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JOUBNAL OF H0BTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 3, 1872. 



small one, is that a large variety of fruit can be grown in one 

 house. Those "who have annually fruited, say, from thirty to 

 forty different sorts of Peaches and Nectarines will have ob- 

 served that different seasons have a marked influence on each 

 variety. A Peach may be of excellent quality one season and of 

 indifferent flavour the nest. I can give an instance of this in 

 the Lord Palmertton Peach. Last year the fruit was dry, tough, 

 and much wanting in flavour ; this year the " cling " is scarcely 

 apparent, and the fruit is now juicy and good. The Salway 

 Peach is sometimes the best late variety we have, another 

 season the fruit is " woolly " and juiceless. These remarks do 

 not apply to our best standard Peaches, such as Early York, 

 Boyal George, Grosse Mignonne, Bellegarde, Barrington, and 

 Princess of Wales — these are invariably good. It is in the 

 earliest and latest sorts that this inconstancy prevails ; still, 

 we do not like to do away with such fruits as Exquisite, Lord 

 Palmerston, &c, merely because they are not equally good 

 every season. Lady Palmerston is a most valuable Peach, it 

 ripens midway between Desse Tardive and Salway ; it is a 

 yellow-fleshed sort, and has always been good and, withal, one 

 of the best setters we have ; it is now (September 17th) coming 

 in, and three trees of it in pots are loaded with fruit — not 

 large this_ season, as the trees have been overcropped. It is of 

 no use trying to get quantity and quality from the same tree. 

 Our largest fruits this season have been Desse Tardive and 

 Lord Palmerston, one of the largest fruit weighed 9A ozs. 

 Desse Tardive is not so much grown as it ought to be. I think 

 it is a far superior Peach to Barrington ; it is rather later, and 

 sets more freely. Mr. Foster, gardener to E. Ind, Esq., of 

 Warley, exhibited a splendid dish of it at the Bomford autumn 

 exhibition. I wish he would tell the readers of this Journal 

 how he manages to grow such fine fruit, some of which must 

 have been a foot in circumference. 



If some sorts of Peaches are not to be depended .upon, the 

 same fault is to be found amongst the Nectarines. I will 

 name some that are invariably good — Pine Apple, Elruge, 

 Tiolette Hative, Balgowan, and Victoria. I fruited Lord Napier 

 this season; it is an excellent early Nectarine, of large size, 

 far superior in flavour to Hunt's Tawny, but fully eight days 

 later. 



A few details of culture may be surnmed-up in a few words. 

 Although the house here is heated, I do not use the apparatus 

 except when the trees are in blossom. At such a time this is 

 necessary to ensure the setting of the fruit if the weather is 

 unfavourable. Much care must be taken in watering the 

 plants that may be in the house. The orchard house here 

 accommodates three hundred pots of Strawberry plants, and I 

 find the damp arising from watering them is injurious to the 

 trees, and prevents the fruit from setting freely. During 

 setting it is well to leave the ventilators open a little all night, 

 especially if artificial heat is applied. In summer a sufficiently 

 high temperature can be maintained by studying the venti- 

 lators. Should the weather prove cold and cloudy keep them 

 rather close, occasional blinks of sunshine will then serve to 

 keep up the thermometer. 



It has been recommended by some to allow the trees to 

 remain in the same pots several years in succession. I have 

 tried this, and do not approve of it. I repot them once in two 

 years. The best time to do this is immediately after the fruit 

 has been gathered. Do not give them a large shift : from an 

 11-ineh pot to a 13, or from a 13 to a 15-inch, is enough. When 

 the tree is turned out of the pot, if it has done well the roots will 

 be found thoroughly matted round the outside of the ball. 

 An inch of the exhausted mould should be picked out all round 

 with a pointed piece of iron, and all the crocks and some of 

 the mould should then be cleared from the bottom. The tree 

 is then ready to be repotted in a larger pot. Good turfy loam 

 of a clayey nature four- parts, and one part rotted manure, are 

 the best potting material, and it should be rammed-in quite 

 firmly with a wooden rammer. This is the more necessary if 

 the loam does not contain much clay. 



Watering is perhaps the most important consideration in 

 the culture of fruit trees in pots. An hour's neglect may 

 destroy the work of twelve months. Indeed this is the most 

 reasonable objection urged against the system. When the 

 trees are in full growth they require watering at least twice 

 a-day ; this takes up a deal of time on week days and causes 

 extra labour' on Sundays, which ought to be avoided as much 

 as possible. After the fruit is well set and the trees are growing 

 freely it will not be easy to overwater them. Peach and Nec- 

 tarine trees are very liable to be attacked by insect pests. Bed 

 spider can be destroyed or effectually held in check by frequent 



syringing. Should black aphis appear on the shoots, much 

 the best way to destroy it is to fumigate with tobacco smoke. 

