JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[July 5, 1864. 



ruber, liave been with us destroyed by the hundred. The 

 wall Peaches look much injured; even standard hardy Pear 

 trees have suffered, but under glass we have none of this, 

 except that the season for gathering the fruit will not be so 

 early as seemed likely during that wonderful May. 



Peaches are colouring fast and are largo. Apricots are 

 ripe with us. De Milan, the earliest full-sized Apricot, was, 

 however, ripe last year a week before this. The extreme 

 heat of May obliged us to give much water to the roots, 

 and, probably, they are somewhat chilled and the tree put 

 back from this cause. I regret now that tepid water was 

 not given, as it is a great object to forward these trees. 

 Early Favourite Plum is ripe. Doyenne d'Ete Pear is about 

 2 inches in length. 



Is it of any use to my brother amateurs to note the follow- 

 ing ? It seems to me that it would be very interesting for 

 some northern amateurs to forward us southerners the sizes 

 of the fruit in some of those decried houses. Comparisons 

 would not be odious in this case, for we must be at least ten 

 days in advance in ripening power. 



I have never before seen that best of early Peaches, Early 

 York, so fine as at this date. Some fine specimens frorn 

 half a dozen trees are nearly 6 inches in circumference, 

 though Early York is but a medium-sized Peach. Some- 

 thing as early, as good, and full-sized would, indeed, be an 

 acquisition. Canary comes near to it in excellence, it is a 

 heavy cropper, of a lovely yellow, forming with Early York 

 and Golden Purple, another rather late and singularly 

 and beautifully-streaked Peach, such a triad as rejoices the 

 amateur who has pleasure in colour. Early Crawford is 

 about the size of Early York at present. Rivera's Orange 

 Nectarine, of which we have some twelve trees, is 4i inches in 

 diameter ; Yiolette Hiitive about the same ; Hunt's Tawny, 

 a little larger ; Downton, 5 inches in circumference. Chau- 

 viere, a very excellent bearer, and Stanwick, two of tho very 

 best Nectarines, are 5i inches ; while Exquisite and Galande 

 (French) Peaches are 6>V inches in circumference. De Milan 

 Apricot is 5vj inches, and De Coulange 5 inches. The Peach 

 Apricot and Kaisha are smaller. On these trees the crops 

 are very heavy, about one hundred on one of them, and this 

 makes them smaller this year. 



It must be a mistake to try to grow quantity at the sacri- 

 fice of quality in orchard-houses, and wherever this is done 

 the fault will soon show itself in the loss when sent to market, 

 or in the next year's produce. 



But I must resume the consideration of the other classes 

 of Peach shoots. In the preceding paper we had dis- 

 cussed two classes and now arrive at a third, which is of 

 rather a puzzling character. This class will be met with 

 along the branches, more or less, at about their central 

 portions of extension. They are slender, from G to 8 inches 

 in length, and present the disagreeable phenomenon of an 

 unusually large number of fruit-buds unaccompanied with 

 leaves. There are, however, some very small 'buds visible 

 near the bases of these slender shoots which are not fruit- 

 buds, but they are dormant. 



For summer pruning under glass we can dispose of this 

 difficulty without much risk. If there is time to recognise 

 the peculiar character of the shoot it would be proper to 

 pinch to three leaves, instead of to four at the first pinching- 

 in, but it does not matter much. 



Some pruners in the autumn, out of doors, would cut 

 back to the small buds at the base of the shoot, having no 

 expectation of fruit from them. Others would treat them 

 as fruit-bearers, and cut-in to 4 inches for this purpose ; but 

 in the summer orchard-house pruning, which alone is now 

 the question, it will be well to pinch-in a little more closely 

 these shoots. By this means they will be closer to the 

 branch (always a great object in a small space), and by the 

 stimulating influence of the concentrated heat they may 

 bear and grow too. 



It seems unfair to expect the same slender shoot to bear 

 fruit aud to extend itself much. It is always better to have 

 a certain number to select from. Some should bear, others 

 should extend and ripen for the next season. Those which 

 have borne their fruit should then be cut back below the 

 spot where that fruit was grown, directly after it has been 

 gathered in the autumn. The buds at the base will thus 

 be stimulated by the sap being now directed to them. What 

 they accumulate in the autumn is thus most precious for 



the following spring. After a few seasons much becomes 

 clear to the pleasing observer, and yet each succeeding year 

 he will be reminded by mistakes and failures that gardening 

 in its various branches is, indeed, an art, and he will be led 

 to study the works of those scientific men who have done so 

 much for him and his pleasures. — T. Collings Bkehaut, 

 Richmond Bouse, Guernsey. 



