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PROGRESS OF HORTICULTURE, &C. 
all the Pinuses take and grow freely upon it. With this the Scotch fir (P. sylvestris) will not bear 
comparison ; when potted the latter becomes stunted, it will not transplant freely, and grafts neither 
take nor grow well upon it. The Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) makes an admirable stock for the 
better sorts of free-growing Junipers ; they take and grow freely upon it. I have reason to believe 
that on this stock many Cypresses would take and grow well. C. fhurifera will grow splendidly 
upon it. — J. Saul in Jour. Sort. Soc. vi. 51. 
Orchard-Houses. — This new name for cheap horticultural buildings, designed for the accommodation 
of " many fruits," is proposed in a half-crown pamphlet, which we strongly recommend to the notice of 
our readers. The author, Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, has here opened up the question of cheap 
glass structures for the general cultivation of potted fruit trees. Leaving our readers and correspondents 
to discuss the utilitarian bearing of the question, we content ourselves, in this place, with a passing 
allusion to the gratification which such structures must afford the amateur or suburban gardener of 
small means. Cheap glass, root pruning, and pot-culture, are the principal elements, by the aid of 
which the proposed miniature glass-covered orchards are to be produced : economy is the key-stone of 
the system. " AVe have now cheap glass, cheap timber, and cheap bricks," and Mr. Rivers therefore 
concludes, that it is time to endeavour to neutralise the uncertainty of our seasons by glass ; " for glass, 
without the least addition of artificial heat, will give us the climate, in average seasons, of the south- 
west of France ; and what is of vast consequence, without the least hazard of injury from spring 
frosts." This is a matter of much importance, and one of Mr. Rivers's principal objects is to show how 
economically this safeguard can be provided in the form of rude buildings, which he had provisionally 
called glass-roofed sheds, but which are now permanently christened orchard-houses. Of one of them, 
thirty feet long by twelve wide, capable of accommodating about sixty bearing fruit trees, the 
estimated cost is £17 8s. 9d. The Orchard House contains a detail of the mode of construction, 
followed by instructions for the culture of Apricots, Peaches, and Nectarines, Plums, Cherries, Figs, 
Pears, Apples, Grapes, Mulberries, Strawberries, and a selection of sorts for this mode of culture. The 
profits of the publication {The Orchard House : Longman & Co.) are to be applied towards the repair of 
the parish church of Sawbridgeworth, on which point Mr. Rivers remarks : — " I hope I may not he 
misunderstood. It is not ostentation that has tempted me to this, but a hope that I may be thus 
enabled to contribute a trifle towards the restoration of the church of my forefathers, and I trust of my 
children's children." The cultural directions which this pamphlet contains, are the records, Mr. 
Rivers tells us, of his own practice. — M. 
Peat Charcoal is valuable as an element of manure, for which some of its properties eminently fit 
it. It appears to possess the property of absorbing gases to a very considerable degree, a power to 
which its peculiar open porous nature greatly contributes. The value of charcoal as a constituent of 
the soil depends almost wholly on its physical condition, for a dense charcoal, like plumbago, is of 
little or no use ; and the more cellular and porous it is, the nioi'e serviceable it is to plants, acting as 
a constant magazine of gaseous food. Peat charcoal, for horticultural purposes, will probably be found 
of great use by the gardener, both as an addition to soils, and also in the formation of manures. In 
the preparation of various composts, and in reducing night-soil and similar fetid waste matters into a 
portable and convenient state, its value is considerable. That it can be so used with very great 
advantage there is no doubt ; the only question is, whether it can be supplied at a sufficiently low 
price. It is the interest of those who make it to sell it at the lowest figure which leaves them a profit, 
and not to try and give it fictitious value, by comparing it with guano or any similar manure. Really 
good manures are not unfrequently altogether kept out of the markets by this foolish system of 
standing out for a fancy price, instead of looking only for a small profit and a large sale. As a disin- 
fecting agent, peat charcoal will be peculiarly valuable, because we are certainly still in want of a 
good, efficacious, and economical mode of removing the smell of night-soil; and a great deal of good 
manure which is now lost altogether would, no doubt, be saved and usefully applied, could its offensive 
odour be thus removed. — Gard. Chron., p. 84. 
Rustic Baskets, of a very neat and artistic character, suitable alike for the plant-house or 
drawing-room, are manufactured by Mr. H. Howlett, gardener at St. Osyth's Priory, near Colchester, 
from the cones of the larch free. They are hexagonal in form, and are suited either to stand upon a 
table or shelf, or to be suspended by chains also formed of larch cones, joined end to end, and ter- 
minating in a bow of cones. The basket or vase for enclosing the flower-pot is covered artistically, 
with similar cones, their small ends pointing outwards. For orchids, trailers, and other plants in 
pots, that look to the most advantage suspended from the roof, these rustic baskets are very appropriate 
and remarkably neat. — Cott. Gard.. p. 300. 
New Dahlias. — Those who wish to add to the beauty of then- garden collection, will find but few 
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