268 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t October 6, 1870. 



Rivers or Early Prolific Plum is so popular, that our plantation 

 of bearing pyramids is now nearly 5000. Of new Pears for 

 market, Madame Treyve is a great bearer, and most excellent 

 Pear ; Beurr6 de l'Assomption is large and good ; Beurrfi 

 Bachelier, Beune Clairgeau, Beurre d'Amanlis, and Doyenne 

 du Cornice are good market Pears. Of Plums, Prince Engel- 

 bert, Belgian Purple, Reine Claude de Bavay, Angelina Burdett, 

 Early Orleans, and Belle de Septembre may be planted aB pyra- 

 mids feet apart with great advantage. I ought to mention 

 here, that my plantation of Apple trees 3 feet apart is now ten 

 years old and in full bearing, as are my Louise Bonne Pears, 

 five years old, also 3 feet apart. — (Extracted from Messrs. Rivers 

 and Son's Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit Trees, 1870.) 



GROUND .VINERIES. 



The ground-vinery system is so full of interest in itself, and 

 cfisrs such important advantages to thoee who garden on a 

 small scale — i e., to the many, that I fancy you will be glad to 

 give publicity to the following statement. 



There are two plans of ground vineries now proposed for 

 acceptance. One is the plan introduced to the public by Mr. 

 Rivers in his " Miniature Fruit Garden " some years ago, in 

 which he recommends a framework of wood or iron in the 

 form of a ridge, and glazed with glass. This is placed on 

 bricks, 'and the Vine is trained under it on a floor of slate. 

 The other is Mr. Rendle's plan, which for the frame of wood 

 substitutes his patent bricks. These are built up according to 

 the method shown in his published engravings and directions, 

 moveable squares of glass are employed to cover-in the enclosed 

 space, and the Vine is trained within, as in the former case. 



I have employed the plan recommended by Mr. Rivers for 

 growing Grapes for two or three years with very fair success ; 

 but having occasion to lengthen my vinery, and not being able 

 to procure any more of the iron frames for glazing which I had 

 hitherto used, I sent for some of Mr. Eendle's bricks. I have 

 two Vines growiijg side by side, and leaviEg one under glazed 

 iron-ridge frames, I constructed over the other Vine Mr. 

 Rendle's ground vinery of bricks and glass. 



During the past summer I have been able to test the merits 

 of the two plans, and in the interests of amateur gardening I 

 proceed to tell you the results of the trial. I found Mr. Rendle's 

 plan in every wav superior to that proposed by Mr. Rivers. 

 There was, first of all, an earlier development of the leaf and 

 flower in Eendle's vinery, and a greater uniformity of tempe- 

 rature. As the season advanced the texture of the leaf, and 

 its colour so much superior to that of the other Vine, have been 

 a constant object of remark by myself and all who have seen 

 the Vines, and, as a consequence, the Grapes are larger, they 

 have ripened earlier, and have a colour, bloom, and finish 

 which I fancy it would be difficult to surpass by any other mode 

 of cultivation. The Vines are Black Hamburgh, and the Vine 

 which has done so well in the Rendle vinery did not, when the 

 two Vines were grown under the glass ridge, ripen its fruit so 

 soon as the other. 



I think, therefore, we have here a very good test of the 

 respective merits of the two plans. I have called these 

 methods of cultivation (between which I have drawn a com- 

 parison) by the names of Rivers and Hendle, not because there 

 is any controversy between the two individuals as to the utility 

 of their respective plans, but simply for distinction's sake. I 

 know that Mr. Rivers thinks highly of Mr. Rendle's plant- 

 protector system, and uses it. — W. B. Capaen, Draycot Vicar- 

 age, Weston-super-Mare . 



[Mr. Caparn sent us two hunches of Black Hamburgh 

 Grapes ; the berths on that labelled " Rendle " were larger, 

 better coloured, and sweeter than the berries of that labelled 

 " Rivers." — Eds.] 



POMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS. 



Ecklakd Vale Apple. — Who can tell us the origin or the 

 history of this Apple ? During a short tour amongst the gar- 

 dens of Ireland lately, the Apple which above all others at- 

 tracted our attention, and which there seemed the most general 

 favourite, was that called Eckland Vale. Its great size, its 

 clear, handsome appearance, and its great productiveness on 

 young trees and on old trees in almost every garden we visited, 

 were very marked. The name was new to us ; the Apple, how- 

 ever, had a somewhat familiar look, as if we had known it 

 before under another name, yet never have we seen it. or one 

 like it, so beautiful and fine as we found it at Mount Merrion, 



near Dublin. Specimens before us now, which we picked at 

 random from a small tree in the gardens there, are very large, 

 upwards of 4 inches in diameter, rather flattened, or what we 

 would call of the Pippin shape, slightly angular. The eye is 

 large, pretty deeply sunk. Stalk deeply sunk also, about half 

 an inch in length, the end just level with the base of the fruit. 

 Colour pale greenish yellow, slightly flushed with crimson on 

 the exposed side, and having a few small ferruginous specks 

 over the surface, with a slight patch of russet near the stalk. 

 The flesh is whitish, rather soft and light, not evidently in- 

 tended to keep long, briskly acid in flavour, and delicate in 

 texture. This is an Apple which, when cooked, will dissolve- 

 very rapidly and completely, thus fixing its place as a very ex- 

 cellent early autumn sauce Apple. 



Brockwortb/Park Tear. 



In the colouring of the fruit and some of its features it is 

 very similar to the Wormsley Pippin and Stirling Castle. It 

 differs from the Wormsley Pippin in having acid instead of 

 sweet fleBh, and in the stalk, Sea. ; and from the Stirling 

 Castle it is likewise distinct. Some of the paler specimens 

 resemble Small's Admirable, but it is not that. It was sent 

 out, we are informed, from one nursery in this country a 

 few years ago as Prizstaker, but that was merely a name 

 adopted for trade purposes. In the gardens around Dublin 

 it was said to be a Scotch Apple. At Belfast we were told it 

 was an Irish seedling raised in that neighbourhood. Will 

 some one clear np the mystery ? Here is an Apple quite un- 

 known in the London markets, but which would fetch the 

 highest price in its season, and by its exceeding productiveness 

 would well repay the grower. 



Bkockwoeth Pake Peak. — In September we are already so 



