March 17, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AST) COTTAGE GARDENER. 



201 



As to the soils which Apricot trees seem to flourish in, they 

 vary to a great extent. In Oxfordshire, where they are par 

 excellence the cottager's tree, I think the district in which they 

 are so numerous is oolitic. In Nottinghamshire, around Not- 

 tingham, I am inclined to think the soil is a stiff alluvial loam, 

 but Mr. Pearson will tell us. In Suffolk, more particularly 

 around Bury St. Edmunds, the surface is light, the subsoil 

 mostly chalk ; yet here Apricot trees flourish and bear abun- 

 dance of fine fruit when trained against walls with south or 

 south-eastern aspects. It is remarkable that in many gardens 

 in the neighbourhood of Bury you may hear the gardeners say, 

 " It is of no use to plant Peach trees here, they will not grow ; 

 but Apricot trees, as you may see, do well ;" the soil of such 

 gardens being a dark- coloured mould, very light and friable on 

 the surface, and chalk and flints below. 



Well, as Mr. Robson has written sixteen long paragraphs 

 about Apricot trees, and has omitted to tell us many things, I 

 will humbly attempt to give your readers a few hints taken from 

 my own observation. 



1. Whi;e Apricots against walls are in bloom, and the weather 

 clear and sunny with sharp frosts at night, cover the trees every 

 night with straw mats, or canvas, or some material capable of 

 resisting frost to a certain extent. If the weather be dry the 

 blossoms will take no harm, even if the temperature of the sur- 

 face of the wall be as low as 27°. At 9 a.m. remove every 

 covering, and never fail in doing so. 



2. .Sever place any covering over the trees either by night or 

 day if the weather be mild. Avoid all branches of evergreens 

 as " protectors." If too thin, they are of no use ; and if too 

 thick, thej will create stagnant air and destroy the blossoms. 



3. As soon as the fruit is set and about the size of small horse 

 beans, they are, if possible, more liable to injury from frost than 

 the blossoms, and must be protected on frosty nights, but not 

 in mild weather. 



And now allow me to say why I have given the above hints. 

 Eor twelve years 1 have cultivated Apricots in orchard-houses, 

 and till last year my principal trouble has been the thinning 

 of the fruit. During this period I have always observed the 

 anthers disinclined to shed their pollen unless the weather was 

 bright with a cold dry wind, our usual spring weather, thus 

 showing that moist stagnant air was unfavourable to their per- 

 forming their office. I particularly observed this last spring ; the 

 pollen was never dry and dusty as it should be, but remained 

 on the anthers in almost a glutinous state. "My Apricot trees 

 in my orchard-house have been in bloom for more than a week, 

 but till the 4th inst. the anthers did not open kindly. The 

 bright sun and drying wind of yesterday (the oth), however, 

 settled the matter, and the pollen flew off in little clouds of 

 yellow dust — a sure sign that Nature was fulfilling her office. 

 My orchard-house, in which the Apricot trees stand, has been 

 open night and day in spite of slight frosts for the last fortnight. 

 Mr. Robson " has but little hopes " of the Apricot, as a house 

 fruit. He saw it in 1829, and " that was a failure ;" let him 

 come here and see what a decent amount of intelligence and 

 attention to the laws of Nature can do. My trees, with their 

 roots " cramped-up " in pots, are as sturdy as oaks ; and some 

 of them, now from ten to twelve years old, have thick stems 

 and sturdy heads, with short, well-ripened shoots literally covered 

 with blossoms. Apricot trees planted out in orchard-houses do 

 not come into bearing so quickly as potted trees. They are apt 

 to grow too freely for some years ; but I have some that are 

 now eight or ten years old that bear profusely. In pots trees 

 only 9 inches high will give fruit, and when pinched-in they are 

 beautiful miniature trees. 



Lord Elgin, just after his return from Japan, happened to 

 pay me a visit when these little Apricot and Peach trees in six- 

 inch pots were in full bloom. He at once said, " Why, how 

 did you manage to import them in such good order from such a 

 distance as China or Japan, where, only, I have seen such trees ?" 

 I soon made him aware that they were of home manufacture. 

 No Apricot from a wall can be compared to the same fruit from 

 an orchard-house. In the town gardens at Cheltenham I have 

 seen Moorpark Apricots, from a standard, of very good quality ; 

 but waiting lor a crop year after year is disheartening, hopeless 

 work. Here, in a stiff loamy soil, I had at one time a standard 

 Breda Apricot growing : its branches spread over many square 

 yards of ground, and its trunk was several feet in gir:h. An Apple 

 tree of the same size would have borne twenty or more bushels 

 of Apples. Well, once in seven years it gave a crop of several 

 bushels, which, if the summer were very warm, would ripen so 



as to be fit for a schoolboy to eat. In the intermediate years 

 a few were occasionally to be seen on it ; and so, tired of the 

 tree, I cut it down. 



