October 11, 1S61, ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



293 



gratification; and so I plant trees, and recommend the 

 planting of them, that will give me some satisfaction, yet 

 leave a ' remanet ' for my children. 



" A French pomologist who paid me a visit last year, said 

 — ' Ah ! now I find an Englishman planting for himself as 

 well as for his children •' and went on to say that he was 

 struck by seeing in England so many standard trees in 

 market gardens, the planters of which could have derived 

 but small benefit from them; and the apparent ignorance 

 of fruit gardening as a lucrative occupation. This he, in 

 fact, imputed to our climate, which, Frenchman-like, he 

 thought totally unfit for fruit culture in the open air, yet 

 felt much surprised to see here the produce of a well-cul- 

 tivated English fruit garden, in a climate not nearly so 

 favourable as the valley of the Thames. 



"I have only to add that, besides my plantation of Cox's 

 Orange Pippin, I have another of upwards of 400 trees, which 

 has now been in existence upwards of ten years, so that I 

 am not theorising, but deducing facts from a sound basis." 



The reader is referred in the preceding page to directions 

 given in pages 53 and 54 of Mr. Rivers's book for planting 

 and managing bush Pear trees ; we therefore give one more 

 extract to render this novel mode of culture fully intel- 

 ligible. 



" The plantation should be a sort of nursery, and for this 

 purpose the trees should be planted 3 feet apart row from 

 row, and 3 feet apart in the rows. A piece of ground 

 planted after this method will contain 4840 trees per impe- 

 rial acre. The trees may be suffered to remain at the above 

 distance from each other unroot-pruned and unremoved for 

 seven, eight, or ten years; and then, as they will nearly 

 touch each other, every alternate tree should be removed and 

 another plantation formed. The removal of the trees should 

 be done carefully, so that those left will stand \\ feet apart, 

 and in quincunx order, thus— " " This may be done as 

 follows: . " 



" Presuming the first row to consist of ten trees, begin at 

 the first row by removing the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th 

 trees ; in the second row remove the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 

 10th; in the third row again the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th 

 trees, and so on with all, and through all the rows how- 

 ever long. At this distance they may remain for sixteen, 

 eighteen, or twenty years. At the end of one of these 

 periods every alternate row of trees must be removed, leav- 

 ing the permanent trees 6 feet apart. The periods of re- 

 moval must to a certain extent depend upon the nature of 

 the soil ; if this is of high fertility the removal of the trees 

 must be commenced at the earlier period." 



Mr. Eivers depends upon rigid summer pinching of the 

 young shoots, which he finds retards the rapid growth of 

 the trees, forms them into compact round bushes, and brings 

 on remarkable fertility.] 



CULTIVATION OP THE MELON. 



(Continued from page 274.) 



. : ■//.'■: . ' ~"^: -, -:■-.- ~ A 



either run over the bed, or be trained to a trellis fixed 

 9 inches from the glass 



5 ;* ,3 ,2 ,1 ,0 



JO, 



Fig. 15. 



Fig. 15 is a section of a span-roofed house heated by flues. 

 The flues are made to furnish both top and bottom heat, 

 and between them are chambers, a, a, which communicate 

 bottom heat to the beds, b, b. The flues are partly under 

 the beds, to which they communicate heat by the spaces 

 left between the flagstones and the sides of the beds, as well 

 as by the chambers, a, a ; whilst top heat is afforded by the 

 sides of the two centre flues, and the heated air ascending 

 from the openings, c, c. 



Besides the houses already described, there are many 

 others differing only in being modifications of them ; but I 

 shall pass over these, only giving another plan by which 

 Melons can be grown for the million. — G. Abbey. 

 (To be continued.) 



MADAME VAUCHEE, CLOTH OF GOLD, AND 

 GOLDEN CHAIN GEEANDJMS. 

 With reference to the communication of your correspon 

 dent, " J. P. M.," regarding the flower of Madame Taucher 

 Geranium, and others, changing colour, I myself noticed it 

 in Madame Vaucher, the others I do not possess. In the 

 late dry weather the flowers were almost as pink as Tren- 

 tham Rose, but as nearly like those of Madame Chardine as 

 possible ; even now (and we have had plenty of rain) I can 

 perceive no material difference in them. Madame Vaucher 

 is certainly a little lighter, but it would not be distinguished 

 from the other by a casual observer. With regard to the 

 Cloth of Gold and Golden Chain Geraniums, they have been 

 growing here side by side this summer, the Golden Chain 

 making scarcely any progress, while Cloth of Gold is very 

 luxuriant, and I think that in the damp climate of the north 

 of Ireland it will speedily take the place of Golden Chain. I . 

 may add that bog mould is freely used at bedding-out time. 

 — G. Coukt, The Gardens, Crom Castle. 



|g l£ \3 12 



Fig. 14. 



Fig. 14 is a pit to which bottom and top heat is supplied 

 by flues, one in front for top heat, and another under the 

 bed in a chamber, a a. The flue passes along the centre of 

 the bed first, and returns along the front. The chamber is 

 covered with flagstones, on which is placed a little rubble, 

 and then soil to the thickness of 1 foot. The plants may 



PKTTNING THE SHOOTS OF OECHAED-HOUSE 

 TEEES. 



I have this season followed the directions in Mr. Rivers's 

 book, " The Orchard-House," with great success so far, but 

 having ceased to pinch in the trees at the end of July, as he 

 directs, I now find them full of shoots a foot long, and I 

 know not how to treat them. I see in your Number of the 

 27th ult. your Guernsey correspondent speaks of the pre- 

 sent as the time for pruning, and in the " Doings of the 

 Last Week " your Journal speaks of cutting the roots which 

 have penetrated through the pots. Mr. Rivers directs this 

 'to be done later : I am, therefore, anxious to know both 

 what pruning I must do as to the long shoots grown in 

 August, and where I must prune, either shoots or roots. 



I must add my own testimony to the success of an orchard- 

 house as far as one year's experience allows me to do so. 

 Nothing can be more satisfactory. My Peaches have been 

 large, some weighing nearly 6 ozs., and perfect in flavour. 

 My Nectarines, also, were first-rate. — C. P. 



[Vou may shorten the shoots now, but we would rather 