 This is better than washing the aphides off with tobacco water 

 and soft soap. I commence to syringe the trees every fine morn- 

 ing as soon as the blossoms drop. When hot weather sets in, 

 about the end of May, they will require syringing twice a-day. 

 See that they are clear of all insect pests before the fruit shows 

 signs of ripening, as after this time syringing must be discon- 

 tinued ; and should any red spider be about, it will then spread 

 with amazing rapidity. I need not say anything about the 

 advantage of growing the finer varieties of Pears and Plums 

 in this way. We get them much earlier than we can from 

 walls, and much superior in quality. If there is no room for 

 both Pears and Plums, grow the former. A dish of orchard- 

 house Pears, when the fruit is well grown (the trees, of course, 

 ought not to be overcropped) , will always be appreciated. The 

 Pear requires much the same treatment as the Peach and 

 Nectarine, but less syringing and a drier atmosphere. — 

 J. Douglas. 



LAPAGEBIA BOSEA IN SCOTLAND— SCALE ON 

 CAMELLIAS. 



As the Lapageria rosea is not often seen in this district 

 (Linlithgow) flowering abundantly, I think it may interest 

 some of your readers to know how this fine greenhouse climber 

 displays itself under the arrangements which appear to be 

 necessary to insure a free growth, and these may be said to be 

 wholly confined to the proper planting. When once well 

 rooted it only requires watering' and tying-up. Some years 

 since I bought a plant which lived on, as most potted plants of 

 Lapageria appear to do, but the shoots were hard and small, and 

 little progress was made. Not being satisfied with the slow- 

 ness of its growth, I planted it out at the north end of a 

 Camellia house, when it soon sent up a strong shoot, which 

 unfortunately was stopped by the slugs. These pests are very 

 fond of this plant, and the points of the Asparagus-like shoots 

 were eaten-out, and the growth of the plant much retarded. 

 After trying different means of stopping the ravages of the 

 slugs, I found one mode of protection perfectly successful, and 

 it is simple. I had a small zinc water-trough, H inch wide 

 and about the same depth, put round the plant, giving plenty 

 of room for the new shoots to come up within it, and I have 

 had no trouble with slugs since. The outer rim of the water- 

 trough must be sunk 3 inches into the soil. 



I found, from the roots of the Lapageria running into open 

 drain- tile collars, which had been sunk near it, that it required 

 a very open material to grow in, and having seen broken peat 

 turves recommended, I had a large pit dug round the plant ; 

 I believe that a pit a yard square would not be too large. This 

 pit was filled partly with stones laid very loosely, and broken 

 flower-pots, the soil being thin turves of peat and loam torn 

 into pieces as large as the hand. There is ample drainage from 

 the pit, and this must be secured, as the plant will take with 

 advantage very large supplies of water at the growing season. 



The result of the above treatment has been that the plant 

 now covers part of the north end of the house for a space of 

 30 feet by 8, and has while I write 326 fully-expanded flowers, 

 as weU as corning buds in proportion. It flowers, more or less, 

 from the end of June to the end of December, each bloom 

 lasting about a month. Of late years it has carried seed-pods, 

 which hang all the winter on the plant, and are not ripe till 

 the second summer. 



The Lapageria gets no heat here, except what is necessary 

 to keep out frost from the Camellias, for we never force them. 

 Too much cannot be said in favour of this fine greenhouse 

 climber. 



The mention of Camellias above leads me to state that I 

 have found an easy way of killing the scale, especially in 

 autumn, when it is much on last year's young woo.d. I 

 take a hah- pencil the size of a small writing quill, dipped in 

 common spirits of wine, and touch the scale on the leaf or 

 twig. The effect is instant death to the scale, without the 

 least damage to the most tender-growing leaf. I have also 

 used the Spirit to kill green fly on late-pushing shoots of the 

 Camellia, and so little is required that a half-ounce bottle 

 will keep a large collection clear of both pests for twelve 

 months. — L. 



Sale of Orchids. — Mr. J. C. Stevens sold by auction on 

 the 19th ult. an importation of Orchids. The highest prices 

 realised were for Odontoglossum yexillarium var. giganteum, 



