THE ORCHARD-HOUSE. 



71 



keep abreast of the times, and to test the new kinds 

 now so formidably numerous. 



To the lover of horticulture, be he amateur or pro- 

 fessional, the management and testing of a number of 

 new kinds of fruit is a most interesting, nay, a fasci- 

 nating occcupation. To the owner of a small garden 

 the orchard-house affords more pleasure than, any 

 other structure, and to the merchant who now in- 

 vests large sums of money in cheap but substantial 

 glass structures, the return, v^hether it lowers the 

 price of fruit or not, is certainly satisfactory. A few 

 years ago a gentleman applied to me for a list of 

 the best kinds of Peaches and Nectarines for orchard- 

 house culture, and he is now producing over one 

 thousand dozen of fruit in 

 good seasons. Others are 

 doing the same, with the 

 natural result that Covent 

 Garden quotations are now 

 much lower than they 

 were, be the cause what it 

 may.' 



Reference to Dr. Hogg's 

 "Fruit Manual" sh.ows 

 that we now have ninety- 

 eight varieties of Peacbes, 

 thirty - five varieties of 

 Xectarines, and seventy of 

 Figs described and classi- 

 fied. Tbe orchard-house 

 now enables the profes- 

 sional grov/er to test a great 

 number of these within 

 reasonable limits before be 



transfers them to his extensive training-houses proper. 

 Cherries the learned author divides into eight races, 

 consisting of Red and Black Geans, Black and White 

 Hearts, Black and Red Dukes, Black and Red 

 MoreUos, in aU one hundred and fifteen varieties. 

 The one hundred and fifty-six varieties of Plums he 

 divides into Nectarines, Gages, Orleans, Apricots, 

 Prunes, Pedrigons, Imperials, and Mirabelles. These 

 he subdivides into free-stones and cling-stones. All 

 are not suitable for growing under glass, but many 

 of them are, and the only way in which the old 

 friends with new names or sterling new kinds can be 

 practically proved is, by growing and fruiting them 

 in pots. To the amateur such formidable lists are 

 bewildering ; to the nurseryman they are probably 

 injurious ; but in order to enable the cultivator to 

 make a judicious selection, lists of kinds suitable for 

 special purposes will hereafter be given. 



Of Pears nothing has as yet been said ; but when 

 gi'own on the Quince stock, and protected from 

 spring fi'osts, all the best dessert kinds are worthy of 

 a place under glass, where they form, most beautiful 



pyramids and bushes, from which fruit of the first 

 size and quality can be obtained. 



Houses. — The original orchard-house in its sim- 

 plest form was a plain glazed unheated structure, 

 varying in size, ugliness, and aspect, to meet the re- 

 quirements of the owner, and the space at disposal. 

 This, thanks to our Popular Educators, has given 

 way to more elegant and substantial, but none the 

 less inexpensive houses, varying from ten to thirty 

 feet in width, thirty to two hundred feet in length, 

 and ten to fourteen feet in height. Where good 

 walls covered with established trees exist, the lean- 

 to, similar to a plain vinery, is best adapted to early 

 culture, as the wall affords 

 shelter from piercing 

 winds. The trees on the 

 walls, which absorb sun- 

 heat, give the earliest fruit, 

 while one or two rows of 

 trees in pots placed on the 

 front border give variety 

 in succession. This house 

 is easily built as a ten- 

 ant's fixture, as shown in 

 Fig. 1. 



For intermediate jdut- 

 poses the unequal span, 

 with the longest side facing 

 the south or south-west, is 

 strongly recommended, as 

 it answers well for Peaches, 

 Nectarines,Figs and Straw- 

 berries, still the cream of 

 the cream of our orchard-house fruits. All the finer 

 kinds of fruit, including the best mid-season Peaches, 

 being in pots, and portable, the roof may either be 

 fixed for obtaining the benefit of a maximum of light, 

 or it m.ay be composed of portable lights in the frame- 

 work resting on iron standards. One or two pipes 

 placed along the back and front will be abundantly 

 plentiful, and ventilation at the apex and front must 

 be on a very liberal scale. 



For general market purposes, or for growing a 

 large mixed collection of trees, including Plums, 

 Pears, and Cherries, the true span with one end 

 facing the south, the other the north, is to be pre- 

 ferred. A house of this kind should not be less than 

 twenty feet in width, ten to fourteen feet in height, 

 and sixty to one hundred feet in length. It will then 

 admit of a raised border in the centre and narrow 

 ones on each side and along the ends. The doors 

 should be double or folding, and high, for the conve- 

 nience of moving large trees in pots or tubs ; and the 

 gravel paths neatly edged with tiles, stone-kerbing, 

 or a few courses of four-and-a-half brickwork where 



Portable Lean-to Orchard-house. 

 (Tenant's Fixture.) 



