September 27, 1864. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



249 



state, but when the blooming is over gradually reduce the 

 supply, and when the foliage is quite gone remove to a dry 

 place until the time of repotting, which is the latter part of 

 September or beginning of October. They should not be 

 disturbed, for by keeping them in the soil when at rest they 

 retain their firmness much better, and flower much more 

 vigorously. In potting the balls of earth should be care- 

 fully broken, and the old soil and offsets removed. 



There are many more bulbs that are worth cultivating, 

 but these are not such as are usually purchased annually, 

 and grown in pots or otherwise for winter decoration. I 

 shall continue to treat of many others occasionally in future 

 Numbers, but must at present defer any remarks on them, 

 giving preference to those bulbs and plants employed for 

 the decoration of the flower garden in the early spring and 

 summer months. G. Abbet. 



MY OECHAED-HOITSE.— No. 10. 



•' In terrorum (sic .') over mortals." So says Mr. Spurgeon 

 in one of his sermons, and so may amateurs say of these 

 papers, which already number ten. Judging, however, from 

 the communications received the interest is not quite abated ; 

 and here let me continue the list of a few fruits which were 

 omitted in my last paper. This part of the subject seems 

 to me of the utmost value ; because, if orchard-houses do 

 really gradually advance the period of maturity in fruits, 

 this is a great advantage. I am satisfied, however, that this 

 ordinarily takes place after the lapse of a few seasons — that 

 is, that the trees take a certain time to accommodate them- 

 selves to their new conditions of life : therefore, it would 

 not be proper to look for this in houses newly stocked. To 

 give an example. The De Milan Apricot was, when I first 

 had it, only ripe in the beginning of August. This was 

 seven or eight years ago. It then by being continually 

 placed in the very warmest part of a warm but unheated 

 lean-to, enjoying the advantages of long and mild autumns, 

 and of moderately cold winters, and being closely summer- 

 pruned, which Mr. Rivers says is one cause of his success with 

 Apricots — it then rapidly advanced through July, till it has 

 reached the 20th of June, ripening at that date. I have not 

 heard of anything so early in England or in these islands. But 

 this is the only one which is so early, though De Coulange, 

 an excellent kind, is only a week later and more prolific. We 

 have not here Mr. Rivers's earliest kinds, De Sardaigne and 

 D'Oulins, and cannot, therefore, compare them under the 

 same conditions. 



The Kaisha Apricot, on the other hand, has not done well 

 with us. I have only one tree of it, which is a large espalier. 

 It is stationary, and ripened on the 30th of July ; Peach 

 Apricot on the 16th of July. All our really valuable kinds 

 are ripe in July. When August comes the open walls furnish 

 us with Royal George (the best grown in the islands), Grosse 

 Mignonne, a few Red Magdalen, and still fewer late Peaches ; 

 but here, as in England, these must be uncertain. Why 

 not confine ourselves to early and free-growing sorts when 

 there is any doubt about it ? 



As to Nectarines, here they are not much grown, for the 

 excellent reason that they rarely ripen. They will not suc- 

 ceed in low sandy peat districts here, which suit Apricots 

 pretty well in good years, and these districts are in the very 

 warmest parts of the islands, and produce early Potatoes 

 from two to three weeks before the upper ground. 



Out-door Grapes are a failure. Figs ripen well. Standard 

 Pears succeed if hardy sorts, and only free-bearing are se- 

 lected. Our best Pears, such as Chaumontel and Beurre' 

 Superfin, are invariably grown on walls with a good aspect. 

 Plums do well, but then, in these as in most fruits, only the 

 well-known kinds are cultivated. Apples do very well 

 generally. Thus much to show our climate. Jersey, how- 

 ever, has a higher summer temperature, our island being 

 more enveloped in clouds, and is better adapted for fruit 

 culture. The orchard-houses built and building ought to 

 do remarkably well there. I am afraid, as here, that gar- 

 deners able to work them are wanting. 

