8 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jnly 7, 187fl. 



ingly plant runners from such plants, and, of course, would not 

 wish anyone else to do so except as an experiment. I have 

 had plenty of evidence that such sterile plants are too likely to 

 continue to produce sterile plants for many generations. 



The evidence as to restoring plants taken from fertile parents 

 that have become sterile from over-luxuriince or want of sun 

 and air, is, so far as my own experience and observation go, 

 more conflicting. Sometimes the remedy alluded to above has 

 succeeded, at other times it has not, as there is too great a 

 tendency in plants as well as in man to go on in a bad course 

 ■when once it is fairly commenced. 



This season I have been told of seven or eight fine-looking 

 beds of Strawberries that did not suffer especially from the 

 drought, and that scarcely yielded a bloom. I think it is three 

 or four summers since I stated how I was invited to look at a 

 large bed of Strawberry plants, chiefly Keens' Seedling, and 

 nothing could look better at a distance. The flower trusses 

 were just bursting the buds of my own at home. In this fine- 

 looking bed there was not a single fertile bud, and for that 

 season there could be none. The proprietor had so set hi3 

 heart on this fine bed, was so hopeful for another year, that I 

 felt shy in offering an opinion. At last, when pressed, I ad- 

 vised him to dig down the half of his bed, to plant a little piece 

 with runners, and as a sort of encouragement, I was to send a 

 lot of young plants, pricked out thickly the previous autumn, 

 just beginning to burst their flower buds. From these little 

 plants he obtained some fair fruit the first season, and they 

 and their runners bore well afterwards. Of the runners planted 

 from the first bed, not one was fruitful the following season. 

 Of the old plants left thinned out and treated as above, some 

 ten per cent, proved moderately fruitful the following season, 

 the bulk, some ninety per cent., producing nothing but leaves. 



One other case came prominently under my observation. 

 The kinds were Keens' Seedling, Elton, and British Queen. 

 The plants all looked well, but showed little bloom. Thinned 

 out and treated as above, Keens' was much improved ; British 

 Queen was less so, but much better ; but the Elton scarcely 

 showed a flower bud. 



The matter thus coming prominently before me, I have 

 stated convictions based on what I think to be facts. I know 

 that many hold a contrary opinion, but mere opinion is of 

 little value unless based on something solid and tangible. It 

 should ever be our aim, not so much to excite mere controversy 

 as to get at the truth and what will bear on general utility. 

 Whether contrary to or corroborative of these statements, I 

 shall be glad to know the ideas of others, founded on obser- 

 vation and experience. Meanwhile, as a mere matter of com- 

 mon prudence, I would say, in conclusion, to all makers of fresh 

 plantations of Strawberry plants, Choose your young plants 

 from plants that have produced fruit. — R. F.] 



THE ORCHARD HOUSE. 



Having just seen " T. F.'s " remarks about potted trees (see 

 page 260 of la9t volume), I should like to make a few ob- 

 servations on the subject. " T. F." has been already some- 

 what roughly handled by yourself, and one or two of your 

 correspondents, and 1 have something to add on the same side. 

 " T. F.'s " observations might operate upon those who have 

 dabbled in orchard houses with doubtful success ; but it is not 

 very likely that they will have much effect on those who have 

 tried the orchard house and found it answer. There can be little 

 doubt that these structures are specially adapted for amateurs. 

 Professed gardeners have, for the most part, voted them a 

 nuisance from the beginning. 



Only a fortnight ago I made a purposed visit to a celebrated 

 nursery famed, not long ago, for orchard houses and orchard- 

 house trees. I had read a glowing account of these, and was 

 anxious to impart or receive hints on the msmgement of the 

 trees, as the caBe might be. On asking one of the workmen 

 where the orchard house was, he pointed me to a lot of trees, 

 in pots it is true, but ignominiously expelled from their pre- 

 vious more dignified quarters. On the foreman making his 

 appearance, I good-humouredly rated him on the subject, and 

 he was fain to admit that he and his brethren generally had a 

 thorough contempt and dislike for the system. Now, as regards 

 the attention required, it must be owned that for six months 

 in the year it must be careful and unremitting. But it should 

 be borne in mind that that attention pertains to a season in 

 which there is a constant progression from flowers to fruit. 

 There is the gratification of oneself and friends, first of all 

 with the sight of f oliage and fruit, to be at length consummated 



by the gratification of the taste in eating it ; and during the 

 winter months, when there is nothing to be seen, no attention 

 is required. 