As to planting an Apricot tree against a north wall with the 

 hope of eating ripe fruit from it, you might as well expect ripe 

 Pine Apples from the open air in Kent. There is no wearing- 

 out of old sorts of Apricots. The Peach Apricot, the finest and 

 oldest sort cultivated in France, is now planted there to a greater 

 extent than ever ; and, as I learned from a French orchardist 

 from the south, thousands of trees are planted annually to supply 

 the markets, not as standards as formerly, but as " cordons " 

 or close pyramids, the shoots being pinehed-in in summer. 



Mr. Robson recently has had a fling at orchard-houses, I may 

 say as usual. Now, unlike your amusing and instructive con- 

 tributor, Mr. Fish, I firmly believe he has never tried to manage 

 an orchard-house. If he has, and has failed — well, the less he 

 says about them the better. Let him come here and see, and I 

 will endeavour to in-sense him, as Paddy says, as to the manage- 

 ment and advantages of orchard-houses. — Thoi. RrnEBS. 



THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 KENSINGTON GARDEN. 



It is impossible to please every one, and this is more especially 

 true in matters of taste, such as ornamental gardening is. No 

 work of man's hands is perfect — there is none such in which 

 some fault cannot be found. No sooner is a work completed 

 than suggestion after suggestion is offered as to how it may be 

 improved. Where improvement is really the object in view 

 these suggestions are not only welcome but oftentimes valuable, 

 yet too often they are made with merely the desire of gratifying 

 individual crotchets ; and of both classes of suggestions this 

 Society has had a full share. Some critics, regardless of cost, 

 would have the Society's new garden gay with flowering plants 

 at all seasons of the year ; others, without reference to time, 

 would have the garden planted with stately trees and luxuriant 

 shrubs : and a third party would direct the funds of the Society 

 to objects purely useful. All are right to a eertaiu extent. 



The purpose for which this Society was originally instituted 

 was " the advancement of horticulture in all its branches, orna- 

 mental as well as useful." This should never he lost sight of; 

 for it is a great point for any man, or body of men, to have a 

 settled object ; and the attainment of that, if steadily pursued, 

 if not easy is at least probable. 



To the Kensington garden belongs the ornamental ; to the 

 Chiswiek garden the useful ; but of the former it is now our 

 business to speak. Both are under the management of Mr. 

 Eyles, and with this twofold care upon his hands he has acquitted 

 himself with great ability towards both. 



Of the Kensington garden, to which we now restrict our notes, 

 it was stated at the annual meeting, that in the previous season 

 much had been done to render the gardens attractive at a time 

 when the majority of the members and their friends could not 

 erjoy the attractions which were presented ; and, on the other 

 hand, it was urged that the garden should be rendered even 

 more attractive in winter than hitherto. Between these conflict- 

 ing desires a happy compromise has been made ; and without 

 going to an enormous expense, the gardens have been rendered 

 gay, whilst much of that flatness and deficiency in trees and 

 shrubs which they hitherto presented have, by judicious plant- 

 ing, been removed. 



At this season it is almost hopeless to endeavour to tempt 

 any but the most hardy to prolonged out-door walks, accord- 

 ingly the display of flowering plants is chiefly confined to the 

 large conservatory. On entering this and passing along the 

 broad central walk, on each side are fine Orange trees in tubs, 

 with very superior-flowering Camellias here and there, and Rho- 

 dodendrons, &.C., at the back ; whilst at the base of these are 

 ranged rows of gay Due Tan Thol Tulips, Hyacinths of various 

 hues, Cytisuses, Deutzias, dwarf Camellias, Alrua and Flower of 

 the Day Geraniums, with a row of the Isolepis gracilis, which, 

 makes a very graceful edging. to the whole. 



Occupying the centre of the main walk is a very gay polygon 

 bed, having in the centre a fine plant of Cyathea medullaris sur- 

 rounded with Lycopod ; then comes a band of white Hyacinths, 

 then one of blue, and nearer the edge a brilliant band of red Van 

 Thol, the whole being bordered with Golden Chain Geranium 

 with Lycopod interspersed. Although this bed was striking, the 

 Van Thol Tulips seemed too powerful for the other colour* 



