippin, Lord Suffield, DucheBB of Olden- 

 burg, Stirling Castle, and Ecklinville Seedling. 



The espalier orchard is also noteworthy. The trees are 

 trained in various forms to wire trellises 6 feet in height, the 

 trellises being about i feet in diameter. These are so arranged 

 that they can be covered with glass if needed. Undoubtedly 

 a great quantity of fruit can be quickly obtained off a given 

 piece of ground by this mode of culture, and the trees can be 

 conveniently protected from spring frosts. 



Roses are grown by the acre of all the standard varieties, 

 and there are good collections of Conifers. Flowers are only 

 sparsely represented. Yuccas grow most vigorously in clay, 

 and there is a large plantation of Chinese Peonies. On the 

 lawn are good Wellingtonias and standard Nuts, which are 

 ornamental and productive. One of the best Nuts is the Atlas 

 Cob (Corylus algeriensis) , the clusters being of immense size 

 and produced in great profusion. 



The heating of the various houses is mostly done by small 

 boilers, one being placed outside each house, and can be moved 

 when necessary by sacrificing a couple of indiarubber rings, 

 and be placed where required and connected with the piping 

 inside. These are coil boilers Buch as are manufactured by 

 Mr. Read and Mr. Deard, and it is astonishing to see how 

 powerful they are — one apparatus of four 1 J-inch coils, forming 

 a cylinder 8 inches in diameter, being sufficient to heat 250 feet 

 of 3-inch pipes. Mr. Rivers's foreman spoke most highly of 

 these boilers, of their economy and efficiency. 



To Mr. Rivers, jun., and his competent foreman, Mr. Elsdon, 

 I am indebted for much courtesy and attention — A Visitor. 



ROTATION OP CBOPS. 



We know it to be true, as "A Correspondent" states, that 

 Potatoes have been grown on the same plot for several succes- 

 sive years, but there was always a crop of Cabbageworts inter- 

 vened and manured for. The manure, we think, was not the 

 only source of nourishment to the Potatoes, but these also de- 

 rived nourishment from matters given out by the roots of the 

 Cabbages. We have always found that Potatoes do well after 

 them, and that the roots of Cabbages and all the Brassica 

 tribe give out peculiar excretes to the soil we have often 

 noticed. Mr. Cuthbert Johnson has in the " Journal of the 

 Bath and West of England Society " the following notes on 

 " the excreta from roots :" — " In reply to my inquiries, Mr. 

 Purser remarks : — 



" ' I have much pleasure in answering your inquiries as to the 

 continued success of mixing the Turnip with both the Mangold 

 and the Kohl Rabi. 



" ' We have tried it now for some years, and have been most 

 successful, having escaped the loss of plant from graping, or, 

 as the disease is better known, from branching out into fingerB 

 and toes, and the Turnip rotting away altogether. This season 

 has been a very trying one, as we have scarcely had a shower 

 for many weeks, and the Turnips are the best sown with the 

 Kohl Rabi this year, having been a month later sown than with 

 the Mangolds, but both have escaped disease, and the later 

 ones are now bulbing well. 



" ' The Turnips have been grown upon the same ground with 

 both Mangold and Kohl Rabi, and grow well still, and to a 

 great weight. The quality this year with Mangolds, owing to 

 the fearful drought, will net be so good, but free from disease.' 



" The conclusions at which we may reasonably arrive, then, 

 are that plants probably excrete matters into the soil that are 

 nutritious to certain plants of a different kind to themselves, 

 and that these excreted matters are but very imperfectly known 

 to us." 



FRUIT FARMING. 



At a meeting of members of the Midland Farmers' Club, 

 held in Birmingham, the Rev. W. Lea read a paper on " Fruit 

 Farming." He said the chief point to briDg forward for dis- 



cussion was, " Will it pay a farmer in the present day to make 

 the growth of fruit a portion of the regular work of his farm?" 



