328 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Octobai 25, 1877. 



Fox," and the announcement of the host, " I shall be at home 

 myself every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday," have un- 

 fortunately been obliterated. This Thomas Rivers was the late 

 Mr. Rivers's grandfather's unele, and was so successful as to die 

 the proprietor of the place he and his father had previously 

 occupied as tenants. 



The nursery grew in extent and importance with every 

 change of successor, and on the retirement of his father in 

 1827, Mr. Rivers took the whole responsibility of the establish- 

 ment on his own shoulders, so that from that time what was 

 comparatively of moderate extent gradually increased till it 

 became what it now is, one of the largest in this conntry. 

 In those days the plants cultivated were of a miscellaneous 

 character, and such as were to be found in a well-appointed 

 country establishment ; but Mr. Rivers was always quick to 

 perceive the rising of a popular attraction, and the first 

 speciality to which he directed his attention was the exten- 

 sive cultivation of the Rose. Eormerly standard Roses were 

 all imported from France, and Mr. Rivers Bet himself to pro- 

 duce at home what had hitherto been a lucrative article of 

 commerce with the Paris and Rouen nurserymen. His at- 

 tention was first directed to a specimen of the Apple-bearing 

 Rose (Rosa villosa), which had been planted by some of his 

 predecessors, and which had by treatment and age acquired 

 the habit and magnitude of a little tree. This induced Mr. 

 Rivers to train up plants of this species as standards ; but it 

 was found to be too tedious a process, and his attention was 

 then turned to the ready-made standards of the Dog Rose 

 which h"; found in the woods and hedges of his native county, 

 on which to bud the choice varieties. In 1833 Mr. Rivers pub- 

 lished his Catalogue of Roses, of which Loudon said, "This 

 we consider to be the most useful catalogue of Roses in the 

 English language." This was an imperial folio sheet for send- 

 ing as a single letter by post. " The Rose Amateurs' Guide " 

 first appeared in 1837, and in the space of forty years it passed 

 through no less than eleven editions. This was the first really 

 practical work on the Rose which had appeared in the English 

 language, and it soon attained a reputation which established 

 it and its author as the leading authorities on the subject. Mr. 

 Rivers was also a raiser of Roses from seed, and there are 

 many who still remember his George IV. 



Although fruit trees had always been among the leading 

 articles of the Sawbridgeworth as of other nurseries, about the 

 year 1840 Mr. Rivers began to turn his attention more in that 

 direction, and to give special attention to their culture, and so 

 in that year he published the first edition of the Catalogue 

 which in subsequent years has become so familiar to fruit- 

 growers. In this year also appeared the first edition of the 

 " Miniature Fruit Garden," which wa3 the outcome of articles 

 he had communicated to " Loudon's Gardeners' Magazine " 

 on root-pruning. Although root-pruning had been practised 

 for centuries before, and the late Mr. Beattie of Scone Palace 

 had not long previously advocated the practice, it needed an 

 .energetic mind like Mr. Rivers' to give it an impetus and to 

 force it on the attention of the public. This he did, and did 

 successfully, through the " Miniature Fruit Garden," which 

 from 1840 to 1877 passed through eighteen editions, and has 

 been the means of revolutionising the whole system of fruit 

 gardening in this country. The first ideas he obtained of this 

 system of fruit gardening were during a continental tour through 

 France and Belgium, where he found small trees skilfully 

 managed by being kept within small compass taking the place 

 of the wide-6preading overshadowing standards and dwarfs that 

 were so common in our own limited gardens. This mode of 

 fruit culture has now taken root in the country, and where one 

 or two trees formerly occupied a large space of ground a great 

 number of small trees easily protected are now grown, afford- 

 ing a good supply of fruit and in greater variety. 



About the year 1848-49 Mr. Rivers first conceived the orchard 

 house. At that time the writer of this, on one of his visits 

 to Sawbridgeworth, was conducted by Mr. Rivers to a part of 

 the grounds where there were small square spaces enclosed 

 with Beech hedges. TheBe are frequently met with in nur- 

 series as places for sheltering the more tender and delicate 

 plants from storms and cutting winds, and it was one of these 

 spaces that Mr. Rivers had covered with a glazed shade, the 

 walls being nothing more than the Beech hedges. Within the 

 space a turf bank was thrown up by way of a stage, and the 

 path was slightly sunk to afford head-room. In this structure 

 Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots were growing in pots and 

 laden with fruit. No ventilation was required, for the air per- 

 colated through the Beech hedges, and the only heat was that 



derived from the sun and the shelter of the glazed roof. The 

 success that attended this essay induced Mr. Rivers to attempt 

 a more substantial structure, which resulted in the glazed roof 

 being supplemented with boarded sides, and ventilation being 

 admitted by openings at the front and back. This was found 

 to be an improvement on the original erection, and in 1850 

 Mr. Rivers published the first edition of the " Orchard House." 

