194 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ September 5, 1S72. 



660 Peaches and Nectarines when the wall is fully covered, as 

 it will be in four years at the distance the trees are planted, and 

 the trees in pots 336, or very nearly one thousand in all. These 

 will not in any way interfere with the permanent trees, which 

 in the usual way, planted in front and trained to a trellis 

 about 1 foot from; the glass, take fully three years before 

 they are of much use. When the permanent trees have grown 

 to the extent of the roof trellis, the trees in pots as well as 

 those against the back wall will be of no further use and must 

 be removed, which as regards the pot trees is no loss, but the 

 back -wall trees are a complete loss. 



Now, having a house of the kind named, with trees on the 

 fcaek wall, a row of trees in pots, and also trees planted in 

 front that are ultimately to cover a trellis the whole extent of 

 •the roof, as shown by the dotted lines in the accompanying 



of surface covered will have other than fine fruit, with manage- 

 ment suited to healthy growth ; and whilst on a trellis directly 

 under the glass one fruit will be produced to every square foot, 

 it will not be finer than two on a pyramid that receives but one 

 foot square of the obstructed solar rays. The former system 

 of culture obstructs the sun's rays, whilst the other admits 

 them to the house, and husbands them. — G. Abbey. 



BOILER TRIALS AT BIRMINGHAM. 



"We have the pleasure to be able to inform you that the Judges, 

 whose impartiality has been so unwarrantably questioned, have 

 re-affirmed their decision, and this again has been confirmed by 

 the Local Committee of the Show. The result is that we have 



this day received the gold medal which was originally awarded 

 section'the question mses whether this is the" best mode that l to ? s : Allow us a concluding word or two. 



can be adopted with a view to securing the greatest amount of 

 produce. I think it is not, for when the front trees (a) cover 

 the whole of the roof trellis, or 60 feet by 16 feet, we have 

 960 square feet, answering to as many Peaches, and we ought 

 to take into consideration that from seven to nine years 

 must elapse before we ean calculate on a full crop, which 

 means a lessened number of fruit annually downward to the 

 year of planting ; or — first year, ; second, 120 ; third, 240 ; 

 fourth, 360 ; fifth, 480 ; sixth, 600 ; seventh, 720 ; eighth, 840 ; 

 ninth, 960. This is reckoning for 2 feet of growth ; but as the 

 trees will be two or more feet high to begin with, we should on 

 that account reduce the years for covering the trellis by two, 

 or to seven, as the years required to bring us a maximum of 

 produce. 



Instead of acting on this plan, let us compare it with the 

 mode of retaining the whole of the trees, as shown in the 

 seetion~as a permanency — i.e., the trees on the back wall (6) 

 planted 3 feet apart, the trees in pots (c) at about 4 feet apart, 

 and the trees in front (a) , that are not allowed to cover more 

 than 7 feet of trellis — not going higher than where the dotted 

 line begins. Under this arrangement we should have the first 

 year, ; second, from front trees 120, pot trees 168, back-wall 

 trees 120, or 408 ; third, front trees 240, pot trees 336, back- 

 wall trees, 7 feet trellis covered, 420, or 996 ; equal to the 

 full produce of the house in the eighth year on the roof-trellis 

 system. But to continue. Fourth year, front trees 360, pot 

 trees 336, back-wall trees 600, or 1296 ; fifth, the house in full 

 bearing, front trees 420, pot trees 336, back-wall trees 660, or 

 1416 Peaches and Nectarines, as compared with 480, the pro- 

 duce of trees on front-roof trellises, and with the trees trained 

 on a roof-trellis and in full bearing, giving us 960 fruits as 

 against 1416, being a clear gain annually of 456 fruits, or want- 

 ing only 24 fruits to be half as much again from the trees as 

 per section. We can safely tax the pot trees with 24 fruits 

 needed to give us the 480 fruits, making one-half more pro- 

 duce in favour of keeping the trees, as shown in the section, 

 permanently. 



