December 13, 1S64. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



473 



the fruit was gathered and the wood about ripe, the trees 

 could be set out, the pots banked-up with litter, choosing as 

 warm a place as possible in front of a wall to perfect the 

 ripening of the wood until the leaves had fallen. After that 

 it mattered little where the trees were placed, unless it was 

 resolved to force them early, and in that case the north side 

 of a wall, to rest the trees, and protecting the roots from 

 extra wet, would be the best place for them. All others 

 may remain in anyplace after the leaves fall, the pots pro- 

 tected from frost and wet, until the first frost of some 4° or 5°. 

 This out-door treatment not only helps to swell the buds 

 nicely, but also with the assistance of the little frost to get 

 rid of the eggs and remains of insects. We have known 

 plants left too long and much injured by the frost. On the 

 whole then, as one of the chief objects of orchard-houses is 

 the ripening of the wood, as well as the ripening of the fruit, 

 and as the very dryness, easily secured, so much promotes 

 the former, we generally keep our plants in-doors ; but as 

 soon as the leaves turn yellow and droop, we place the plants 

 as thick as they will stand, protect the pots with litter, and 

 use the rest of the bed of the house for other purposes. If 

 we had a plant infested with insects, however, we would be 

 Spt to give it out-of-door treatment in the autumn. 



Instead of cutting down your maiden plants now, we 

 would merely shorten and prune back the side-shoots and 

 pot in 9 or 10-inch pots. These pots should then be plunged 

 into a bed out of doors, or into a shed all the winter, where 

 they can have plenty of air. If out of doors a piece of board 

 or tile should be placed over the pot to keep extra wet from 

 the soil. During winter, if out of doors, extreme frost must 

 be guarded against by protection, and a little tiffany or 

 Nottingham netting, as a protection, will be necessary until 

 the middle of May, so that the young wood may be healthy 

 and kind. This, nipped during summer, as those in-doors, 

 will secure a good foundation, and the chief thing will be to 

 ripen the wood, so that the plants shall have all the sun 

 possible, and little moisture in the autumn. Next winter 

 they should be protected the same way.] 



WELLLNGTONIA GIGANTEA. 



In some of your back Numbers this year, you furnished 

 your readers with the dimensions of several of the large 

 specimens of Wellingtonia now growing in different parts 

 of England ; and you requested that other correspondents 

 would forward to you the size of their plants at the end of 

 this summer's growth. I now venture to send you the 

 dimensions of my plant, which was sent here by Mr. Barron, 

 of Elvaston, in 1S57, and was at that date 4i- feet high. 



Our plant has upon it at this present time fifty-seven 

 cones, each the size of a large walnut, and I think these will 

 prove fertile, as the male and female blossoms were in per- 

 fection at the same time during the summer. The male 

 blossom is pink in colour, and Mr. Barron expressed himself 

 much pleased when he saw it and took some away with him, 

 saying he should like to lay it before the members of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society. 



I have no hesitation in saying that our plant is as perfect 

 a specimen as can be found in England. Other plants may, 

 perhaps, be somewhat higher, but none can be more perfect 

 in its pyramidal outline. It has not a twig out of place, 

 and the triangle formed by its boughs from top to bottom is 

 as correct as it is possible to conceive. 



