380 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 27, 1831. 
ment, and if lie departs from either time-honoured practices on the 
one hand or fashionable modes on the other, it is not without good 
reason, as the results show. Being severely practical the great object 
in view is an abundant supply of fruit of the best quality and at the 
least cost. He has abandoned the plan of purchasing trained Peach 
trees and growing them on the good old fan-shaped system. He 
admits this system is good to a certain extent, but is well satisfied he 
has found a better. He now plants maiden trees, trims off the weak 
twiggy side growths, but does not shorten the leader. The trees are 
planted 4 feet apart, the leader trained upright, and the side branches 
herring-bone fashion. Every portion of a lofty wall was covered in 
less than four years, and the crops of fruit from base to summit are, 
so a first-rate judge tells me (not Mr. Taylor, though his word would 
have sufficed) remarkable. This is decided upon at Longleat as the 
best, cheapest, quickest, and most profitable mode of Peach culture 
for open walls. In reply to a question as to how long such trees 
would last, the answer was, “ I don’t know ; but if they were worn 
out now (which they certainly are not) they have more than paid for 
the cost of purchase, space, and labour, and new trees can be bought 
for a trifle and prepared when these show signs of exhaustion.” A 
north wall is covered in a very complete manner with Plums that 
afford valuable successional crops to trees on warmer aspects. There 
is no vacant space at the lower part of the wall, and to obviate this, 
the trees being fan-shaped, they have been planted closor than usual, 
yet “ the lower branches will go some time ; they always do,” is the 
firmly expressed assertion of the cultivator. 
Some Apple and Pear trees are grown as bushes but not pigmies ; 
on the contrary, they are some 15 feet high and nearly as much in 
diameter and bear bushels of fruit; but for maintaining a large Apple 
supply orchard standards have a decided preference well planted 
and not pruned. 
PEA.lt VERSUS QUINCE STOCK. 
And now to Pears on walls. “John Bull” (page 327) threw' a 
bomb in the camp of the great Quince stock brigade, and no one 
need be surprised if it has a disturbing effect and the fire is returned. 
That bold individual has presumably not seen the cordons at Holme 
Lacy, Barham Court, and the young fruitful trees at Oldlands. It is 
fair to him, however, to state that he does not stand alone in his good 
opinion of the Pear stock. It so happens there are some Pear trees 
at Longleat that would gladden his eyes—a tree of Glou Morgeau 
especially that covers a length of more than 00 feet of wall, the 
branches being perfectly trained and wreathed with fine fruit from 
ba=e to extremity. The produce of this tree must certainly be com¬ 
puted by bushels, but how many bushels I dare not guess ; and the 
tree is not alone. Whether it is the example of these fine trees ex¬ 
clusively. or whether Mr. Taylor is in possession of other evidence 
that has impressed the value of the Pear stock on his mind, I know 
not; but the fact remains that in planting a new wall of Pears, or 
rather an old wall, writh young trees tw r o years ago he would not have 
one tree on the Quince. Some burnt clay and lime was worked in 
the soil of the border and the trees planted. “ And w'hat have they 
done ?” may be asked. Truth compels the reply that they have 
done splendidly. “ But when will they bear ? ” will be the natural 
retort. Some of them are bearing now, and all are forming fruit 
buds. “ Ana what of the fruit ? ” I must record the simple fact and 
say that finer has seldom been seen. When I described the fine trees 
and wonderful fruit grown by that skilful cultivator Mr. Haycock I 
had no occasion to exaggerate, nor do I write incautiously now when 
I say I have never seen Bergamotle Esperen surpassed, if equalled, 
as now growing on Mr. Taylor’s young trees on the Pear stock. The 
trees, however, w’ould not have done equally well in all soils, and it 
will not be wise, satisfactory as their condition undoubtedly is, to 
regard them as affording conclusive evidence of the general supe¬ 
riority of the Pear over the Quince stock. I have done my duty by 
stating a fact and recording a caution, and there I leave the matter, 
which is evidently not yet fairly beyond the region of debate. 
GOOSEBERRIES. 
Gooseberries are about as much valued as Grapes at Longleat, and 
the “ Gooseberry house ” cannot be passed in silence. The border 
on the north side of a wall is planted with the bushes. A row of 
posts 8 feet apart and about 4 high are affixed next the walk, a 
strong batten running along the top of them, rafters resting on the 
top of the wall, and on these front posts, all firmly secured, form the 
skeleton of the house, which is covered—sides, ends, and top—with 
strong small-meshed galvanised netting. A door at each end next 
the wall affords access, and the trees can be attended to with comfort, 
and birds are completely baffled. The back wall is covered with 
Gooseberries, Currants, and Cherries, and a Plum is being trained up 
each rafter. Caterpillars are no longer a source of trouble, as they 
are easily subdued with Fir-tree oil. This insecticide, however, it 
may be said parenthetically, to be safe and effectual should be mixed 
with soft water. By the excellent plan just described an abundance 
of Gooseberries over a long season is maintained. Healthy young 
bushes are also grown in the open, and Mr. Taylor finds that, how¬ 
ever virulently they are attacked by the caterpillars, if the bushes 
are removed to a distant part of the garden the pest does not follow 
them. 