A few yearB ago he should have answered without any hesi- 

 tation in the affirmative ; but before he did so now he should 

 first inquire into the condition of the labour market in the 

 district in which it was proposed to plant. Fruit was an 

 article which must go off when it was ripe ; if it was not 

 gathered and marketed some sorts would be spoiled, and to 

 gather it a certain amount of women's and children's labour 

 was required. If this waB at command one difficulty would be 

 removed. The question of soil and situation should, of course, 

 be considered. There were few soils, even the lightest sands, 

 which would not bear some variety of fruit. But before a 

 man began to plant he should ascertain from a careful in- 

 spection and inquiry in the neighbourhood what fruits were 

 congenial to the soil, and confine himself, of course, to those 

 sorts. There was no certain rule to be laid down on the sub- 

 ject. Some districts were most suitable for the Apple, others 

 for the Pear, others for different kinds of Plums or Damsons ; 

 and sometimes in one field the soil varied so much as to make 

 it desirable to plant one variety of fruit at one end of it and a 

 different one at the other. 



Next came the question whether the landlord or the tenant 

 should plant ; if the latter, would it pay him to plant on a 

 seven, fourteen, or on a twenty-one-years lease ? and if he 

 left at the end of these terms, what compensation should he 

 receive, and from whom should he receive it— from the land- 

 lord or from the incoming tenant ? He was of opinion that 

 the best arrangement would be for the tenant to plant, and for 

 the landlord to undertake to pay at the end of the lease the 

 cost price of all trees left in healthy condition, and interest 

 upon the outlay at 5 per cent, per annum. Fruit planting 

 was profitable both to landlord and tenant if properly done 

 and the sorts well selected. 



The advisableness of planting young fruit trees in a hedge- 

 row must depend a good deal on the age and strength and 

 nature of the hedge. If it was of old, vigorous Quick, the 

 roots would probably have taken such an entire possession of 

 the soil that a stock newly introduced into it would only lead 

 a sort of languishing existence for several years, perhaps, and 

 then die away. But if anyone wished to try the experiment, 

 he should recommend him to plant wild stocks, and graft them 

 with the sorts desired. If a hedge were being planted there 

 would be no such difficulty ; the fruit trees would have the 

 same chance as the Quick, and both would grow up side by side 

 together. This plan would be worth trying, or, indeed, the 

 first-mentioned, provided the hedge was between two arable 

 fields. If it were between two grass fields, or with a grass field 

 even on one side, the advantage would be questionable ; for 

 the cattle, in trying to get at the fruit — of which they are very 

 fond — would probably do as much harm in breaking the fences 

 as would be covered by the profit of the fruit. Some damage, 

 too, would unavoidably be done to the hedge in the gathering 

 of the fruit. 



Planting an orchard on turf was comparatively expensive, 

 which was a point requiring to be taken into account. A good 

 deal of labour was required to do it well, and if it was not done 

 well it was better not attempted at all. On the whole it was 

 questionable whether it would pay to plant an orchard on turf, 

 except on some banky sloping fields with a south aspect, which 

 seemed specially adapted to the purpose. Then came the 

 third alternative, which seemed to him the most desirable — 

 to plant an orchard on a well-fenced piece of arable, as near 

 as may be to the house, and from which cattle of all kinds are 

 to be entirely excluded. Here it might be done at much less 

 expense, as no protection would be required except against 

 ground game. Supposing an acre to be square it might be 

 cultivated in two ways — (1), by planting standard fruit trees 

 in rows 30 feet apart, and by filling up the space between with 

 rows of Plums and bushes; (2), by standards — Apples, Pears, 

 and Cherries, by Plums or Damsons, by bushes, Currants 

 either Black or Red, and Gooseberries. According to this plan 

 the whole field would have to be cultivated with the spade, 

 and would take pretty well the whole time of one man if it 

 were three or four acres in extent. 



What was called " pot fruit " was required now as a rule. 

 The Apples and Pears which paid best were those which came 

 in earliest and which kept latest. These last probably brought 

 the highest price. But when the cost of storage and of pick- 

 ing over had been deducted, he doubted if they paid so well as 

 the first. If they were going to buy trees, let them go to the 

 nurseries themselves, select and mark the trees to be sent in 