You put the matter well in stating that this mode of growing 

 fruit brings an all-but-certain crop, and at an early stage of 

 the tree's growth. I had two maiden Plums last November 

 twelvemonth, Pond's Seedling and the Golden Drop ; the 

 former has this year fifteen Plums on it, and the latter eleven — 

 quite as many as trees of that age and of these varieties should 

 be allowed to produce. I myself budded a Reine Claude de 

 Bavay two years ago last July. It is now a beautiful pyramid 

 with the fruit reduced by thinning to thirty-four. I will 

 venture to say, I might have had a tree of that variety in the 

 open ground a dozen years, and not have had so many during 

 the whole time. I should have been satisfied in my rough 

 houses with growing Plums alone. I have fifteen varieties of 

 these, and nearly all the trees after thinning have, perhaps, more 

 fruit on them than ought to be allowed, ranging in number 

 from fifteen to thirty. I have ten Peach trees averaging a 

 dozen on each. Apricots, moreover, are doing well, and as in 

 the case of the maiden Plums, two Apricots the same age have 

 two dozen between them. 



With regard to the number of fruit potted trees Bhould bear, 

 there is, I think, a little confusion. It would be much better 

 if the matter were more regulated by weight than number. 

 Take, for instance, a Golden Drop or Jefferson Plum and a 

 Green Gage. I should allow the latter to bear at least double 

 the number of the former. The same rule should be applied 

 throughout, so that a tree from five to six years old should 

 be allowed to produce from 4 to 5 lbs. of fruit and no more. 



We learn to modify and alter our plans and modes of treat- 

 ment from time to time. I give less water to my trees than I 

 did two or three years ago, and with good results, but, of course, 

 with careful watching. Up to last year I perceived the leaves 

 at the points to a considerable extent brown and shrivelled. 

 I attributed it to syringing in the morning in bright sunshine. 

 This year I do not syringe uniformly in the morning, but do 

 it liberally about sunset. The leaves thus continue damp all 

 the night, making an uncomfortable home for the red spider. 



With regard to " T. F.'s " motto, " Let us down with such 

 torture and cruelty," I have been cruel enough to pinch rather 

 closely all along; but having read M. Du Breuil's book, I am 

 now pinching the Peaches more closely than ever. I cannot 

 tell what the result may be, but appearances are in its favour. 

 My trees are looking more promising this year than usual. — 

 J. M. 



A CLEAR HEAD, A PROMPT WILL, AND A 

 READY HAND. 



" I don't believe it." " Don't believe what?" was the rea- 

 sonable response, for my friend was not aware that I was read- 

 ing about Selsey, and that Bede stated it was so called because 

 seals frequented the coast. I read the passage aloud. "Well," 

 said my friend, "Venerable Bede was more likely to know 

 than you." " Not a bit of it ; he might be venerable as an 

 ecclesiastic, and not at all venerable as an etymologist. You 

 remind me of the boy who wrote the word ' sut,' and justified 

 it on the ground that the chimney-sweeper so spelt, and ' he 

 ought to know!'" "What's your guess at the derivation?" 

 "Sel, a mansion, and sea, the sea — pure Anglo-Saxon." No 

 response from my friend, so I conclude it was convincing. He 

 resumed his writing, I returned to my book. 



" It's just 800 years since." " Since what ?" said my again- 

 interrupted friend. " Since the bishop's see was removed from 

 Selsey to Chichester." "Who cares about that?" said my 

 friend resuming his writing, and I, adjusting my spectacles, 

 again returned to my book. 



" It is incredible that he taught them to catch fish, they 

 must have known that." " Who taught — who was taught ?" 

 " Wilfrid, Bishop of Hexham, is said to have taught the Selsey 

 men." My friend laid down his pen and inquired, " Why on 

 earth do you keep bothering about Selsey ? I waB there some 

 years since, and can testify that Lord Selsey keeps his estate 

 there in admirable order. The crops are good, tenants are 

 prosperous, and the whole peninsula is flat as a pancake. 

 The old Anglo-Saxon city's site is now ever under water, and 

 the fishermen cast their nets over shallows still known as ' The 

 Park' and 'The Street.' Now, that's all, so why keep up 

 such a bother?" " All ! Why, that sulphurator you tried and 

 so belauded at South Kensington is made at a manufactory at 

 " No ! Humbug ; a manufactory i3 as likely to be found 