 It was a pamphlet of very modest pretensions, and was written 

 with the laudable object of its proceeds being applied to the 

 repairing fund of the old parish church of Sawbridgeworth. 

 The publication was very successful, and the amount obtained 

 for the repairs was £189, which entirely cleared-off the debt 

 which had been incurred. The first edition was in the form 

 of a pamphlet the ordinary size of his nursery catalogues, 

 and it passed through several editions in this shape ; but this 

 with his other works was ultimately issued in the duodecimo 

 size in which they now appear. In the preface to the first 

 edition the author anticipates the pleasure he was providing 

 for those who love the pursuit of gardening. He says, " The 

 method of culture given in the following pages has been to me 

 a pleasant relaxation from the cares of an extensive business, 

 and I feel convinced that it may be made equally agreeable to 

 a numerous class of busy men who make their gardens a source 

 of untiring quiet enjoyment." 



The hold which the introduction of the orchard house took 

 upon the gardening public was firm and rapid. The little 

 work in 1S59 had passed through five editions, and in the pre- 

 face to the fifth we find these words : — " Orchard houses are 

 now familiar things ; hundreds are now rising up all over the 

 face of the country ; no garden structures have ever so rapidly 

 advanced in popularity. That they deserve to be popular I 

 am more than ever convinced, and I cannot help feeling grate- 

 ful that, through the exercise of my humble literary ability so 

 much good, because so mueh intellectual pleasure, has been 

 derived from this new mode of cultivating fruit trees." The 

 papularity of this work rapidly increased, so that in 1877 it 

 had passed through fifteen editions. 



But besides those works that were published separately Mr. 

 Rivers contributed voluminously to all the current periodicals. 

 His first appearance publicly was in " Loudon's Gardeners' 

 Magazine " in 1827, when, under the signature of " Malus," 

 he sent an article on " An Orchard in Miniature ; or the 

 Culture of Apple Trees as Dwarf Standards after the manner 

 of Gooaeberry Bushes." This, however, was not the precursor 

 of the " Miniature Fruit Garden," the principle of which rests 

 on root-pruning, and in this that operation is never mentioned. 

 It seemed to consist in selecting the dwarf-growing varieties 

 of Apples, sueh as the Nonpareil, for the purpose of grafting 

 them onParadise and Crab stocks. In the subsequent volumes 

 of the Magazine his name as T. Rivers, jun., frequently occurs 

 as a constant contributor, Mr. Rivers possessed a ready pen, 

 and he was ever ready to communicate to others the knowledge 

 which he had himself acquired, and of this the readers of this 

 Journal can fully testify. For nearly thirty years he made the 

 Journal of Horticulture one of the chief channels through which 

 he diffused his extensive knowledge, and scattered the seeds of 

 instruction far and wide to appreciating readers in these king- 

 doms and their colonies. 



In 1870 a movement was set on foot to commemorate the 

 services rendered by Mr. Rivers to the cause of horticulture. 

 This took the form of a memorial portrait, to which a large 

 number of his admirers subscribed, and the amount being 

 much more than was needed for the portrait, the balance was 

 given over to the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution. An 

 admirable portrait was secured, and it was handed over by Dr. 

 Robert Hogg, who initiated the matter, to the Trustees of the 

 Lindley Library, and it is now suspended in the hall of the 

 RoyalHorticultural Society along with those of Sir JosephBanks, 

 Professor Lindley, Mr. James Dickson, Mr. James Yeitch, Rev. 

 Joshua Dix, Mr. John Standish, and Rev. M. J. Berkeley. 



Daring the last few years the Sawb ilgewortk Nurseries 

 have been under the direction of Mr. T. Francis Rivera, and 

 they will still be continued under his management. That he 

 may be long spared to continue and still further develope the 

 resources of this great industry is, we are sure, the hope of all 

 who hold in honour the family name. 



GOLDEN QUEEN GRAPE. 

 I am not sure that I can answer all the questions of " A 

 Gbape-Gkowek " which appeared in your last number, but at 

 least I think I can throw a little light on what to him seems 



