328 



JOURNAL OF HORTICtTLTtTRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 5, 1863. 



I know I am repeating what has been stated by many of your 

 correspondents when I say that the real value of the orchard- 

 house to the cultivator of limited means is the opportunity thus 

 afforded him of growing a greater number of different kinds of 

 fruit trees than he otherwise could have room for, the protection 

 against spring frosts, and the facility with which he is enabled to 

 place the different sorts in the soil most suitable to their various 

 requirements. 



1 have a lean-to orchard-house 15 feet by 8, without artificial 

 heat, and it is thus filled — viz., two Pigs in the border, trained 

 to the back wall, three Vines in the border in front ; three Peaches, 

 two Nectarines, five Plums, and one Mulberry in pots. The 

 Pigs are Angelique and Brown Turkey, and have about a dozen 

 and a half of fruit on each, already of good size, which will, no 

 doubt, ripen well. Only two of my Vines are in bearing, the 

 other being too young ; the kinds are Purple Pontainbleau and 

 Muscat St. Laurent, which bear and ripen admirably, the former 

 especially is a most prolific kind, and the latter has a true Muscat 

 flavour. Contrary to the experience of "Dtjckwdjg" in your 

 paper of the 14th ult., my Peaches and Nectarines are, upon the 

 whole, this year, *a failure. Although they blossomed most beauti- 

 fully, one tree, the Shanghae, is an exception, and is well studded 

 with fruit fairly set. The Plums, however, are and have always 

 been with me a decided success. 



My garden soil is of a loose friable nature, and though Plums 

 generally blossom profusely they very seldom yield a crop. I, how- 

 ever, fill my Plum pots with soil, half of which is the strongest 

 clay I can get, mixed with garden soil for the other half. It 

 generally cakes pretty stiff, and the fruit set beautifully ; I have 

 two Reine Claude de Bavay (a most exquisite fruit), one Jeffer- 



son, one Coe's Golden Drop, and one Green Gage, with aa much 

 fruit set as they can ripen, and now of the size of small peas. 

 Let " Duckwino " try this, and I think he will succeed with 

 Plums. 



The greatest enemy to be contended with is a small caterpillar, 

 which begins to make its nest in the leaf as soon as it begins to 

 unfold, and to this it attaches the neareBt embryo fruit, which it 

 soon eats into and destroys. The trees require to be daily gone 

 over by hand for a week or two when the fruit is setting and the 

 worms destroyed. 



I have been unsuccessful in cultivating the Mulberry in the 

 open ground, but I have a nice compact tree between 3 and 

 4 feet high, in a pot, which bears regularly every year. The 

 fruit is hardly developed yet, but appearances indicate from 

 five to six dozen berries — no great quantity certainly, but suffi- 

 cient to furnish a bonne louche occasionally. I may mention that 

 although the tree has been in bearing for several years it has 

 never yet shown male blossoms, and the fruit is, consequently, 

 seedless. 



I had almost omitted to say that I have besides the above, for 

 ornament, two double-blossomed Chinese Peaches, from which 

 I sometimes obtain a few fruit, and a Clematis lanuginosa and 

 C. azurea grandiflora, which prolong the gay appearance of the 

 house now that the fruit-bloBsom is over. 



I certainly sympathise with the genial feelings so well expressed 

 by Mr. Rivers in hiB communication of the 22nd of March ; for, 

 independent of the fruit to which the cultivator looks forward, 

 he has in the spring the finest floral display any greenhouse can 

 furnish, besides many accompaniments of a delightful kind to a 

 lover of nature. — J. P., Baddington. 



GARDEN PLANS. 



Tee accompanying drawings illustrate two designs which have 

 recently been furnished by Mr. J. W. Chapman, of Richmond, 

 Surrey, for Mrs. Millett-DaviB, of Garston Lodge, near Liver- 



pool. It may be observed of the first, that had there been 

 room this design would have looked well if the circle had been 

 complete. 



plait, so. 1. 



1, 1, &c. Specimen half-standard Hoses. 



2, 2, &e. Beds of dwarf hardy Heaths. 



3, 3. Beds of Rhododendron hirsutum. 



*• Perilla nankinensls, edged with Geranium Golden Chain. 



a. 5. Geranium Madame Vaucher (white), edged with Verbena Firefly 



(scarlet). 

 6, 6. Geranium Princess of Prussia (scarlet), edged with Verbena 



Reine Blanche or Snowflake. 



7, 7. Petunia Geant des Batailles (purple), edged with Lantana. Doris 



(yellow). 



8, 8. Calceolaria Aurea floribunda, edged with Verbena Purple King. 



9, 9. Verbena Fair Maid (mauve), edged with Calceolaria Gem 



(bronze). 

 10, 10. Lobelia racemosa or erinus grandiflora (blue), edged with Lan- 

 tana crocea snperba (orange). 



