May 19, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



355 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



Day 



of 1 of 



H'nth Week. 



19 



Tu 



20 



W 



21 



Th 



22 



F 



23 



S 



24 



Son 



25 



M 



MAY 19-23, 1863. 



Lonicer died, 1586. B. 



Woodroof flowers. 



Sun's declin. 20° 9' n. 



Mugwort flowera. 



Goo6egraas flowers. [1819 



Whit Sun. Q. Victoria. Born, 



"WhitMon. Ps. Hel. b., 1846. 



Weather 



near London in 1862. 



Sun 



Sun 



Moon 

 Rises 



| 









Rain in 

 Inches. 



Moon's 



Barometer. 



Thermom. 



Wind. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



and Sets 



Age. 





degrees. 







m. h. 



m. h. 



in. h. 





30.052—29.884 



80—40 



S.W. 



— 



5af4 



47af7 



39 9 





29.767—29.613 



70-41 



S.W. 



— 



4 4 



49 7 



21 10 



3 



29.646-29.531 



63—35 



W. 



.18 



2 4 



50 7 



55 10 



4 



29.748—29.492 



65-47 



S.W. 



.02 



1 4 



52 7 



24 11 



5 



29.756—29.735 



66—47 S.W. 



.04 



4 



53 7 



49 11 



6 



29.926—29.895 



69—40 N.W. 



— 



III. 



54 7 



morn. 



7 



30.047—29.924 



67-33 S.W. 



— 



58 3 



56 7 



10 



3> 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



Day of 

 Tear. 



m. s. 

 3 4S 



139 

 140 

 141 



142 

 143 

 144 

 145 



Meteorology oe the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-six years, the average highest and lowest 

 temperatures of these days are 66.8° and 44.2° respectively. The greatest heat, -89°. occurred on the 22nd, in 1847 ; and the lowest cold, 30", 

 on the 19th, in 1854 and 1856 ; 20th, in 1853 and 1856'; and 24th, in 1851. During the period 154 days were fine, and on 98 rain fell. 



ORCHARD-HOUSE MANAGEMENT, AND 



CAUSES OF FAILURE. 



OST lovers of horticul- 

 ture seem to be draw- 

 ing their attention to 

 the culture of fruit 

 trees in pots under 

 glass, or, as some 

 people call it, the 

 " Rivers system of 

 growing fruit." That 

 such a " system " is 

 interesting, no one will 

 deny ; but few people 

 seem able to make it 

 profitable. I will, there- 

 fore, endeavour to 

 s&ow some of the causes of failures, and to point out to 

 amateurs several little rocks on which so many have been 

 wrecked. 



As glass is very cheap, a rough but convenient orchard- 

 house can be put up for a small sum. This, I believe, 

 has induced many people (a good part of them clergymen) 

 to purchase Mr. Rivers' book. In that book they find 

 pictures of the author's pet plants beautifully laden with 

 fruit. This tempts them to get an orchard-house ; they 

 decide on having one. Well, the house is built, the trees 

 are 'bought, and now comes the work of potting. And 

 how is this important operation performed ? Very often 

 in truch a manner as described by " F. Chitty." 



That operation being completed, the trees are, most 

 likely, arranged in their respective places, and the owner 

 ■views them with a degree of pride. Perhaps they are 

 •good-sized trees, and have blossom-buds. These as the 

 season advances will be expanding. Then comes the 

 setting of the fruit — a result almost certain, providing the 

 trees have abundance of air, and the roots are kept toler- 

 ably moist. 



Perhaps the fruit set very thick, and, if they be Peaches, 

 Nectarines, or Apricots, will require thinning. But the 

 amateur does this very sparingly, leaving after the final 

 thinning perhaps three dozen fruit on a tree not capable 

 of bringing half that number to perfection. The result 

 is a large crop of small ill-flavoured fruit. 



Thinning of the young shoots of Peaches and Nec- 

 tarines is to the beginner a rather difficult operation, 

 though Mr. Rivers would have it appear a very easy 

 matter. Most people thin them too sparingly, leaving a 

 mass of young wood, which, unless the weather be very 

 favourable, cannot be properly ripened. Some, however, 

 thin too severely, thereby robbing the fruit of its nourish- 

 ment, and destroying the fruiting-wood for the following 

 season. 



I know some gentlemen who do all their orchard-house 

 work themselves, and I know others who leave their 

 No. 112.— Vol. IV.. New Series. 



trees entirely to the tender mercies of their " groom and 

 gardener," who, as one of your correspondents remarks, 

 " knows very little of either business," and to whom the 

 trees are a " great nuisance," as they give him extra 

 work. In such cases the poor trees are likely to suffer 

 for want of water. Perhaps the man is ordered to give 

 them liquid manure, and he does it with a vengeance, 

 bringing it thick and strong from the cow or pig yard 

 unstrained, and unmixed with anything. The effect of 

 this is not long in making its appearance. I once saw 

 some very fine Peach trees which had lost nearly all their 

 leaves long before the fruit began to ripen. On looking 

 at the soil, I saw they had been watered with strong 

 liquid manure. This was, undoubtedly, the cause of the 

 leaves falling so early. 



Growing too many sorts of fruit in one house is a very 

 bad practice, and is often the cause of much dissatisfaction. 

 Peaches and Nectarines will be found to do best by 

 themselves. Apples, Pears, and Plums may go together. 

 Apricots and Cherries do well together ; and for all these 

 fruits (except Peaches and Nectarines), tiffany-houses 

 will be found most suitable. 



A gentleman once asked me to look at his orchard- 

 house trees, which he 3aid were in a very unhealthy state, 

 the cause of which he could not discover. I found the 

 trees as he described them : they were very free from 

 insects, and the surface soil seemed nice and moist. I 

 tapped the pots, and the sound produced told the cause of 

 sickness — the trees were dry at the roots. They had been 

 potted too loosely, the body of the pots containing only a 

 few crumbs of dry soil. The watering seemed to have 

 been performed on the " little-and-often " system, just 

 to keep the surface moist. And what is the result of all 

 this mismanagement ? A complete failure. Those visions 

 of fine ripe fruit have never been realised, and the orchard- 

 house is condemned. 



Some, however, are more fortunate. I, for one, have 

 been pretty successful ; but success cannot be attained 

 without exertion, for every one who has had the manage- 

 ment of orchard-houses will admit that the inmates re- 

 quire great attention compared with the same kinds of 

 trees on the open wall. But the labour is not thrown 

 away, for the reward will be in proportion to the attention 

 bestowed. 



To those who are about to build an orchard-house I 

 would say, Have a lean-to, and, if convenient, against a 

 brick wall. With regard to the shape of trees, close 

 pyramids are by far the best. When the trees are received 

 from the nursery their roots should be examined, and if 

 found at all naked should be cut back pretty close. Some 

 compost should then be ready, consisting of two parts 

 the top spit of an old pasture, one part road scrapings, 

 and one part decayed cowdung. This will be suitable 

 for most fruit trees. 



The compost being ready, some pots should be selected. 

 The relative proportions of these and the trees should be 

 considered ; and if they are of the ordinary kind, the 

 apertures in the bottoms must be enlarged, leaving only 

 just a bearing for the crocks. These should be long and 

 No. 764.— Vol. XXIX., Old Series, 