The circumference of the stem of this plant near the 

 ground is 5 feet. The spread of the branches is 38 feet in 

 circumference. The height of the plant is 15 feet 1 inch. — 

 R. D., 2IonT: Bovion, Salop. 



which it is difficult to understand how they arose, or why, 

 having arisen, they were confined to those localities. But 

 possibly climate may have had something to do with the 

 neglect in question. Cottage gardening much prevails 

 in Cheshire; but in Cheshire to all the old cottages you 

 almost invariably find attached a small orchard filled with 

 Apple, Pear, and Damson trees. It is almost certain that 

 any one attaching a bit of land to a cottage for an orchard 

 would devote a portion of it to a garden. In Derbyshire 

 you see nothing of the sort, at least in the Peak — no doubt 

 for this reason, that only the coarser fruits will ripen at all, 

 and not those always. Eor instance : "Walnuts grow well, 

 but never harden the shell or produce a kernel ; Filberts do 

 badly, and will not always ripen. This severity of climate 

 may have been such a drawback as to discourage instead 

 of stimulate gardening, and cause owners to acquiesce in 

 the idea that it is more profitable to keep the land in grass, 

 for which it is admirable. Perhaps another reason might 

 be suggested in the thinness of the population and fewness 

 of the gentry to encourage such things in a large portion of 

 the northern division of the country. 



But whatever may be the reason of the fact, there is no 

 doubt of it, as you observed. We are doing what we can to 

 awaken a better taste by annual exhibitions, but it requires 

 time to bring new habits into the country. — Hugh Fobd 

 Bacon, Casileion, Derbyshire. 



TEENTHAM black geape. 



I think your correspondent Mr. G. Bester only read the 

 last part of Mr. Pearson's article on the Trentham Black 

 Grape, or he would never have asked, Has he grown it in a 

 cool house ? for Mr. Pearson distinctly says, " In one large 

 orchard-house which covers 300 square yards, I planted a 

 Vine to each of the pillars to see if good Grapes could be 

 grown in Nottinghamshire without heat," and the result 

 of that experiment has far exceeded Mr. Pearson's expec- 

 tations. 



I have not grown it myself, but I have had the pleasure 

 of seeing it twice this year at Chilwell, both in heat and 

 without heat, and in each house the Grapes were a credit to 

 the grower, and would be so to any good Grape-grower. I 

 can fully endorse all Mr. Pearson has said in its favour. 



Perhaps your correspondent Mr. G. Bester treats his 

 orchard-house the same as I once saw a beautiful glazed 

 Peach wall treated — -it was thrown open every day regard- 

 less of the weather. The consequence was small fruit, and 

 not ripe until after that on the open wall. — T. D., near 

 Newark. 



ITT FOE EDGINGS. 



ABSENCE OF COTTAGE GAEDENLNG EST 

 NOETH DEEBTSHIEE. 



If I had not been from home I should sooner have an- 

 swered your query as to the reason of cottage gardening 

 having made so little progress in North Derbyshire, at least 

 as far as I am able to answer it. 



The truth is there is no obvious reason. Various customs, 

 manners, observances, are seen to prevail in some places, of 



I have not seen the Ivy edgings in the gardens of the 

 Emperor of the French alluded to by " K. M. P.," but many 

 in our English gardens. The way they are made is to form, 

 the borders of old rubbish if the soil be wet, otherwise the 

 plants will not withstand the winter, particularly when the 

 more tender variegated kinds are grown. If the soil is 

 light such precautions are not necessary. The plants being 

 at hand — good strong plants, which are mostly raised in, or 

 grown in, pots for a time — are planted out in spring 2 feet 

 apart, watering them until they become established. As 

 they grow the shoots are trained over the surface, and 

 secured in the proper position by pegs. When the shoots 

 meet, or the desired length is attained, they are pegged 

 down, and the points directed towards a vacant space, 

 ultimately there being none. When the surface is entirely 

 covered, the points are cut off, and this makes the border 

 dense in consequence of the number of shoots which arise 

 from this stopping. 



The after-management consists in keeping the shoots 

 within their proper limits by going over them frequently, 

 and cutting off those which are disposed to ramble, taking 

 care to train such, if there be any vacant space to fill, in that 

 direction instead of cutting them off, so that an equal sur- 

 face may not only be obtained but preserved. It is also ne- 

 cessary to clear the border of dead leaves, as these are very 

 unsightly if left to decay on the plants. Every three years or 

 so the Ivy -borders should be cut quite close, leaving, however, a 