 < Di the orchard-house, then, the July Peaches and Necta- 

 rines and the June Apricots are of great value, especially if 

 they continue to advance. We thus compete with heated 

 houses in England, and out-door fruit from Lisbon and 



Algiers. But the August fruits in the house, except the 

 very early ones in that month, though most valuable as 

 succession for home consumption, rapidly decline in market 

 value. Having these on the open wall we exclude them 

 from the house. This may prove an error, because if a. 

 Royal George could, by acclimatising itself to the house 

 temperature, gradually become a July Peach, without losing 

 size or colour, it would be much esteemed by our critical 

 friends the dealers — i.e., they would find a public ready to 

 appreciate their efforts to please. 



The September Peaches in the house are of very little 

 importance, even for home use. At that time the novelty of 

 Peach consumption is somewhat dulled, and Plums out of 

 doors, besides Grapes from the vineries, seriously compete 

 with Peaches then. One of the best of our September 

 Peaches is Shanghae ; it is large, well coloured, and sweet. 

 It was ripe on the 10th of September this year, last year on 

 the 11th, and the year before on the 16th. In time it will 

 be valueless to me, and become a late August Peach, just 

 contemporary with the main crop of Grosse Mignonne. 

 Admirable Jaune, that staple of the Angers market, is not 

 easy to ripen without being woolly. It is an October Peach 

 at Angers, but here was ripe on the 12th, 10th, 10th, and 

 5th of September, during the last four years. Next year it 

 may be a worthless August Peach. 



But the fact remains that orchard-houses, after being 

 worked a few years, will generally advance the ripening of 

 fruits. The best kinds appear to gain the most. We may 

 also reasonably hope that no fruit so advanced will recede ; 

 none of mine have, out of seventy varieties, and from one to 

 twelve of each variety. No doubt it would be best that 

 tropical fruits, and very delicate sorts of American Plums, 

 Cherries, and Apples should pass a season or two in some 

 intermediate orchard-house in a warm climate before being 

 generally tried in England. A part of our house is planked 

 for a promenade. This is cheap to construct, warm and dry 

 for the feet, and adds to the general warmth of the house. 



All our trees have been top-dressed since the middle of 

 September. Most of them are pruned. Some have been 

 changed into larger pots, and unless this is carefully done 

 the check to the vitality of the tree is evident. We also 

 allowed, during cloudy weather, the roots of trees from 

 which the exhausted soil had been removed, to remain with- 

 out renewing the soil for some days. The object was to 

 hasten their rest ; but it is a hazardous operation. I am 

 sure, however, that if one portion of the tree has become 

 disproportionately larger than the other portion, to bare 

 the roots of that side for some time at this season would 

 tend a little to check growth. 



Now is the time to begin to prune the trees ; but not all 

 at once. Begin with removing, with sharp scissors, the 

 dead shoots ; then those drying up ; then straggling shoots ; 

 then those bearing too far from the leaders. After this cut 

 out the sturdy shoots, often not half ripe, and often tending 

 inward; then shorten the bearing shoots, generally to a 

 triple bud. Open the centres, shorten the leaders, but not 

 at once. Leave something for the spring. The forms of the 

 trees are very important considerations for future notice; 

 also the arrangement and classification of the sorts, so as to 

 save room. 



Being about to re-arrange the front ventilators, which 

 swing on central pivots, I should be thankful for suggestions 

 as to the best and cheapest way of effecting this. These 

 hints might be recorded for the benefit of others, and so all 

 would gain. — T. Collings Bkehaut, Richmond House, 

 Guernsey. 



EEFOECING STEAWBEEEY PLANTS. 



Having forced some Keens' Seedling Strawberry plants 

 this season, and very few of them having had fruit on them, 

 will you say if these plants will do to force again ? They 

 have been outside since June. They are in No. 12-pots, and 

 are full of foliage. — A Constant Subscriber. 



[If your Strawberry plants that did little good this season, 

 and are in 12-sized pots, now full of fine foliage, have been 

 full in the sun since June, and the pots are full of roots 

 right through, making the ball as firm pretty well as a- 

 Dutch cheese, and you lay them on their broadside by the 

 end of the month to stop growth, then we think you will 



