256 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 27, 1864. 



phia having a large amount of waste material, so offen- 

 sive that the authorities demanded its removal, bought 

 a tract of wild land in Delaware, and kept a sloop carrying 

 the refuse from the factory to this tract. The waste was 

 spread over the surface quite thickly, and, after two or three 

 years exposure, the ground was put in order, and a portion 

 planted with Peach trees as an experiment. They succeeded 

 so well that he kept on, until he now has 600 acres in trees. 

 The manure will doubtless be of a lasting nature, and its 

 strong animal odour may be offensive to the borer, that pest 

 of the Peach-grower. 



The king of Peach-growers, however, is a Jerseyman of the 

 name of B. Reed, who, in connection with his sons, expects 

 to market one hundred thousand baskets. His trees are in 

 Ocean and Monmouth counties, New Jersey. One orchard 

 contains forty-six thousand trees, and he is now sending 

 from one to two thousand baskets to this city daily. The 

 fruit is of good quality, and is sold wholesale at an average 

 of about 1 dol. 12 cents, per basket. The most of his crop 

 is still to arrive. 



Some of the growers are nurserymen, and raise their own 

 trees ; others, though not nurserymen, grow their trees, but 

 most Peach-growers buy their trees, one year old from the 

 bud, of nurserymen. They begin to bear the second year 

 from planting, and yield a full crop about the fifth year. 

 It is rarely profitable to keep them more than ten years,, 

 and it is useless to plant a second crop of trees on the same 

 soil. Large growers often buy a farm with a record clear of 

 Peaches, plant it with this fruit, and while still in vigour buy 

 another farm to succeed it, selling the first for ordinary farm 

 crops. 



It is said that after a rest or change of some ten years the 

 soil will again bear Peach trees ; but most growers prefer to 

 try a new or fresh locality. In planting the trees are set 

 about 18 feet apart, and reference is had to the kinds ripen- 

 ing in succession, so as to prolong the season. Quite an 

 effort is made to originate late sorts, as they usually bring 

 high prices after the season is looked upon as being over. — 

 (New York Tribune.) 



OKCHAED-HOTTSE AT GREAT MAELOW. 



I AS well as many others have been watching the late con- 

 troversy with regard to orchard-houses. At present it is a 

 subject of great importance, from the fact that orchard- 

 house culture is extending in all directions except, perhaps, 

 in very large gardens. For some reason a great many gar- 

 deners at such places do not take kindly to this movement. 

 Tin's may arise from their having abundant means of ac- 

 commodating most fruit trees under glass in good bodies of 

 soil, in which way the trees do not require one-third of the 

 attention or that extra demand upon labour that is necessary 

 to insure success in pot culture. At the same time no gar- 

 dener ought to try to write the system down by pointing out 

 failures, most fre- 

 quently the result 

 of inattention or 

 helplessness ; for 

 without consider- 

 ing the large class 

 to whom this mode 

 of culture affords 

 a great amount of 

 pleasure, a com- 

 parison between 

 a large collection 

 of fruit scattered 

 over an extensive 

 place, and an or- 

 chard-house where 

 all good varieties can be brought together and their merits 

 compared, would, as far as enjoyment goes, result in favour 

 of the latter being a useful appendage to every place. But 

 I think any one, unless stubbornly prejudiced, has only to 

 see a successful one to be converted. 



In proof of my opinion : about the beginning of the 

 month I accidentally visited an orchard-house in company 

 with a gentleman of high authority in fruit matters, but he 

 believed in none of those things called " Orchard-houses ;" 

 on leaving, however, he had certainly changed his opinion, 

 and no wonder, for that house, at least, is a great success. 



It belongs to Mr. Berger, of Great Marlow, and was 

 arranged and constructed by himself. It is 75 feet long 

 by 30 feet wide, with a height in the centre of 13 feet. As 

 will be seen by the section, there is a bed in the centre, 

 raised 18 inches, with a 3i-feet path all round, leaving a 

 five-feet border on the level on each side. Air is admitted 

 by the front light, a, being hung on a pivot, and by the 

 top, 6, moveable all the length. The whole was designed by 

 Mr. Berger. The fittings are exceedingly tasteful, and very 

 different from the makeshifts we frequently meet with. At 

 the time of our visit most of the Peaches and Nectarines 

 were over, but there were still sufficient to show their quality. 

 Mr. Neighbour, the very intelligent gardener, to whom a 

 great deal of the success is due, informed us that this season 

 there had been 144 trees in the house, consisting of Apples, 

 Apricots, Cherries, Nectarines, Pears, and Plums. Most of 



the trees are in 13 and a few in 16-inch pots. The average 

 yield was three dozen and a half to each tree. This includes 

 Cherries which I suppose will hardly be considered fair. 

 Upwards of 214 dozen Cherries were gathered, of Apricots 

 83 dozen, of Peaches more than 38 dozen, and of Nectarines 

 43 dozen. These were not small or badly-coloured fruit, for 

 some of the Grosse Mignonne Peaches weighed upwards of 

 8 ozs. each ; Boyal George and Barrington, 9 ozs. ; and 

 many of the Nectarines 5 and 6 ozs. Now, if we take the 

 stone fruit, excluding the Cherries and Plums, at the average 

 price of 6s. per dozen, we have nearly .£50; or, as good 

 Apricots might be had for 4s. a-dozen, and Peaches and Nec- 

 tarines at 7s., if we 

 take the average 

 price at 5s. pei- 

 doz., we have ^41 

 for these alone. Of 

 Plums there were 

 79 doz., of Pears- 

 38 dozen, and of 

 Apples 34 dozen. 



The Plums were 

 very fine, several 

 varieties, such as 

 "White Magnum 

 Bonum and Pond's 

 ._ Seedling, weigh- 

 ing 5 to a pound; 

 Pears were magnificent. I do not know anything more 

 striking than a quantity of monster fruit hanging all 

 over such diminutive-looking wood and trees. Some of 

 the fruit, such as Colmar d'Aremberg, weighed 19 ozs., 

 and many other sorts 1 lb. There is a great difficulty in 

 distinguishing the variety when so much overgrown. Some 

 of the Emperor Alexander Apples measured 14 inches in cir- 

 cumference and weighed 1 lb. ; several others did the same, 

 and all, be it remembered, were very small trees in pots. 

 None of these are plunged, but placed upon the surface, 

 allowing the roots to run through the bottom into the 

 border. They are mulched several times in the course of the 

 summer with good leafy loam, and liberally supplied^ with 

 water during the fruiting season. I should .consider this one 

 of the great points of success. The gardener told us that 

 watering took up more than one hour every morning all 

 through the hot weather, and he made a point of passing' 

 through several times in the course of the day. It must be 

 evident that if small plants with that amount of fruit to 

 feed are allowed to become once thoroughly dry and flag 

 they must sustain a severe check, and if they retain the 

 fruit after this it will never attain the same size that it 

 would if this had not occurred. In autumn the trees are 

 disrooted and potted in fresh-prepared soil, the whole being 

 placed together on the bed of the house; the side borders 

 are then filled with Lettuce, Endive, and dwarf Cauliflowers, 

 all of which we were told do well, and are never injured by 



