March 3, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICDLTUKB AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



163 



tn height, and estencling 48 yards in length, had been planted 

 upwards of twenty years ago with sis trees, allowing 8 yards 

 for each tree. These were selected, I believe, from the Horti- 

 cultural Society's " Fruit Catalogue," and v?ere very successful. 

 The Peaches intended to ripen in succession were Acton Scot, 

 English Bellegarde, Noblesse, and Eoyal George. They gave 

 an excellent succession from about the earliest season that it is 

 possible to have Peaches on the open wall in this county until 

 the latest period at which the Peach will be found to possess its 

 •usual high flavour. In October this ceases to be the case, and 

 it is better to rely on Plums as a dessert stone fruit for that 

 month than to endeavour to prolong the supply of Peaches. 

 The Acton Scot bore well, and was of excellent quality, ripening 

 about the 10th of August, but the tree is small, and the fruit 

 medium-sized. We now expect that the Early York will super- 

 sede it. The Bellegarde, on the contrary, was a robust growing, 

 large tree, and bore most wonderful crops of from forty to sixty 

 dozen, and one year produced eighty-five dozen. After some 

 years of this heavy cropping, the trees were injured by a very 

 severe frost, and we have now a succession of young trees 

 'taking their place. Amongst these the French Bellegarde, a 

 beautiful dark-coloured fruit, promises to ripen well. The 

 Noblesse bore and ripened well ; nothing can exceed it in 

 quality. We have now a smallish whits Peach, sent as a 

 Noblesse (which it is not), that is delicious. Eoyal George 

 has long been the favourite Peach in this county, but it should 

 he known that it is the latest variety that will succeed here, 

 and that many sorts are at least one month earlier. 



Our Nectarine was and is the Elruge. It is small, but bears 

 very well, and ripens freely. Hardwicke Seedling is a larger 

 and earlier fruit, but, excepting in a very fine season like Isst 

 summer, when we had great heat, it is inferior. Violette 

 Hative has not yet had time to prove itself. 



Our Apricot was Moorparb, a delicious fruit. We have also 

 grown Hemskerk, equally good, but smaller, and not so free a 

 bearer. We have grown Breda, which here is quite inferior. 

 I have seen some prodigious crops of Apricots in this neigh- 

 bourhood : 125 dozen were gathered from a tree in the garden 

 of the clergyman of this parish ; but no variety that we have 

 met with equals the Moorpark. 



I have yet to state that some of our trees are on brick and 

 some on stone walls, and some are planted so that one half of 

 the tree is trained on brick and the other half on stone, but we 

 have failed to detect either the blossom or the fruit being ever 

 earlier on the brick wall than on the stone wall ; that such 

 should be considered to be the ease appears, therefore, to be a 

 delusion. 



A g^od October Plum, to hang on the wall till November, is 

 <a desideratum. Coe's Golden Drop is apt to fall off when of 

 the size of a small bean. Autumn Gage, a great bearer, is 

 insipid. A white Qaetsohe is too early, and a dark one is 

 inferior. Blue Imperatrice promises well. Late Orleans has 

 been considered our best October Plum. At Gordonstown, 

 near here, the baronial residence of Sir W. Gordon Camming, 

 Bart., there is a large tree of this variety on a south wall, and 

 -for many years past it has not failed to produce an abundant 

 crop of fine fruit lasting all the month of October. 



Of Cherries, May Duke is a great and constant bearer; 

 although early, it hangs long (under a net) on the tree. It 

 ■succeeds much better on the wall than as a standard, but it 

 bears and ripens freely on a north wall, as atCulIeu House, the 

 seat of the Earl of Seafield. We have some new earlier varie- 

 ties, such as Balle d' Orleans, but we have not yet sufficient 

 ■knowledge of them. The common White Heart Cherry of this 

 country, of which there are large standard trees in almost all 

 the old gardens, is a most delicious fruit. We have also a 

 Bigarreau Cherry quite common and quite hardy. Next to 

 these, or perhaps exceeding them in importance, is the Hun- 

 garian Gean, of which there is both a black and a red variety, 

 ■bearing annually by thousands. An English gentleman, who 

 ■was here two years since, was so charmed with them that he 

 ordered ten trees from Mr. Grigor, Nurseryman, of Forres, who 

 carefully propagates this variety. At Sea Park, the residence 

 of Captain B. Dunbar Dunbar, where there are some large trees, 

 the fruit annually is something wonderful to behold. 

 . We protect all our stone fruit from frost, which, perhaps, is 

 not very severe, owing to the proximity to the sea, by laying 

 posts, with the butt end on the ground, about a yard from the 

 wall, and the upper end resting against the top of the wall. 

