JOUKNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t October 12, 1876. 



to Melon-growing and propagating. The back wall of the pro- 

 pagating house is covered with Bougainvillea glabra, which is 

 found to be of great value for cutting; and on the back walls 

 of the Melon houses are trained several plants of Plumbago 

 rosea. This is most beautiful when in flower, and the plants 

 continue flowering over a long period, but unfortunately when 

 cut the beauty of the flowers is extremely transient. The 

 Melons are trained on trellises near the glass, the plants being 

 planted near the front, about 18 inches apart, and each trained 

 to the top of the house and confined to a single Btem. The 

 crop has been very large, and there are a great number of 

 fruits still to ripen. Only two varieties are grown : Conqueror 

 of Europe, an oval-shaped handsomely-netted white-fleshed 

 fruit of rich flavour ; and a round-fruited variety — Ollerhead's 

 Hybrid — which is the result of a cross between the two capital 

 varieties Golden Gem and Colston Basset. Besides being of 

 superior quality, this variety possesses the property which Mr. 

 Abbey suggested to be so desirable, of being a continuous 

 cropper. The same plants have produced a supply of fruit 

 from the earliest period of the season until the present time, 

 and even now there are fruits of almost all sizes and swelling 

 freely. Added to its external productiveness it is of high 

 quality, and is unquestionably a variety of great merit and 

 usefulness. In the front of these ranges of houses are other 

 long, heated, brick pits for plant-growing, and which are now 

 filled with a stock comprising Poinsettias, Clerodendron fallax, 

 Centropogons, Thyrsacanthuses, Eupatoriums, Goldfussias, &c. 



Fit. 4-, 



Fig. 47. — OUerbead's -wire-straining requisites. 



Cucumbers and Melons are also grown in dung frames in the 

 frameyard. 



The kitchen garden remains to be noticed. It is less than 

 two acres in extent, and is Eurrounded by brick walls. The 

 south wall is especially noticeable by the fine crop of Peaches 

 and Nectarines, and the clean and healthy appearance of the 

 trees. Not a sign of red spider is to be seen. The natural 

 antidote of red spider is considered by Mr. Ollerhead to be a 

 vigorous growth. The trees are old and were once weakly, 

 but they are now Btrong, and the fruit resembles that from 

 young trees. This is the result of bold treatment. The soil 

 was taken out of the border, and the roots cut off at about 

 4 feet from the wall ; not lifting the trees, but chopping the 

 soil down at that distance from the wall and replacing it with 

 richer and stronger compost. Into this fresh roots penetrated, 

 and the old trees became as it were young again. A border 

 planted with Pears and Plums was subjected to similar treat- 

 ment and with the same good results, and other borders are 

 waiting their turns of being dealt with in the same effectual 

 manner. The kitchen-garden crops are ample and healthy, 

 thanks to deep trenching and manure water. Besides the 

 crops usually found in gardens Dioscorea Batatas is cultivated 

 rather extensively, the stems being trained up sticks similarly 

 to Scarlet Runners. On one of the borders a valuable batch 

 oE Tea Roses is growing which were raised from cuttings of 

 young shoots struck in heat in the spring — the best and quick- 

 est of all modes of raising Tea Roses, at least so says Mr. 

 Ollerhead, and certainly his plants are in excellent condition. 



On the borders are young fruit trees in different forms in 

 course of preparation for final planting ; and on the sides of 

 the walks are fifteen hundred pots of Strawberries for forcing, 

 the favourita varieties being Sir Joseph Paxton and Keens' 

 Seedling. 



In another garden vegetables are also grown and an exten- 

 sive collection of fruit trees. On the sides of the walks are 

 horizontal cordons, the wires for which are strained on a simple 

 and effectual plan devised by Mr. Ollerhead. This mode of 

 wire- straining is so good and so easy of being adopted by all 

 who care to do so that a few particulars relating to it are 

 herewith given. 



Secure one end of a wire to a staple which is driven into a 

 wall or post ; at the opposite end, and at any required distance, 

 drive firmly in another staple, similar to No. 3 (rig. 47), the pro- 

 jecting shoulders of the staples facing the line of wire. After 

 drawing the wire aB tightly as possible thread it through as many 

 studs as are required to support it at the proper distance from 

 the wall or ground. Next place the collar No. 1 on the bolt 

 No. 2, and place it in the Eocket of No. 3, screwing on with 

 the fingerB the nut No. 4 ; now pass the end of the wire 

 through the hole in the collar and bolt, and after pulling it as 

 tightly as possible with the aid of pincers sever the wire 

 almost close to the bolt, and just turn the end back. There is 

 no fear of its slipping back through the hole, for the loose 

 collar acts as a vice. Now with a sorew key — holding the nut 

 with one hand, and a spanner turning the bolt with the other 

 — the wire can be tightened even to the 

 breaking point, or until the Btaples are 

 pulled from their places ; in fact, tighten as 

 one will , there can be no turning-back of the 

 bolt and no slipping of the wire, for as the 

 bolt is turned one way the loose collar 

 binds in the opposite direction, securing 

 1^-. the wire at any given point of tension. 



The loose collar also acts as a fulcrum 

 between the head of the bolt and the 

 shoulder of the staple. It is the loose 

 collar which constitutes the excellence of 

 the system. Before adopting the collar^ 

 either the bolt turned back (unscrewed) 

 or the wire was cut at the edge of the hole, 

 but now neither one nor the other of these 

 drawbacks can possibly occur. The collar 

 is made of a strip of sheet iron, and is not 

 welded. As the little requisites are figured 

 their full size for ordinary wire, it is plain 

 that they can be made by any blacksmith, 

 and the work for fixing wire in large or 

 small quantities for any gardening purpose 

 becomes a work of the greatest ease. The 

 system is successfully adopted at Wimble- 

 don, and will be carried out on a large 

 scale in Sir Henry Peek's new Devonshire 

 garden, which is being formed under the direction of Mr. Mar- 

 nock. Mr. Ollerhead places this syBtem of wire-straining at 

 the disposal of the public. 



The gardens at Wimbledon House are evidently in the 

 possession of a liberal owner (the gardener's cottage and young 

 men's room are models of their kind), and are managed by an 

 able gardener. — J. W. 



EARLY APPLES. 



On page 307, in the account of early Apples, the following 

 passage occurs: — " Can it be the fact that an Apple so excel- 

 lent as Irish Peach is not in general cultivation?" It is a fact, 

 so far as I am able to judge, that this Apple is not in general 

 cultivation. There can be no question about the meritB of the 

 Irish Peach Apple as an early variety — in my estimation it has 

 the pre-eminence. It is very little known in this locality ; only 

 in two instances have I seen it within the last twenty years, 

 once as a standard in a large orchard bearing fine fruit ready 

 for table, and as early as the White Juneating and Early Red 

 Margaret ; the other on a south wall on limestone, and pro- 

 ducing magnificent frnit. Too much cannot be said in favour 

 of what appears to be a neglected kind of early Apple. Our 

 early Apples have long been in the background, and I am glad 

 to see that they are now receiving the attention which they 

 merit. 



I trust we shall hear of other pomological societies being 

 formed besides that of Woolhope, where ideas may be inter- 



