438 



jouenaij ^of hoeticcltuee and cottage gaedekee. 



[ Jnne 22, 1871. 



not noticed the eareftlly-attended grave, strewed with fresh 

 flowers day by day, by some loving wife or sister, and planted 

 with choicest shrubs ? as though, to use the words of Eeble, 

 the mourners would I e 



' GatheriDg from every loss and gtief 

 Hope of new spring and endless home.' 



"Yon all know that this has been done by our Queen ever 

 since her great loss ; and I believe I am right in saying that 

 Her Majesty places a fresh wreath on the Prince Consort's 

 tomb every anniversary of his birth-day, wedding-day, and day 

 of his death." 



FRUITING OF LONICERA AUREO-KETICULATA. 

 The following additions to your memoranda in regard to the 

 flowering of this beantifnl-foliaged climber have reference to 

 its growth in more northern localities than any of those 

 mentioned in your last two numbers. A pillar-trained plant 

 bloomed in 1867 in the garden of John Enssel, Esq., at May- 

 field, Falkirk, and a plant grown by my sister on the south- 

 east front of a house at Brodley, Carse of Gowrie, has flowered 

 in each of the last four seasons. Some of these flowers have 

 been succeeded by ripened berries, and I have three seedling 

 plants reared from those of 1868, none of which have any 

 reticulated markings or other symptoms of variegation, their 

 leaves being all of a uniform green. The parent plant of these, 

 which grows on the rich, strong, clayey soil for which the Carse 

 of Gowrie is proverbial, has a much more vigorous habit, and is 

 also more distinctly or richly reticulated than any I have seen 

 on lighter and drier soils. — William Gokeie, Bait Lodge, York 

 Road, Trinity, Edinburgh. 



FRUIT GROWIISG COMMERCIALLY. 



(Continued from page 423.) 



The Pluh.— Certainly none of our other hardy fruits present 

 so great a diversity in colour, size, flavour, and appearance as 

 the Plum. From tie small sweet Damson upwards to the 

 largest yellow or dark-coloured Plum, all grades of size and 

 colour are represented ; but there is some uncertainty in the 

 bearing qualities of the finer sorts ; thus in general the 

 commoner ones will be found the most profitable, but the in- 

 tending planter ought to ponder well before he embarks too 

 extensively in planting Damsons, as the number of trees of this 

 fruit has been multiplied so many times in the last few years 

 that it is possible Damsons, as an article of profit, may have 

 seen their best days. But we will dismiss this part of the sub- 

 ject, and as the character of different soils has been gone into 

 while treating on the Apple, I may here say that although I 

 have advised the Apple to be planted on the ragstone district, 

 I would suggest the sandstone for the Plum ; and some of those 

 deep friable loams that are often met with in valleys or at the 

 base of hills, plentifully interspersed with stones, are suitable 

 sites for a Plum orchard, and I am not sure but now and then 

 a good soil overlying clay might do pretty well ; but avoid all 

 shallow soils and also damp ones ; and as shelter and other con- 

 ditions, in which climate bears so extensive a part, have to be 

 considered as well, we will dismiss this matter, and speak of 

 these requirements to an orchard's doing well hereafter. At 

 the same time I may say that some excellent plantations of 

 Plums are met with now and then on soils overlying the rag, 

 but I should call these exceptions, and not the rule in the 

 matter. 



Peaks. — This fruit is not generally so productive as the Apple 

 and Plum, as the finer kinds of Pears do not always bear well 

 as ordinary orchard trees ; the best, perhaps, for market pur- 

 poses being the early kinds, and they usually bear best also, 

 but as each district has its peculiar kinds, which practice has 

 proved to be best adapted to that district, I will not attempt to 

 give advice in this matter, but may say that in general the 

 Pear likes a drier soil and situation than the Apple and 

 Plum, and the tree roots deeper. Bat it must not be taken as 

 a mountain tree ; on the contrary, it requires shelter more 

 than either of those named, and does best in dry situations 

 sloping to the west, where the effect of the early morning sun 

 after a frost in spring is less disastrous to the blossom ; but the 

 principal requirement insisted upon is dryness at the root, with 

 plouty of depth of soil, not too highly manured, for although 

 tbe lq.t>pr moy incrense the growth of the tree, it is rot always 

 favourable to its fruitfulness. 



