August 18, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTTJBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



117 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



of 

 Month 



Day 



of 

 Week. 



AUGUST 18—24, 1870. 



Average Tempera- 

 tore near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 43 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 



18 

 19 

 20 

 21 

 22 

 23 

 24 



Th 



F 



S 



Sun 



M 



Tu 



W 



Kirkby Stephen Horticultural Show. 

 Keighley Horticultural Show. 



10 Sunday after Trinity. 

 Length of night 9h. 50m. 

 Wotton-under-Edge Horticultural Show. 

 Lewes Horticultural Show. 



Day. 

 73.2 

 7S.1 

 72.8 

 72.6 

 71.6 

 71.8 

 71.6 



Night. 

 50.7 

 49.2 

 60.6 

 49.7 

 49.7 

 49.0 

 47.9 



Mean. 

 62.0 

 61.2 

 61.7 

 61.2 

 60.6 

 60.4 

 69.7 



Days. 

 16 

 21 

 20 

 14 

 17 

 21 

 16 



m. h. 

 51af4 



52 4 



53 4 

 55 4 

 57 4 

 59 4 



1 5 



m. h. 



15 af 7 



13 7 



11 7 



9 7 



7 7 



5 7 



3 7 



m. b. 

 23afl0 

 46 10 

 17 11 

 66 11 

 morn. 

 44 

 43 1 



m. h. 



after. 

 22 af 1 

 26 2 

 29 3 

 28 4 

 20 5 



5 6 



Davs. 

 21 



c 



23 



24 

 25 

 26 

 27 



m. s. 

 3 40 

 3 26 

 3 12 

 2 68 

 2 43 

 2 28 

 2 13 



230 

 231 

 232 

 233 

 2S4 

 235 

 236 



From observations taken near London during the last forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 72.4°, and its night 

 temperature 49.8°. The greatest heat was 92°, on the 18th, 1842 ; and the lowest cold 36°, on the 18th, 1866. The greatest fall of rain was 

 0.95 inch. 



KENTISH ORCHARDS. 



HATEVER advantages there may be in 

 cultivating our ordinary fruits under glass, 

 and no doubt there are advantages, still it 

 is evident the great bulk of the population 

 must be satisfied with what is grown in 

 the open air in orchards. The word or- 

 chard has always appeared to me to have 

 something of poetry and wealth united ; 

 the beautiful appearance the orchard pre- 

 sents in April and May is followed, or is 

 expected to be followed, by a sight not less lovely in August 

 and September, and at either season an orchard forms a very 

 important feature in the landscape. Whether the trees are 

 in blossom or laden with fruit, a full-grown healthy orchard 

 is an object which the most careless never fails to take 

 notice of, added to which the districts where orchards 

 abound are generally well cultivated, and have a clothed 

 appearance even in winter. The utility of orchards in a 

 commercial point of view is also not one of the least of 

 their attractions, and seemingly fabulous prices have often 

 been paid for crops of fruit when sold on the trees. Into 

 this subject, however, I will not enter, but shall content 

 myself with making observations on the system of manage- 

 ment which some cultivators adopt with great success. 



Considering the great diversity of soil in which the 

 cultivation of Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, and bush fruit 

 trees is attempted in this county (Kent), it can hardly be 

 expected that a uniform system of treatment can be re- 

 commended, but in general it used to be urged that a 

 Cherry orchard ought to be on grass, and that the ground 

 in which the other fruits were grown might all be in 

 tillage. This idea, with certain modifications, formed the 

 prevailing creed of the last generation of fruit-growers, and 

 is far from being abandoned yet ; but of late years many 

 innovations have been made, and the advisability, or the 

 contrary, of tillage has been discussed, some of its advocates 

 pointing to the hedges, the best of which have adjoining 

 the collar, in many cases, about a foot of tilled space free 

 from weeds, and often dug 6 or 8 inches deep ; while, on 

 the other hand, the advocates of a turf bottom point to 

 the oldest examples of fruit trees known, and in these think 

 they have a strong plea in their favour, such trees being 

 met in a green hearty old age in a meadow or paddock. 