The mode above described appears to me the best arrangement 

 of trees in a Peach house. By planting trees in front of the 

 house, and training them to a trellis so as to cover entirely 

 the roof, we cut off all the sun's rays ; the trees on the back 

 wall will not fruit, nor can any be grown in pots. We secure 

 16 feet of roof trellis, and cut off 11 feet of back wall, and 

 4 feet required for the pot trees ; in fact we secure for 16 feet 

 of Peach trees on the trellis that amount of direct solar rays, 

 a vast proportion of these being thrown back into space and 

 lost to the house. By the other plan we have 7 feet of 

 trellis covered with Peach foliage obstructing the direct solar 

 lays ; consequently we secure 9 feet of direct sun's rays that 

 are in a small degree obstructed by the leaves of the trees in i 

 pots, but a great many reach the back wall, and are thence \ 

 thrown back into the house, so that the pot trees have the j 

 full benefit of the rays admitted, not only in the matter of [ 

 light, but also in that of solar warmth to the house. Apart from t 

 the admission of solar lighc and heat to the house, I consider 

 there is a gain of another kind that may justly be claimed for 

 the pot trees, and keeping the back wall covered with trees in 

 a bearing state. It is that the trees on the back wall ripen a 

 week earlier than the pot trees, and they are fully ten days 

 before those ripening on the front trellis, or nearly three 

 weeks' difference between the back and front trees. 



Another thing and I have done. It is the only difference 

 that I can observe between trees in pots, and those planted 

 out and trained on trellises, in the size of fruit they produce is, 

 on equal terms, nothing at all. Either overcropped will have 

 small fruit ; neither with more than one fruit per square foot 



1st, The price given in to the Judges, and on which the award 

 was made, was £22, and not £15 10s. We are issuing our price 

 lists at that amount. 



2nd, The alterations we made in our setting and fittings did 

 not alter the boiler itself ; and to prove that no partiality was 

 shown to us we have only to state that one of the competitors, 

 whose signature is appended to the protest, was actually allowed 

 to take out the solid back of his boiler and substitute a waterway 

 back for it, which is an alteration of the boiler in the true sense 

 of the word. 



3rd, As to the fuel we used up to and from three to four 

 o'clock on the day in question, the fuel supplied was exactly 

 the same as that supplied to others. At that time, however, 

 the stock provided by the Judges was exhausted without their 

 Secretary being aware of the fact, and he was unable to obtain 

 any of the same quality as that previously used ; but the cost of 

 fuel and quantities used were, as the competitors all well know, 

 a very material consideration with the Judges in determining 

 their award. — Hartley & Su/gden, Atlas Welded Boiler Works, 

 Halifax. 



The published protest of Mr. Cannell and the other unsuc- 

 cessful competitors against the decision of the Judges, and the 

 reply of the latter thereto, were laid before a meeting of the 

 Local, Implement, &c, Sub-committee on Tuesday last, Mr. 

 T. B. Wright in the chair. On the motion of Mr. Councillor 

 Lowe, seconded by Mr. Quilter, it was unanimously resolved — 

 " That Mr. Hallam be requested to return the protest to Mr. 

 Cannell, and to explain to him that by the conditions under which 

 the trials of boilers were made, no appeal from the awards can 

 be entertained; and this Sub-committee hereby expresses its 

 implicit confidence in the integrity and ability of the gentlemen 

 by whom those awards were made." On the motion of Mr. 

 Badger, seconded by Mr. Vertegans, it was further resolved — 

 " That a copy of the foregoing resolution be forwarded to each 

 of the horticultural journals." 



[We must decline inserting any more communications on this 

 subject except as advertisements. — Eds.] 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



We regret to have to record the death of Mr. Willlui 

 Pringle Laird, of the firm of Laird & Sinclair, of Dundee, 

 which took place on August 14th. He was a brother of Mr. 

 Laird, one of the partners in the well-known firm of Downie, 

 Laird, & Laing. He was much esteemed in his business 

 capacity, and his advice and assistance much sought for on 

 all horticultural subjects. 



We have also to notice the decease of Mr. George 



P arsons, of Western Eoad, and Keymer, Brighton, long known 

 in connection with the horticultural shows of that town. 



Glasgow International Fruit and Flowee Show. — 



We have made arrangements for a full report of this Exhibition, 

 which we believe will be one of the largest and most interest- 

 ing of the year. Eight hundred pounds will be won by the 

 prizetakers, and the list of Judges which we published last 

 week is an evidence that the most deserving are intended to 

 be the winners. The Show will be open for three days, com- 

 mencing on the 11th of this month. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Keep the hoe and fork constantly at work amongst all ad- 

 vancing late crops. The seedling plants of Cabbage intended 

 to stand through the winter must now be pricked out in 

 nursery-beds of light soil at 5 inches apart ; this will be found 

 of great advantage by inducing a stocky hardy growth. Con- 