 They are put all along the wall, at about i feet apart, and a 

 iierring net, with meshes about an inch square, is put on double 

 along the whole, and reaching from the top to within a yard of 



the ground. It is put on as soon as the blossom expands, and 

 is left until the fruit are the size of large peas. Old herring 

 nets are very abundant and cheap here. 



Figs ripen well during August and September. A variety that 

 has been for many years in this garden has been proved to be 

 the same as the Brown Ischia, obtained for us from Chiswick 

 by a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society. There is grown 

 in the neighbourhood a larger sort, of a very dark colour, and 

 equally good. 



At Grant Lodge, near Elgin, the residence of the Countess o£ 

 Seafield, I have seen a standard Mulberry tree completely laden 

 with ripe fruit ; in several gardens in this county such trees 

 have been tried without success. When trained on the wall, 

 continual application of the knife must be avoided. The shelter 

 from the north wind, that rendered the trees at Grant Lodge so 

 successful, has now been partly removed; but it is on record 

 that a Mulberry, as a standard, where well sheltered from the 

 north, with a good southern exposure, would be nothing new in 

 our gardens. 



Perhaps I should mention that we have Eivers's Early Fa- 

 vourite Plum and July Green Gage on a south wall, to succeed 

 the Cherries and to precede the Peaches. We trust to standards 

 for midseason Plums, as mentioned in a former notice. — John 

 MacCulloch, The Gardens, Duffus, Elgin. 



SLOW COMBUSTION AND ECONOMY OF FUEL. 



It will interest many of your readers who have small houses 

 under their own supervision, and to whom cheapness of fuel 

 and a minimum amount of attendance are desirable, to know 

 something about the firing burnt in this part of Wales. It 

 amused me much when I saw it first. I allude to the Welsh 

 " balls," as they are called. They are made of -tbe small parts, 

 or dust, of the anthracite coal of which "R. S." speaks so 

 highly (see page 26). I can thoroughly endorse all he has 

 said in its favour ; and he is quite right in suggesting that the 

 fireplace should contract from the top to the bottom, and the 

 door should be difierent from that usually employed. 



Now, the balls are far more economical than the fuel that 

 "E. S." uses, and so slow is the combustion, that a fire can be 

 made to keep in for from six to twenty-six hours by using 

 different quantities of clay. This varies in colour, but that 

 of a dun colour is the best, and it is found in low-lying ground 

 at the depth of from 1 to 3 or 4 feet from the surface ; this 

 generally, but not always, being a black bog, 4 to 6 feet deep, 

 and resting on a rough gravelly bottom. It is quite impervious 

 to water, and scarcely any grit is to be found in it. It costs 

 from 3s. to 4s. per good cartload, and can be kept in store for 

 any length of time, if placed under cover. I should like to 

 know if it can be obtained in England. 



I will now suppose that the clay and coal are ready, and il 

 under cover so much the better, for the materials can be made 

 up in wet weather as is generally done here. The coal is 

 sifted and put round to form a basin, precisely the same as a 

 mason would do in making mortar. The clay is then placed in 

 the middle, in the proportion of from ono-eighth to a thirteenth 

 part of the coal, according to the time the fuel is wanted to 

 bum ; the more clay, the more quickly it will burn. One- 

 tenth is the proportion generally used here. The clay is 

 chopped up fine, suflieient water is thrown on to make the 

 heap of the consistency of mortar, and the whole is mixed 

 together, well kneading it, by turning and treading, until the 

 clay is thoroughly mixed with the culm. It is always best to 

 use this fuel wet. When it is used in the house, as every person 

 does, it is worked into balls and put on the fire, being about 

 the size of a goose's egg, with the riddlings, if any, under them. 

 When the fire is banked up for the night, a few balls are put 

 under with a plaster 2 or 3 inches deep over them, and a hole 

 is made in the top as a vent. We never hear of lighting a 

 fire in this part — in fact, it would be as great a novelty to 

 see a luoifer match in a cottage as a piece of roast beef on a 

 Sunday. 



There are other clays used when that which I have noticed 

 cannot be had ; one is a white clay similar to pipe clay, but 

 not nearly so good, and three times as much of it are required. 

 Those living near a river that deposits slimy mud on its sides, 

 use that as a substitute. " A. B." (page 67) will find that these 

 clays will be a great addition to his small coal and cinders, of 

 which we have used many loads this winter, and if he could 

 add a third part of small hard coal, the mixture would last 

 much longer, and burn with greater certainty. The same ob- 



