July 4, 1872. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 

 of 



Month 



Day 



of 



Week. 





Average Tempera- 



Rain in 



Sun 



Sun 









Clock 



Day 





ture near London. 



43 yearB. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Sun. 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Davs. 



m. s. 





4 



Th 



South Notts Horticultural Society's Show. 



76.1 



50.2 



63.2 



15 



52af3 



15afS 



29 af 2 



42 af 7 



28 



4 8 



186 " 



5 



F 



Princess Helena Married. 



77.1 



50.2 



63.7 



17 



53 3 



14 8 



12 3 



32 8 



• 



4 18 



187 .. 



6 



S 





76.0 



50.8 



63.4 



19 



54 3 



14 8 



3 4 



14 9 



1 



4 29 



188 ■■) 



7 



Sun 



6 Sunday after Trinity. 



73.7 



50.8 



62.2 



22 



55 3 



13 8 



4 5 



47 9 



2 



4 38 



189 



8 



M 





74.0 



50.0 



62.0 



20 



56 3 



13 8 



9 6 



12 10 



3 



4 48 



190 



9 



Tu 





74.1 



49.4 



61.8 



18 



57 3 



12 8 



19 7 



32 10 



4 



4 57 



191 



10 



W 



Royal Botanic Society's Show opens. 



74.7 



50.8 



62.5 



16 



58 3 



12 8 



29 8 



50 10 



5 



5 5 



192 



From observations taken near London during forty-three 



yearn, the average day temperature of the week is 75.1° ; and its night temperature 50.2° 



The greatest heat was 97°, on the 5th, 1852 ; and the lowest eold 33°, on the 9th, 1863. The greatest fall of rain was 1.10 inch. 





• 



LIBRARY 



MEW YORK 

 1 1 



QAKuHN. 



THE EFFECT OF COPING-BOAKDS ON 

 PEACH TEEES. 



! S it the uncertain and changeable nature of 

 our climate that causes most communications 

 about fruit-culture on open walls to possess 

 a certain vague and undecided tone ? It 

 must be so, and yet I hardly know why, un- 

 less it is that instances of successful culture 

 are few and far between. By successful 

 culture I do not mean a fitful event, but a 

 steady, progressive, and almost certain pro- 

 cess, which, by its soundness and practica- 

 bility, enables one in most seasons to obtain a crop of fruit. 

 It may be well to inquire, when failures do occur, if due 

 allowance is made for the evil effects which overcropping 

 has upon the sta min a of a fruit tree ; for I am by no 

 means certain that many a failure of trees, apparently 

 healthy enough, does not result from a variety of causes 

 apart from that of ah ungenial spring. When a tree of 

 moderate vigour is allowed for one season to carry such 

 a heavy crop of fruit as to become one of those pomolo- 

 logical marvels but too often displayed with an air of 

 triumph, its strength is so much exhausted, and its con- 

 stitution so severely tried, that weakly growth and falling 

 blossom almost inevitably follow. 



The old well-known plan of coping-boards has the 

 important merit of economy to recommend it, in addition 

 to the thorough protection it affords to foliage as well as 

 blossom in all ordinary seasons. I have had ample proof 

 of the value of this plan for several years, and in the 

 present trying season it has protected trees so admirably 

 that the work of fruit-thinning has been an arduous 

 though pleasing task to those having charge of them. 

 The boards used in this instance were 15 inches wide, 

 and of a proportionate thickness ; they . are securely 

 bolted to iron brackets, and are regarded as a fixture, 

 being kept in position throughout the year. It was cus- 

 tomary at one time to suspend a screen of fine nettino- 

 from the outer edge of the boards as a protection for the 

 trees in spring, but this has been discontinued of late as 

 entirely unnecessary. Now, the garden where this plan 

 is practised so successfully is no favoured spot, screened 

 from the inclemency of winter, but is so much exposed 

 that it is no rare thing for the whole of the winter vege- 

 tables to be destroyed by frost, so it is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that this simple and efficient means of protection is 

 applicable to all gardens in the south of England. 



