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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 6, 1864, 



six hours, the second day a minature forest of confervas is 

 seen springing from the bottom of the tank, looking so 

 delicate and feathery that no fernery can equal it. The 

 oddest thing about this well water is, that owing to the 

 enormous quantity required hourly in hot weather, it is used 

 without being exposed to the air, and yet it gives most ex- 

 traordinary health and vigour to the many thousands of Vines 

 and trees in pots it is given to. This is so against all rule 

 that I am tempted to write it to show for the thousandth 

 time, "There is no rule without an exception." I may add, 

 that our surface springs in our little valleys are still running 

 freely, making us truly grateful for " water, water every- 

 where ! "— T. R. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 August 30th. 



Fkuit Committee. — A meeting of the Fruit Committee of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society was held at Chiswick on 

 Tuesday last, George F. Wilson, Esq., in the chair. The 

 object of the meeting was to examine the collection of Muscat 

 Grapes which has been planted in a house devoted exclu- 

 sively to their cultivation. The result of the observations 

 of the Committee will be found in another paragraph of our 

 present Number. It is quite evident that there are but 

 three distinct forms of white Muscats, the white Muscat of 

 Alexandria, the Bowood, to which Tynningham and Passe 

 Muscat are very similar, and the Canon Hall. 



Mr. Veitch, of Chelsea, exhibited one very large and two 

 smaller bunches of Muscat Champion, or as it was formerly 

 called, Champion Hamburgh Muscat, a name quite inappli- 

 cable, seeing it has no relation to the true Muscats, except 

 that it has a Frontignan flavour. The name will, therefore, 

 henceforth be Muscat Champion, from its being raised from 

 Champion Hamburgh crossed by Canon Hall Muscat. The 

 berries were large and well grown, and the colour was better 

 than when it had been shown on former occasions, but it was 

 still deficient of the true black which it is, no doubt, capable 

 of receiving when better cultivated. In regard to flavour it 

 maintained the high opinion the Committee formerly ex- 

 pressed upon it. 



In the house containing the collection of Muscats, there 

 is a Vine of Troveren Frontignan, producing fine bunches 

 and large round berries, the flavour of which is very rich 

 and vinous. The Committee recommended this variety as 

 one of first-rate quality. 



The Committee then proceeded to the examination of the 

 collection of Plums grown on pyramid trees, and among 

 those recommended as first-rate dessert sorts were Angelina 

 Burdett, Belgian Purple, Reine Claude Violette, Jefferson, 

 Prince Engelbert, and D en ni stag's Superb. 



AN ORCHARD-HOUSE EXPERIENCE. 



I have for some time past wished to communicate to your 

 readers my experiences of orchard-house culture. My not 

 being a professional will be an objection in the eyes of some 

 people, my being but an amateur will have weight with 

 others. I am but a young hand at any kind of gardening. 

 Until the summer before last I had never grown a Peach, 

 and until 1860 I had not a foot of garden ground. I have 

 had everything to learn, and when a man gets beyond fifty 

 it is not always easy to acquire ; at the same time I had no 

 old theories or prejudices to get over. 



Last March two years I bought four trees in pots, and 

 the Peach tree produced me four handsome fruit. I was 

 delighted, and having seen Mr. Rivers's book on orchard- 

 houses, I determined to try my hand at that mode of cul- 

 ture. In the autumn of 1862 I went to Sawbridgeworth, 

 and saw Mr. Rivers's houses and trees, and purchased some 

 of the latter. Last summer (1863) I had some very fine 

 fruit, and in. the winter I built an orchard-house. 



This spring my trees were very handsome while in blcom, 

 and the fruit set on all kinds very freely. Peaches, Nec- 

 tarines, and Apricots, of course, I had to thin out again and 

 again. In June I showed six trees at the Isle of "Wight 

 Horticultural Society's Show at Ryde. They were much ad- 

 mired, being clean, and loaded with fruit. One of the 



Peach trees, Padley's Early Purple, bore four dozen, and I 

 was reminded by a friend who is clever in his profession, 

 that the fruit would be small, that my trees were over- 

 stocked, &e. I thought so too, but replied we shall see. 

