34 £ 
MOVEABLE SCREENS FOR WALL-FRUIT TREES. 
Napier, Lilac Perfection, Emperor, Cerito, Annie, Zenobia, Nymph, Satellite, Pride of 
Surrey, Mauritiana, Modesta, and Alba Purpurea, are all good, some better than others of 
course, but in collections of any magnitude indispensable, as diversity in colour is one of 
the principal attractions with this class of flowers. This point made with taste and judg- 
ment, I will venture to say no cultivator of the Cineraria will regret the trifling outlay either 
of trouble or expense which offers such abundant and gratifying returns. 
MOVEABLE SCREENS FOR WALL-FRUIT TREES. 
By Mr. Fleming , of Trentliam Gardens. 
The production of the choicer of our hardy fruits has long been a sine qua non in an 
English garden; but to attain to ordinary perfection in their cultivation, our precarious 
climate renders it necessary to take advantage of every invention or improvement which 
practice, aided by science, has introduced. A Spring like the last, when failure was the 
general rule, and a fair crop the exception, may be the means of introducing into general 
use many improvements in the management of wall-fruit, as it forces upon us the necessity 
of using better precautions for the future. 
If we are wise enough to act upon this conviction, we may rely upon good crops in the 
worst of seasons, and even in ordinary years we shall not have lost our labour, as success 
iu every case will be more certain and more complete. The fruits we particularly refer to 
are the Peach, the Nectarine, and the Apricot, the Grape and the Fig. In the cultivation 
of these, many gardeners have more than ordinary difficulties to contend with in the way 
of cold retentive soils and low damp situations, which are subject to late spring frosts, and 
all the concomitant evils of canker, blight, &c., and which are almost unknown in more 
favourable localities. 
To this difference in situation we may ascribe much of the diversity of opinion which 
exists as to the necessity of covering our walls, and the proper materials to use for the 
purpose. 
The subject has given rise to much discussion at different times, and especially during 
the spring past ; but as no satisfactory conclusions have been arrived at, and as the matter 
still remains in a state of uncertainty, especially in the minds of young gardeners, who are 
liable to be perplexed by the variety of opinions set forth, I thought it might be of some 
service to mention the methods which I have found it requisite to introduce. 
It has always been found necessary in our island, for the sake of protection, to train 
these fruit-trees flat against walls ; but since the reduction of the duty on glass, Mr. 
Bellenden Ker has introduced a new method of growing these fruits, by training them on 
trellises on the open ground, and protecting them by means of a glass roof. 
These protected trellises might, however, be rendered still more perfect by closing the 
front and ends with boards, to prevent the current of cold air, which would otherwise drive 
through the open space beneath the glass. 
By fixing the boards on hinges, they would form ventilators, and thus, by affording 
the means of regulating the admission of air, the protected trellises would at once be 
constructed into peach-houses, fig-houses, or vineries, without any considerable addition to 
the cost. 
It is our intention, however, to confine our remarks more particularly to the walls 
already existent in every gentleman’s garden ; that they may be rendered more productive 
than they are at present. 
These erections of themselves afford considerable protection to the trees, and by 
absorbing heat from the sun’s rays during the day, a stock is accumulated, and given off 
gradually by radiation during the night; something, however, is wanted to prevent the 
latter process being carried on too rapidly, or to too great an extent, and to retain the 
warmth in more immediate contact with the trees. 