GLASS STRUCTURES. 
Passing a long range of the olden time, in which old Vines, also 
Figs and Peaches, are grown and afford useful crops, we find three 
ranges of very useful half-span structures, each upwards of 100 feet 
long and 18 wide. These are devoted to Cucumbers, Melons, Toma¬ 
toes, and the forcing generally of flowers, French Beans, and Straw¬ 
berries. Cucumbers and Melons, like the Vines, are grown on the 
extension system. Two Melon plants fill a house, and continue 
growing and bearing the whole season. The standard variety is the 
Cashmere, of which Mr. Taylor had the honour of sending to Ken¬ 
sington last summer, what was pronounced by the Fruit Committee 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, the finest flavoured Melon of the 
year. Tomatoes are grown in boxes, stood on the floor and trained 
on the back wall, which is about G feet high. The variety is the 
Orangefield (true), which is esteemed the best of all in quality, and 
the plants are wonderfully productive. They are kept in bearing for 
two years, then thrown away and new ones raised from cuttings. A 
struggle has been going on with the Cucumber disease—that form 
attacking the fruit, and that it could not be conquered is proof of 
its virulent nature. The plants for winter are, however, looking 
admirably, the variety grown being the Baron Hill, which was raised 
by Mr. Gough, gardener, at Baron Hill, Anglesey, and is hardy, pro¬ 
lific, and good. In some of the houses a trellis runs from the floor 
to the apex of the roof, and there among other plants Bougain¬ 
villea glabra affords armfuls of floivers for months. Mr. Taylor points 
out there are two varieties of this—one having waved or slightly 
crimped foliage, the other having quite plain and smooth leaves ; the 
former, he says, is the one to be grown, the latter being compara¬ 
tively useless. 
Strawberries are grown in large 32-size pots, in which they are 
layered from young plants. By this practice a gain of three weeks 
is claimed by the cultivator. I have seen quite fifty thousand Straw¬ 
berries in pots this year, but those at Longleat are the finest. They 
are forced on the floor of the house and 5 to 7 feet from the glass, 
lut the houses are very light. 
Beans are grown in boxes or troughs, first on the sills, then on the 
floor. The boxes are filled with soil at once, and a row of Beans 
placed down the centre of each. Half filling pots and boxes, and 
earthing the plants afterwards, is regarded as quite useless work, 
inasmuch as no top-dressing induces the emission of roots from the 
stems. Fertilisers are employed for affording support, the plants are 
never stopped, and the variety is Osborn’s Forcing. 
A few kinds of plants only are grown, and those in large batches. 
As from thirty to forty button-hole bouquets are wanted daily during 
the dullest part of winter, and these of fragrant flowers, provision has 
to be made for the supply. These “ bouttonieres ” are not the dainty 
gems the swells wear, but three large Carnations are required for 
each, and Tea Roses must be as large as Hybrid Perpetuals if 
possible. 
TUBEROSES. 
Hundreds of these are grown of extraordinary strength in a very 
simple manner. They are potted in spring in G and 7-inch pots, and 
placed on the floor of a vinery until growth commences ; they are 
then plunged in a frame from which the lights are removed night 
and day through the summer, and are withdrawn as needed. The 
great secret of producing fine spikes and flowers is liquid manure, of 
which few plants can appropriate so much and give such quick and 
good returns. Stems are produced like walking-sticks, and flowers 
like Gardenias. This is a simple fact, and not a mere figurative 
expression. 
CARNATIONS. 
Nowhere that I am aware of are winter-flowering Carnations grown 
so fine as at Longleat. From four hundred to five hundred blooms 
are expected to be ready for the visit of the Prince and Princess of 
Wales in December. The three varieties relied on are Miss Joliffe, 
flesh pink ; Belle Rose, cerise (this is the favourite) ; and Purity, 
white. Strong healthy cuttings are struck about March, and the 
plants, as soon as ready, are placed in 9 and 10-inch pots, intermediate 
shiftings being eschewed. Great care in watering is exercised, and 
the plants receive the same general treatment as Chrysanthemums 
through the summer. They are never stopped. At the present they 
fill a division of the large vinery, the growths, strong and luxuriant, 
being sustained by twiggy sticks. They are wintered in one of the 
intermediate span-roof houses, and continue growing and flowering 
until the summer. Simpler their culture could not be, but skill is 
required in the conduct even of simplicities, and finer plants have 
seldom if ever been produced. 
ROSES. 
How Roses are struck in the summer has been clearly described by 
Mr. Taylor, and largely practised. Plenty of plants are seen at 
Longleat as the results of it. How they are struck in the autumn 
was described last week ; the results of this simple method, which is 
the best for amateurs, would surprise the inexperienced. Rapidly 
vanishing space precludes a description of the row’s of yearlings, and 
it must suffice to say that those who carry out the instructions on 
page 350 may have some similar next year ; this wall be better than 
reading about the successful results of other cultivators. Tea Roses 
for flowering at Christmas are in 12-inch pots, the plants are 4 feet 
high and pruned as closely as if they were H brid Perpetuals. 
“ Should you not have more flowers by training down some of the 
strong young growths?” was asked. “Yes,” was the reply ; “but 
they would be smaller, and we want them as large as Paul Neyron 
