September 5, lS^. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



103 



Grosse Mignoune in the fruit ripening about ten days earlier, 

 and being paler in the colour of the flowers, and in the skin 

 being paler-coloured on the shaded side as -well as on the sunny 

 side, which in Grosse Mignonne is a deep red. The fruit of 

 Early Grosse Mignonne is quite as large as that of Grosse 

 Mignonne, good specimens measuring 10 inches in circum- 

 ference, and weighing 8 ozs. It ought to be said that the fruit 

 is not nearly so downy as that of Grosse Mignonne, and not 

 half so much so as the kind I have known as Early Grosse 

 Mignonne. 



There can only be two conclusions arrived at — either, first, 

 the kind I have hitherto known as Early Grosse Mignonne was 

 not the true sort ; or secondly, the kind is so much improved by 

 being grown under glass and in heat as to lose every semblance 

 of its former self, my prior experience of it being confined to 

 walls. That there is considerable variation in the form of 

 Peaches badly grown, as compared with those well grown, will 

 hardly have escaped the observation of the growers of the 

 Peach. Take, for instance, the Noblesse : badly grown the 

 fruit is long and slightly pointed ; well grown it becomes very 

 much flattened or depressed at the summit, and slightly hollow. 

 It is so with almost all our globular fruits ; as, for instance, 

 the Orange and Melon (of the globular or spherical form) ; but 

 the difference in the Peaches in question is so wide as to lead 

 to the conclusion that there are two kinds, the one spurious 

 and the other the " true sort." The question remains, Which 

 is the true sort of Early Grosse Mignonne ? The true sort, if 

 the one I have now is it, as much surpasses in size and 

 general excellence that which I had seen and grown, as 

 Early York excels Early Anne. It is indeed a most ex- 

 cellent Peach, fully equal as a forced Peach to any 

 of those I have in the same house, which com- 

 prise Early York, the first to ripen, followed 

 in two or three days by a seedling ; then 

 follows Early Alfred, with fruit about 

 9 inches in circumference, and 

 which will undoubtedly attain 

 a very much larger size ; 

 the fruit being pointed 

 is evidence that the 

 tree was over- 

 cropped. Seed- 



Gilpin, Esq. ; of this there is also a painting by Mr. Hooker. 

 The fifth was discovered on the wall of Sir John Arundel, at 

 Huntingdon, in June, 1802. A sixth instance occurred in the, 

 garden of Mr. Wilmot, at Ipleworth. The tree in this garden 

 which produces fruits with both downy and smooth coats, or, 

 in fact, Peaches and Nectarines, is the Royal George, and 

 seldom fails to produce them annually." * I have also seen 

 Peaches and Nectarines on the same tree in both 1852 and 

 1853 in the garden of Sir William M. Milner, Nun Appleton, 

 Tadcaster, Yorkshire. The tree was the Royal George. No 

 instance that I know of has been recorded of a Nectarine 

 having fruits with downy skins. Mr. Rivers has, howeveiv 

 raised several Peaches whose parents were Nectarines. 



Regarding the ripening of Peaches, I may 

 say that in another house Royal George 

 is the first to ripen , followed very 

 closely by Grosse Mignonne, 

 then comes Yiolette Hative 

 (English Galande), the 

 three being ripe with- 

 in a week of each 

 other. Seedling 

 from S. 26, 

 comes in 



^HlUZZ 



d, d, Border'. 



ling from S. 24 is ripe at the same time as Early Alfred. No- 

 blesse and Royal George ripen a few days before Elruge and 

 Stanwick Elruge Nectarines. Early Grosse Mignonne ripens 

 with Noblesse, and is followed by Grosse Mignonne in about a 

 week. Thus in one house there is a difference of fully three 

 weeks between the first to ripen — Early York, and the last to 

 commence ripening, Grosse Mignonne. 



Will any of your correspondents inform me if Early Alfred 

 Peach has usually a smooth Nectarine skin ? Mine had both 

 last year and this a smooth or Nectarine skin, and is as much 

 a Nectarine in that respect as Elruge, Stanwick Elruge, 

 Yiolette Hative, Albert Victor, Rivers's Orange, White, or any 

 other kind of Nectarine. Can it be that this sort (Early 

 Alfred), has so soon reverted to the condition, as regards its 

 skin, of its parent, Hunt's Tawny Nectarine? Evidence of a 

 Peach tree bearing fruits with both downy and smooth coats, 

 or, in fact, Peaches and Nectarines, are not wanting, for it 

 is recorded that " The first instance of which we have any 

 account of the fruits being observed growing upon the same 

 tree is in a communication between Peter Collinson, Esq., 

 and Linnseus. The second occurred at Londesborough, then 

 the residence of the Earl of Burlington, and was visited by 

 several of the scientific people of the day. The third instance 

 is commemorated by a painting in the possession of Mr. Lee, 

 accompanied with a dissection of the two fruits. The fourth 

 instance was observed at East Sheen, in the garden of William 



along with Rivera's Orange ; and Violette Hative Nectarines, 

 Barrington and Bellegarde Peaches succeed the Nectarines in 

 a week. Seedling from S. 149 comes in at the same time as 

 Barrington ; Desse Tardive is ten days to a fortnight later, and 

 Albert Victor Nectarine closely brings up the rear, and both 

 are very large, especially Albert Victor Nectarine, which is 

 truly of immense size. It likes heat, and well ripened is most 

 excellent. There is a difference of nearly a month between the 

 first and last to commence ripening. 



I would also note, that in planting a Peach house I have 

 found it true economy to plant the back wall with trees at 

 3 feet apart and train the shoots upright, the principal ones 

 1 foot 6 inches apart, and the side shoots on them at every 

 foot in length, stopping these when they have grown 10 inches ; 

 all other shoots to be pinched to two leaves ; and any laterals 

 they or the other stopped Bhoots may make keep pinched-in to 

 one leaf, repeatedly throughout the season. These trees will 

 be masses of bloom the second spring, will yield a fruit for 

 every square foot of wall covered, and keep in a good bearing 

 state for about four years, or as long as we wish. Trees 

 also in pots at about 4 feet apart — mine are 4J feet, and in 

 14-inch pots — are very useful, giving a couple of dozen fruit 

 annually for four years. The trees on the back wall will give 



* I am unable to state from -whence the preceding is a quotation, the part 

 in my possession being a scrap, probably from Loudon's " Gardener's 

 Magazine." 