In my advocacy of coping-boards I would by no means 

 ignore the great value of the orchard house and glass 

 casing; these are costly yet most desirable structures 

 which all gardeners would like to have, but lacking these, 

 it is well that no good and useful means of shelter should 

 be lost sight of. 



An opaque coping, whether of wood or other material, 

 must, when it is a fixture, be regarded as something more 

 than a mere protector, for it has a decided and marked 

 effect upon the growth, and I will venture to say the 

 health and longevity, of the Peach and Nectarine, as well as 



No. 588.— Vol. XXIII., Nlw Sertes. 



upon the productiveness of all the varieties of those fruits 

 to which I have seen it applied. A coping that projects 

 15 inches at right angles from the top of a wall will very 

 slightly shade a few inches of the part immediately be- 

 neath ; this acts as a check upon the tendency to exces- 

 sive vigour in the highest branches, common to all trees ; 

 thus the sap is more evenly distributed ; the growth near 

 the base of the tree, instead of becoming bare and old, is 

 constantly renewed ; and, consequently, fruit is so freely 

 produced that there is no wasted space in any part of the 

 tree. With a good soil, attention in pruning, in keeping 

 the foliage and growth clean and healthy, in avoiding the 

 slightest tendency to overcropping — in a word, with all 

 the advantages of high culture steadily applied, the trees 

 will continue in a flourishing condition for a much longer 

 period than when left quite unsheltered. I do not, of course, 

 pretend to assert that a coping of itself will keep a tree 

 healthy, that is a matter depending very much upon the 

 cultural skill and attention bestowed upon it, not for a. 

 time, but constantly, year by year. I lay some stress 

 upon this, because I have seen trees driven into excessive 

 vigour by one man, and reduced to the opposite extreme 

 by another ; to the subjects of such treatment these notes. 

 do not apply, for the stamina of a free suffers as much 

 from excess or disease as the human frame, and there- 

 fore, unless it has the constant advantage of skilful cul- 

 ture from the time it attains the dignity of a trained tree, 

 it cannot fairly be expected to continue fruitful, or even 

 to exist at all, so long as I have represented. 



As an example of the wonderful longevity and fruitful- 

 ness of the Peach, I may instance a fine old tree that I 

 saw a month or two ago. This tree is probably thirty 

 years old, perhaps more, for I can remember having had 

 to train its branches nearly twenty years ago, and it was 

 then considered an old tree ; yet there it stands now, its 

 free growth well clothed with healthy foliage, and laden 

 with an abundant crop of fruit, wliich it will undoubtedly 

 bring to full maturity. But what is so remarkable about 

 this tree is the fact of its stern — a yard high — being per- 

 fectly hollow, so that we have here a mere shell continuing 

 to grow and produce fruit in greater perfection than is 

 often seen in younger and more vigorous trees. — Edward- 

 Lockhurst. 



ODONTOGLOSSUM (CBISPUM) BLUNTII. 



How pleasing it is to see this magnificent cool-house- 

 Orchid becoming so extensively cultivated. I can but 

 endorse the remark so often made, that it should be grown 

 by the dozen — nay, where space permits, by the hun- 

 dred — for when three or four dozen spikes are seen in 

 bloom in a mass we cannot, I think, mention one species 

 of Orchid, whether grown in a hot, intermediate, or cool 

 house, that can surpass, if equal, it for effect. Large 

 masses of Cattleya Mossite, Oncidium macranthum, or 

 the lovely Disa grandiflora are each and all extremely 

 beautiful, yet they are wanting in that gracefulness and 

 delicacy which impart so much to the beauty of Odonto- 

 glossum Bluntii. 



Seeing masses of this Odontoglossum in bloom it may. 

 No. 1240. -Von. XL VIII., Old Series. 