 That tree ripened three and a half dozen of Peaches, which 

 sold at 6s. per dozen, and the other half dozen were larger 

 than my friend produced in his house. 



The season has now passed. I have gathered sixty dozen 

 of the several kinds of Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots. 

 All my trees are in pots. Every tree is clean, and the fruit- 

 buds well developed. I have not a single bad tree, and 

 more, I have not used smoke or sulphur during the whole 

 summer. I commenced gathering in the middle of July. 

 Peaches, home and foreign, are as plentiful as Apples just 

 now ; but the trade will give me Is. 6d. per dozen more for 

 mine than for the best out-door brought to them. 



My trees are young, but they have ripened one dozen and 

 a half each on an average, and all fine fruit, many weigh- 

 ing 7 and 8 ozs. 



At the Isle of "Wight Horticultural Society's Show, held 

 on the 17th ult., I exhibited twelve Peaches — viz., four 

 Grosse Mignonne, four Early Crawford, and four Noblesse. 

 The largest of the twelve was an Early Crawford, it weighed 

 9 ozs., and measured 10.V inches in circumference. I also 

 showed twelve Galande, weighing collectively 3 lbs. 12 ozs., 

 and very handsome they were. Everybody said they never 

 saw the like, and I was glad to get out of the way. This 

 may appear egotistical, but it is, nevertheless, true. 



Many of your readers do not believe in pot culture. I 

 have seen some miserable failures, but I think I have suc- 

 ceeded in producing quantity and quality. I have a few Bar- 

 ringtons left that will weigh 7 or 8 ozs. 



I have sometimes thought that both Mr. Rivers and Mr. 

 Pearson were disposed to exceed the possibilities of the 

 system of pot culture, but I have hitherto had no difficulties, 

 and have realised all and more than I expected. 



I have found it necessary to work every day, to watch and 

 tend; but the results have afforded pleasure and profit. 

 Not only do my trees afford recreation and amusement to 

 myself, but to a large circle of friends, and to many strangers 

 who happen to hear of my pets. 



With your permission I may at some future time have a 

 word to say to amateurs, and any who purpose to try for 

 themselves. Should any of your readers be visiting Ryde, I 

 shall be happy to show my house and trees. Mr. Redman, 

 fruiterer, opposite the pier gate, Ryde, would direct to my 

 residence. — C. Colenutt, Homelands, Ryde, Isle ofWigM. 



ACER LOBELII. 



Mb. Newton having in a late Number of The Journal 

 op Horticulture drawn attention to that fine American 

 tree Acer macrophyllum, allow me also to describe another 

 fine Maple, Acer Lobelii (Tenore), which, although intro- 

 duced into England about the same time as Acer macro- 

 phyllum, is still very rarely to be seen in pleasure grounds, 

 and almost unknown, except in a few of the leading nur- 

 series. 



The Acer Lobelii was first brought into notice and 

 critically described as a distinct species about half a century 

 ago, by Professor Tenore, of Naples, in his " Flora Neapoli- 

 tana." More recently Mr. George Don, in his edition of 

 "Miller's Dictionary of Gardening and Botany," by some 

 oversight not easily accounted for, makes Acer Lobelii and 

 platanoides the same species; while Mr. Loudon, in his 

 great work the "Arboretum Britannicum," puts it down as 

 a variety of Acer platanoides, but with a remark that "it is 

 one of the most beautiful Acers in cultivation." No two 

 species of Acer, however, can be more distinct or dissimilar 

 in habit than Acer Lobelii and platanoides, for Acer Lobelii 

 has an upright-growing head, rather thinly furnished with 

 branches and branchlets, and glossy pea-green shoots, striped 

 somewhat in the manner of those of Acer striatum, or the 

 Snake-barked Maple of America. The shoots are also more 

 remotely clad with leaves, which are seldom more than 

 3 or 4 inches broad, but thick in texture, glaucous green in 

 colour, and bluntly lobed ; while those of the Norway Maple 

 (platanoides) are dark green, thin in texture, acutely and 

 distinctly five-lobed, and 6 inches broad. Again, the Norway 