 The inquiry has led to many experiments, and I have on 

 more than one occasion seen a mode adopted to meet the 

 views of both parties without to any important extent losing 

 the advantages of either system. 



Happening lately, in company with a friend, to be 

 travelling a few miles from here, we observed a very 

 promising orchard of full-grown trees, with the usual 

 undergrowth of bush fruits, which appeared to be in the 

 best of health, and bearing abundantly, yet we were told 

 by the proprietor that the ground had never received a 

 particle of dung or other manure for a great many years. 

 This orchard was planted in the usual way in this county, 

 consisting of standard Apple and Plum trees, with 6-feet 

 stems, at 18 or 20 feet apart, underneath them Filberts or 



No. «0.— Vol. XTX, New Semes. 



Cob Nuts, with Currants to fill up the intervals, the Cob 

 Nuts being usually 12 feet and the Currant bushes 6 feet 

 apart. The whole presented a mass of bush and foliage 

 which some not acquainted with Kentish orchard-manage- 

 ment would say wanted the saw and knife freely, or per- 

 haps the mattock, but these are seldom used to the extent 

 a stranger would think necessary ; and whether necessary 

 or not, I will not here stop to inquire. Let the result 

 tell for itself. This mixed orchard, I may remark, was 

 originally in tillage, but Mr. Manwairing, its owner, de- 

 termined to try if it would not be as well to avoid mutilat- 

 ing the roots by digging, and for many years he has 

 abandoned the use of the spade among his trees, and 

 merely has the weeds hoed up when they are troublesome. 

 In alternate autumns he spreads over the ground some 

 hop-bine cut a little, so as to prevent its entangling any- 

 one passing through it. This covering partly shades the 

 ground, and, decaying gradually, supplies the trees with 

 some additional food to compensate for the drain on the 

 soil caused by what is taken away. It would doubtless be 

 better if this dressing could be given every year, but it 

 cannot always be spared, owing to the other uses the hop- 

 bine is put to, but substitutes are sometimes had recourse 

 to. Any kind of herbage or decaying substance would 

 probably serve the same purpose, and I am not certain 

 whether the result would be much different if nothing of 

 the kind were used, as I imagine the principal benefit 

 arises from the upper roots of the fruit trees not being 

 disturbed by digging ; at the same time the surface soil is 

 not exhausted by supporting a crop of grass or hay, as 

 where the orchard is in turf. 



The above case is not an isolated one ; I may mention 

 one nearer home, where the best possible results appear 

 to follow the adoption of a similar plan. Adjoining the 

 grounds of Preston Hall, near Maidstone, is a fine orchard 

 of some twenty years' growth. This orchard in some 

 degree resembles that last described, being composed of 

 Apple, Plum, and Pear trees as standards, with Filberts, 

 Cob Nuts, and Currants for undergrowth, and as it was 

 planted expressly for the private use of the family, the 

 variety of fruits was greater than is often the case where 

 the produce is intended for market, and I have on several 

 occasions seen most excellent crops of fruit there ; yet Mr. 

 Bradley, the intelligent gardener, never puts a spade in 

 the ground, only the weeds are hoed up when necessary, 

 and the orchard forms a receptacle for all the rubbish of 

 the garden, weeds and decaying matter of all kinds being 

 wheeled on and spread about. I remember one year visit- 

 ing the garden in spring, after a severe winter had made 

 havoc with Laurels and other shrubs, and I found that 

 Mr. Bradley had covered the orchard in a great measure 

 with the foliage, shoots, and slender branches of the ever- 

 greens that had been killed or injured in the winter, re- 

 serving the stouter woody matter for faggots and other 

 purposes. Decayed stalks of vegetables and other matters 

 were also lying about for the same purpose. I have no 

 doubt that the decomposition of these materials would 

 benefit the soil at the spot where decay was going on ; 

 certainly nothing could be more healthy than the trees, 



No. 1142.-TOL. XLIV, OU> Sebdjs. 



