October 5, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



261 



between it and the pleasure ground), slopes gently to the north, 

 the soil slightly inolineel to be gravelly, and in very dry seasons 

 the adjoining husbandry crops suffer much from the lack of 

 water. I believe, however, the subsoil was well broken up 

 ■when it was planted upwards of twenty years siuce, but it is 

 defioieut of shelter on the west side, a wall of only moderate 

 height on that side separating it from the high road ; and I 

 believe that now and then the hii;h south-westers occasionally 

 do here serious damage to the fruit. The trees in general are 

 very healthy. This orchard is about five acres in extent, and 

 the greater portion of it is planted with Apple, Plum, and Pear 

 trees, G-feet standards with heads which have been trained, or 

 lather helped, to assume the ordinary rounded form such trees 

 usually take when unassisted ; no serious cuttings, I believe, 

 at any time having taken place. These trees are about 24 feet 

 apart each way, and underneath them are either Filbert and 

 Cob-nut trees, or Gooseberries and Currants, the latter 6 feet 

 apart, and the Nats double that distance. 



The cultivation, under the care of Mr. Bradley, difiers con- 

 siderably from that adopted in most fruit plantations of a like 

 kind. Excepting the hoe no other tool is used, and that but 

 sparingly ; for, as Mr. Fish has somewhere written a notice 

 ■on a.Vme border, " Sacred to the roots of the Grape Vine," so 

 Mr. Bradley makes the whole of the ground occupied by his 

 fruit trees sacred to their use, not infringing on thtir domain 

 with the spade, fork, or other implement further than is 

 necessary to destroy such weeds as find their way there. He 

 is, nevertheless, alive to their wants in other matters, and gives 

 ■them all kinds of aids in the way of manure. In fact, he 

 makes this orchard a receptacle for all kinds of refuse that will 

 decay within a period of two years ; this is his rule, and it will 

 be seen it includes a vast multitude of objects — whole barrow- 

 loads of rubbish from the kitchen garden, short grass and other 

 matters from the pleasure ground, and even the cuttings and 

 •trimmings of shrubs and other things, avoiding all thick and 

 unruly branches that might be in the way. Now and then 

 many pieces as thick as one's thumb, I see, find their way in 

 amongst them, but in a cut-up condition, while occasionally 

 as a treat a little rough. dung is given to some tree overloaded 

 with fruit, or which from some other cause is looking badly, 

 and Mr. Bradley says it is wonderful the good it does. 



Some will say the miscellaneous character of the covering on 

 the ground may look badly, but such is not the case. The 

 atmosphere quickly blanches all into one hue, and the appear- 

 ance is on the whole as agreeable as if the ground were naked, 

 while the condition of the trees proves that they relished the 

 iood thus provided for them. I believe other fruit-growers are 

 falling into Mr. Bradley's views on the matter. I mentioned 

 relative to some orchards at Brerichley in this county that Mr. 

 Mainwairing, a gentleman there, who cultivates a great many 

 acres of fruit for market purposes, pointed out one acre that he 

 had only manured with cut-up Hop bines for several years, 

 and it was looking well ; and the example at Preston Hall in a 

 season like this, when fruit crops are far from abundant, shows 

 that the treatment their roots receive promotes their welfare. 

 At the same time it is not saying too much to affirm that, if a 

 more liberal allowance of manure could be given, the result 

 would be still greater fruitfulness. Mr. Bradley has been 

 -obliged to limjt the application of animal manure to weakly 

 specimens. 



I will now glance at the mode of pruning adopted here, which 

 'in the main differs not much from that usually followed in the 

 orchards of the neighbourhood. The Apple, Pear, and Plum 

 ■trees require but little knife workat the present stage of their 

 growth beyond now and then shortening-in an unruly branch 

 or shoot. The trees being mostly twenty years old, and being 

 iruitfal, are not prone to make more wood than is wanted to 

 gradually increase their size, nevertheless they are all looked 

 over every year, and the branches thinned, where required, 

 "in winter ; but it is in the management of the Filbert and Gob- 

 nut trees that Mr. Bradley's practice differs from that generally 

 adopted in the neighbourhood. 



He adopts the summer-pruning system, and follows it out 

 'throughout the season, commencing to pinch off the tips of 

 every shoot early in summer as soon as it can be ascertained 

 which are bearing fruit and which not. The latter have their 

 tips nipped ofi with the finger and thumb, leaving from 6 inches 

 to a foot to be cut off in winter. But this nipping-in process 

 has to be several times repeated during the season, especially 

 -as regards the central shoots, which under ordinary circum- 

 stances run up into long tapering r^ds of from 4 to 6 feet or 

 M-ore in length, but are confined to the condition of a somewhat 



lengthened spur. Mr. Bradley also disapproves of 1he custom 

 of laying bare the collar of the plant every autumn by scraping 

 the soil from it in a basin form, as he thicks it encourages 

 rather than prevents the formation of suckers. 