The Cheeky. — Unlike most of our other h'lrdy fruits, this 

 does not boast of a British origin, but is said to have been 



imported from the Asiatic side of the Black Sea, whence the 

 Apricot also came. It has, however, been sufiiciently natural- 

 ised with us as to be regarded as quite hardy, so far as enduring 

 winter frost is concerned, but its bloom and early shoots are 

 especially liable to damage by the late spring frosts we so often 

 have, and one or two nights, or even one alone, is sufficient to 

 blight the hopes of the expectant grower. A dry soil, but not a 

 shallow one, seems to suit it best, and shelter from the direc- 

 tion in which cold winds may be expected is of great import- 

 ance. Perhaps the best site for a Cherry orchard is one slop- 

 ing to the west, as the sun is somewhat later in shining OE 

 the frost-stiffened blooms at the end of April or first few days 

 in May, when we so often have " a nipper." I may here observe 

 that I do not recommend such a site for all kinds of fruits, 

 especially Apples, for, however beneficial it may be at blooming 

 time, there almost invariably happens to be a high wind from 

 the S.W. some time early in September, which does much 

 harm to the fruit crop that is so exposed to its influence. But 

 as the Cherries are usually gathered long before this time, no- 

 damage is done. The roots of the Cherry are also impatient 

 of injury, and but little pruning of the top is advisable. It is, 

 therefore, better not to till a Cherry orchard, but to sow it with 

 grass seeds. It is also advisable to have this fruit only, in 

 order that the number of trees together may be worth the 

 expense of keeping a man to scare away the birds when the 

 fruit is ripe. The character of the soil has, perhaps, more to- 

 do with the success of the Cherry than with that of any other 

 fruit, and damp soils are unfit for it, while on dry, and other- 

 wise suitable situations, the Cherry tree attains as great a size 

 and lives as long as, or even longer than any of our other hardy 

 fruits, and the oldest varieties we have seem not to be afflicted 

 with constitutional debility, as some favourite kinds of Apples, 

 Pears, and Plums." Mayduke Cherries still thrive vigorously,, 

 while Eibston Pippin Apples and Green Gage Plums are rarely 

 met with in a healthy state. But the great drawback to Cherry 

 culture is, as stated, the danger of our late spring frosts injur- 

 ing, nay, even destroying, the expanded blooms, and rendering 

 it hopeless to look for a crop ; a portion may perhaps escape, 

 but it is only one season in five or six that is a good one for 

 Cherries. 



GoosEBEKiiiES. — The very indifferent positions often assigneiJ 

 to this fruit hardly give it that fair chance to do well which it 

 deserves. Crowded underneath the spreading branches of larger 

 trees, it has but a poor chance to do well, yet it succeeds even- 

 there. I am not sure but a plantation entirely of this fruit 

 would pay as well as any ; at all events, where a large extent 

 of orchard is contemplated, a portion ought to be Gooseberries. 

 They come in earlier in the season than any fruit, and give em- 

 ployment where that is wanted, besides which Gooseberries will 

 grow on ground not so well adapted for Plums and other fruits. 

 We often enough see good fruit produced on stiff retentive 

 soils, and although wet ones cannot be called favourable, a 

 moist atmosphere is certainly so ; for the north-west of Eug;- 

 land, say Lancashire, and Scotland, produce better GooseberrieB 

 than Kent, although I am not so sure the ciop is always so 

 heavy, but believe it is. Two great drawbacks to the cultiva- 

 tion of -this fruit are the injuries caused by small birds to the 

 swelling buds in February, and now and then the serious attacks 

 of caterpillar. There seems to be something difficult to account 

 for in both these visitations ; both being capricious and not easily 

 arrested ; the first evil being all accomplished in two or three 

 days, and the latter often making its appearance all over s 

 plantation at once, when the attack is a serious one. At times 

 there is not a caterpillar to be met with, wLile in some seasons 

 their attack is prolonged late into the summer, fluctuating 

 between none at all and an almost universal attack. I may 

 here mention that an old-fashioned cottagers' remedy, which 

 I have been told by one who practised it for some forty years or 

 more, and who asserted it never failed, is to scatter soot around 

 the collar and stem in winter or spring, the idea being that the 

 caustic properties of the soot were fatal to the larva of the cater- 

 pillar that might be deposited there, but the instructions were 

 never to omit a winter's dressing. How far the return of fruit 

 for market will repay this must be left for the grower to find 

 out, but the remedy, or rather preventive, is a practicable one, 

 and not by any means expensive. 



Eed and White CuEEA^-IS.— The first-named, especially, 

 would seem to be better grown on the flat, rich alluvial soil 

 bordering the Tbames, than in Kent; nevertheless, good fruit 

 is grown in places. A deep rich soil seems to suit them beet, 

 but not by any means a damn one. Bat this fruit is rarely 

 allowed a site to itself, being often, like the Gooseberry, planted 