THE EOYAL HOETTCTJLTTJEAL AND NATIONAL 

 EOSE SHOW. 



This was held at South Kensington on "Wednesday and 

 Thursday last, and never has it been our lot to see a finer 

 display of old England's national emblem. Stand after 

 stand, filled with the finest blooms from all the southern 

 parts of England, and some from the north, extended in a 

 close and in some places double line the whole length of the 

 conservatory arcades, affording to the view a glorious dis- 

 play of the richest colours, and filling the air with a delicious 

 perfume. The day being fair, though not so bright as one 

 expects at the end of June, the attendance of visitors was 

 very numerous, so much so as to render it almost an im- 

 possibility to get near the tables, especially where the nur- 

 serymen's collections were situated ; and it was pleasing to 

 observe the evident interest taken in the merits of the 

 respective stands, and of the several varieties of which they 

 were composed. 



The first Class was for seventy-two kinds, one truss of 

 each ; a great improvement over the old and almost un- 

 manageable Class of ninety-six. Here Messrs. Paul & Son 

 were first with magnificent blooms, among which we parti- 

 cularly remarked Madame Charles Wood, Charles Lawson, 

 Madame C. Crapelet, General Washington, Lslia, John 

 Hopper, Victor Verdier, Praire de Terre Noire, Hamlet, 

 Clivier Delhomme, Lord Canning, Professor Koch, Prince 

 Camille de Rohan, Gloire de Santenay, Gloire de Dijon, Nar- 

 cisse, and Madame Eugene Yerdier. 



Mr. Cant, of Colchester, was second, and Mr. W. Paul 

 third, the competition in the case of all three exhibitors 

 being very close. Of Mr. Cant's, Monte Christo was notice- 

 able on account of its blackish purple colour, Madame Cail- 

 lat as a fine bright cerise, Maurice Bernardin for its fine 

 colour, besides which there were fine examples of several of 

 the kinds already named. Queen Victoria from Mr. W. Paul, 

 white, slightly shaded with pink, and Princess of Wales, as 

 a fine bright crimson, were remarkable for their beauty ; to 

 these must be added Charles Lefebvre, Beauty of Waltham, 

 and a host of better-known kinds. Mr. Mitchell, of Pilt- 

 down Nurseries, Maresfield, was fourth; Mr. Keynes and 

 Mr. Cranston also showing fine stands. 



In Class 2, forty-eight kinds, three trusses of each, Mr. 

 Turner was first with fine examples of Charles Lawson, La 

 Reine, Queen Victoria, Louis XIV., Duchesse d'Orleans, 

 Victor Verdier, La Ville de St. Denis, Senateur Vaisse, 

 Anna de Diesbach, Gloire de Dijon, Souvenir de Malmaison, 

 and others. Messrs. Paul & Son were second, Mr. Keynes 

 third, and Mr. Cant fourth. 



The next, Class 3, was for twenty-four kinds, three trusses 

 of each, and in it Mr. Keynes took the first prize with beau- 

 tiful blooms of Charles Lefebvre, Madame Furtado, Madame 

 Charles Wood, La Brillante, Olivier Delhomme, Marechal 

 Vaillant, Francois Lacharme, John Standish, and Mademoi- 

 selle Bonnaire. Messrs. Paul & Son were second, Mr. Cant 

 third, Mr. Turner and Mr. Fraser being fourth. 



In Class 4, twenty-four kinds, single trusses, Mr. Turner 

 was first, Mr. Keynes second, Mr. Cant third, and Mr. Fraser 

 fourth. In the different stands were some excellent examples 

 of Laelia, Madame C. Wood, Charles Lefebvre, Madame C. 

 Crapelet, Vicomtesse de Cazes. Madame Bravy, Clement 

 Marot, and many others. 



In the Amateurs' Classes, J. Hedge, Esq., of Reed Hall, 

 Colchester, was first both in forty-eights and twenty-fours, 

 showing, among others, fine trusses of Souvenir d'Elise 

 Vardon, a splendid cream white; Rubens, white, shaded 

 with rose ; Comte de Paris, a superb white, all belonging to 

 the Tea class ; Madame Masson, Noisette Celine Forestier, 

 Madame Boll, Charles Lawson, and L'Enfant Trouve. Mr. 

 Moffat, gardener to Viscount Maynard, Dunmow, was second 

 for forty-eight, Mr. Ingle third, and Mr. Exell, gardener to 



