October 13, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



283 



Bindweed, the crop being, as you may imagine, nil. I took it 

 in hand myself, carefully followed every plant with a fork, and 

 took up every root I could find ; when this was done I gave the 

 bed a good salting. I had a fine crop of Asparagus ; of course 

 a good many plants of the Bindweed came up during the sum- 

 mer, but these were forked up when they appeared, and now 

 there are but few remaining. I think the salt killed much of 

 the weed, as I found many blackened roots. I am now hard at 

 work at the Strawberry bed, where the Bindweed is in quantity. 

 Another hint — when forking out the roots let them be at 

 once put into a basket and no other weed put with them, and if 

 the weather be dry let them be burned without delay. As every 

 little piece grows and is thrown into a heap with other weeds, 

 the supply will be increased. — An Old Dublin Subscriber. 



Plums, Pears, and Nectarines in abundance, without overcrop- 

 ping, yet we have no fire heat of any kind. — A Lady Subscriber, 

 Kirkcudbright, N.B. 



PROTECTING THE BLOSSOMS OF WALL-FRUIT 

 TREES. 

 I have long entertained the opinion that a constant current 

 of warm air passing over wall-fruit trees would be an effective 

 preservative of their blossoms from frosts and cold winds. 

 The only experiment I have been able to make testing my 

 opinion was by placing a closed tin vessel at the foot of a wall, 

 and filling it with boiling water. A thermometer hung againBt 

 the wall, and 4 feet above the vessel, registered 30° of Fahren- 

 heit's thermometer — or 2° of frost— before the boiling water was 

 poured into the vessel. On this beiDg done the thermometer 

 began immediately to rise, reached to 40°, and never varied from 

 that during the hour I continued the experiment. Au easterly 

 wind was blowing briskly, and I poured into the vessel fresh 

 boiling water at intervals, so that its average heat was about 

 200°. Now this experiment and the geothermal experiments 

 I saw in operation at Major Trevor Clarke's and elsewhere, 

 justify the opinion I entertain. Unfortunately, at present, I 

 have no means of practically testing its soundness, but I will 

 state the mode in which I would test it, and, perhaps, some of 

 your readers will give it a trial. 



This represents a 3-inch flow and return pipe in a bricked 

 gutter at the foot of the wall. The flow-pipe should have a 

 valve to Bhut off its communication with the boiler, for the 

 hot water would only be needed during the blossoming season. 

 The return-pipe also should have a similar valve, but with a 

 tap outside, so that the pipes might be empty during winter to 

 avoid injury by freezing.— G. 



Orchard House Produce. — In an orchard house on a south 

 wall wehave a small Pear tree, Beurre Diel, on which grew three 

 Pears. I weighed them when taken off, and I give the weights 

 respectively : — One exactly 1 lb., one 14| ozs., one 13 ozs. All 

 were handsome. The house was put up last spring, and the 

 tree was planted during Maroh. We have had fine Peaches, 



RIVERS'S SEEDLING PEACHES AND 

 NECTARINES. 



I have grown and fruited in pots this summer some of Mr. 

 Rivers's new seedling Peaches and Nectarines, and I have 

 found the following varieties to be great acquisitions as regards 

 earliness and flavour. They were grown principally on a glass- 

 covered wall, but a few of the varielies were fruited on a south 

 wall without protection of any kind. 



Amongst Peaches the Early Beatrice was the earliest in 

 ripening, beiDg quite lipe by the middle of July ; it was juicy 

 in texture, and the flavour was good. Early Louise ripened 

 about the end of July, but was not so juicy nor so good in 

 flavour as Early Beatrice. Early Rivers ripened with me about 

 the same time as the Early Louise, and was very jaicy, with a 

 rich, racy flavour. Dagmar proved to be a large and finely- 

 coloured Peach, and ripened in the f econd week in August. Dr. 

 Hogg, another large and also a finely-flavoured Peach, ripened 

 about the same time as the Dagmar. Early Silver, a very 

 large and highly-flavoured Peach, ripened in the third week in 

 August. Alexandra Noblesse has quite the pale colour of the 

 old Noblesse, as well as its juicy and rich flavour ; it ripens in 

 the end of August. Lord Palmerston is a very large, pale 

 Peach, and is at this date (September 15th), ripe, but the 

 flavour is not first-rate. Princess of Wales is another very 

 large Peach, pale in colour, with rosy cheeks next the sun, but 

 it will be the end of September before it is ripe. 



The order of ripening of Mr. Rivers's seedling Nectarines 

 was as follows : — Lord Napier, a pale-coloured Nectarine of 

 good flavour, and ripening in the beginning of August. Rivers's 

 New White is better flavoured than the Old White, and ripens 

 in the middle of AuguBt. Rivers's Orange, a seedling from the 

 Pitmaston Orange, is an excellent high-flavoured variety, and 

 ripens in the end of August. Stanwick Elruge has a smack of 

 the Stanwick flavour in it, and ripens in the end of August. 

 Victoria, the latest of Mr. Rivers's Beedling Nectarines, is very 

 rich and juicy when grown in pots, and ripens from the end 

 of August till the middle of September. 



Dr. Hogg Peach has ripened with me on a south wall, and 

 was in season in the end of August ; it is a variety of excellent 

 flavour. The Pine- Apple Nectarine has likewise ripened on the 

 same wall, and is an excellent new variety, the flesh yellow, 

 like Hunt's Tawny, very rich in flavour, and the colour of the 

 fruit nearly black next the sun. — William Tillert, Welieck. 

 — (Florist and Pomologist.) 



ABKLETON. 



The railway traveller on reaching the city of "fair and 

 merry " Carlisle has every opportunity and inducement held 

 out to him by the convenient and numerous despatches of rail- 

 way trains in all directions, by the excellent hotel accommoda- 

 tion, and by the kind and hospitable disposition of the people, 

 to "break his journey" at the "border city." He will find 

 here spots hallowed by associations with the past, which must 

 ever remain dear to all lovers of history, archteology, and ro- 

 mance. He will find a clean, well-built town, situated in one 

 of the most pleasant and fertile-looking districts in the north. 

 He can see the ruined ca6tle whose rent and mouldering 

 battlements still stand as silent sentinels, holding watch over 

 the broad vale of the winding Eden, the silvery Solwsy, and 

 the dear, old, brave Scottish border land. He may recall to 

 memory the dark days and scenes of early Norman rale, when 

 this time-battered fortress was founded by William Rufus, and 

 how in succeeding ages it became the dwelling-place of David I. 

 of Scotland, and the refuge and prison-house of the misguided, 

 ill-fated Mary Stuart. He can wander in the choir and aisles 

 of the grand, old, massive cathedral, and survey the decorated 

 eastern window, pronounced by many to be superior even to 

 the magnificent western window of York Minster. He can get 

 a railway ticket, as I did, and leaving keep and castle, kirk and 

 cathedral behind him, travel for upwards of an hour through 

 one of the finest-wooded, prettiest routes in Scotland. My 

 hour's ride by rail landed me in the small, beautifully-situated, 

 thriving, manufacturing town of Langholm. 



But as I was in search of gardeners and their gardens rather 

 than in quest of " wabsters and their clouts," I hastened 