The severe pruning the Oob and Filbert will endure is cer- 

 tainly greater than that inflicted on any other kind of fruit- 

 bearing tree, unless it be the Grape Vine and Currant, but even 

 these are not subjected to such incessant severe pinching as 

 Mr. Bradley gives to his Filberts ; yet the result in fruit-bear- 

 ing is all that could be wished for, Mr. Bradley rarely failing 

 to have a good crop, and this season he has one unusually 

 good. 



Before passing from the fruit-culture I must note that some 

 trees of Eibston Pippin seemed as healthy-looking as those of 

 the other varieties of Apple. Mr. Bradley explained this by 

 saying that only a few years ago that kind was grafted upon a 

 robust grower of less note. I forget which it was, but the 

 result proves that, for a time at least, the tendency which the 

 Eibston has to fall into an unhealthy state has been arrested. 



I now come to the kitchen garden proper. The new garden 

 was made at the time the mansion was built, and notwithstand- 

 ing many good properties, it is on the whole the least important 

 part in point of size, of this domain ; indeed, the space avail- 

 able for vegetables is very small. In shape it. is a parallelogram, 

 with its longest sides running east and west, a fioe range of 

 lean-to houses occupies the whole of the north wall ; while the 

 south one, separated from the pleasure grounds by a neat 

 Yew hedge enclosing the usual slip, is covered wiih glass walls 

 also, but in this instance forming a similar glass case to that 

 described in the old garden — viz., an upright glass front as 

 hi^h as the wall, with a span-roofed top. Peach and other trees 

 being trained against the wall, while Cherries, Plums, and now 

 and then Vines, are trained thinly against the front glass. A 

 row of hot-water pipes also runs along this structure, sufficient 

 to protect its contents from frost in winter and spring, the 

 whole having a showy appearance ; but I question much whether 

 the same length of lean-to houses would not have been cheaper, 

 and much more useful, the glass cases alluded to being not 

 more than 6 or 7 feet wide, and requiring as much glass in 

 their construction as would do for houses of nearly three times 

 their width. The houses, however, occupying the north wall 

 are all of ample width, and are mostly Grape and Peach houses; 

 one of the latter, just ripening its fruit in the latter part of 

 Jane, was all that could be wished for in regard to health and 

 abundance of fruit. Another coming on was equally promising; 

 while in the other vineries there were excellent Muscat Grapes, 

 faultless in regard to setting, and although not ripe when I saw 

 them, their healthy appearance indicated they would finish 

 off their crop without that stnmblingblook in the way of Grape- 

 growing — shanking. 



Mr. Bradley also pointed out one or two Vines of Golden 

 Champion that looked remarkably well, but he had his doubts 

 about the bunches finishing so, as he says they are so liable to 

 cracking, and consequently decaying, in ripening. The Vine 

 seemed to bear well, and the bunch and size of berry were re- 

 markably good. 



Most of the Vines were pruned on the spur-system, they were 

 not at all crowded, and the house being 18 or 20 feet wide, 

 afforded ample space for a good length of rod. The Black 

 Hamburghs that were ripening ofl were remarkably fioe, and the 

 late kinds were also in a promising condition ; that esteemed 

 kind prevailing amongst the latter as well. These houses occu- 

 pied the whole of the back wall, excepting a small space at 

 each corner, and as each vinery was furnished with a large bed 

 in the centre for such plants as now and then are necessarily 

 placed there, as Capsicums, flowering plants, &c., the whole 

 had a well-furnished appearance. A central opening into this 

 fine range from the south is made available for introducing 

 some Tea and Banksian Jioses into the unhealed porch form- 

 ing the division which, I was told, were of great service in early 

 spring. 



This range did not constitute the only glass structure, for at 

 the back of the wall against which the houses were placed, there 

 were two houses having a north aspect, which were of great 

 service in summer in retaining plants in bloom, when a more 

 sunny exposure would have hastened them on. Fine speci- 

 men Azaleas and Cape Heaths were here ; the former kept re- 

 markably late, while the easy access to them and their con- 

 venient arrangement made them an agreeable appendage to 

 the range. These north aspects, however, I ought to observe, 

 maintain the same line as that of the sheds and other back 

 buildings which occupy the north side of the wall; but the 



