298 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 16, 1891. 
of ten where Odontoglossums have become yellow, weakly, and 
unhealthy, it is traceable to the lowness of temperature during the 
winter. The roots fail, and the plants rarely recover. 
Moisture is an essential requirement, and must be supplied 
freely, but the more the plants can be induced to take through the 
atmosphere the better, as continually drenching the roots is not 
beneficial. But it should be a wholesome moving moisture arising 
from shingled shelves, or from plant foliage, and not vessels of 
stagnant water. There can be little doubt that the difficulties 
experienced in growing “ cool house Orchids ” on the Continent are 
more due to the inefficient supply of moisture than to the heat. 
The usual way is to ventilate freely to keep the temperature down, 
with the result that a rapid escape of moisture is encouraged from 
both house and plants that cannot be adequately supplied in any 
way. Under such circumstances ventilation is often dangerous. 
Shading is also a necessity, but here, too, discretion is needed, for 
in constant heavy shade the plants may grow freely and appear to 
make larger pseudo-bulbs, but these will not be matured, and the 
flowers, if any are produced, will be wanting in substance and 
durability. A diffused broken light is needed, with a little sun 
early or late in the day. 
These notes must be regarded as suggestions on a wide subject, 
which can be easily amplified by others. There is a form of 
cool house for Orchids that must be mentioned in conclusion— 
namely, one of the same style as that devoted to hardy and half- 
hardy plants at Kew. In a slightly heated or even a quite cold 
house many beautiful terrestrial Orchids may be grown, such as 
the North American and Japanese Cjpripediums, the Disas from 
South Africa, several delicate Australian Orchids, with the peculiar 
Satyriums, and the showy Orchises. These constitute the green¬ 
house Orchids properly so called, and very handsome specimens 
may be secured with a little trouble, their attractions being 
more readily inspected under glass than out of doors. Cool 
houses of this class are within the reach of most people, and the 
Kew house is an admirable example of what can be accomplished 
in such structures. 
[A paper by Mr. Lewis Castle, read at the meeting of the 
Hoi’ticultural Club, Hotel Windsor, April 14th, 1891.] 
PEACHES AND NECTARINES. 
I AM pleased to nofe the increased attention paid to these 
fruits (f late in the Journal. It is needed, I am sorry to say, 
for in many places that I have visited these fruits seem to be in 
worse condition than any other things on the place. Many a 
gardener who thinks he knows all about Vines will admit he 
does not know a great deal about Peaches. This should not be 
so ; in my opinion they ought to receive some of the attention 
that is bestowed upon Chrysanthemums ; they need quite as much 
as the latter if the trees are to be kept in good condition and the 
fruit to be of the best quality. 
Those who have read the articles lately appearing with the 
object of founding their practice upon wffiat they read must use a 
little discretion. I notice your correspondent Mr. Samuel Scott 
mentions several distinct seasons as the only occasions upon which 
the trees under his charge receive water. I strongly object to this 
mathematical style of watering. It may serve in the case in 
question, but in ninety-nine out of a hundred it would not. Each 
person must use his oavn wits in the matter. The great point is, 
at no period of the year allow a Peach border to become dry ; if 
such occurs once from the time the trees are started until they are 
started again the following year it will militate against success. 
If an amateur or cottager asks a gardener, “ How often should 
I water such and such a plant ? ” (this question is put frequently) 
he is invariably told, “ When it requires it,” and is then initiated 
into the knuckle tapping of the pot. So with Peach and Vine 
borders ; let every man test his own, and not be led astray because 
so and so only waters his so many times during the season. I have 
had charge of a Peach range extending to 300 feet where we had 
to water twice a week. The head gardener was a strong advocate 
of lifting his trees every third year, and the border for some few 
feet round the trees was one mass of fibres ; to only water such 
trees as this at long intervals would be courting disaster. 
One big tree on this place covered about 700 square feet of 
trellis; his lordship the proprietor wished it to be moved to the" 
middle of one of the lOO-feet long houses, so that it might be 
enabled to extend, and, if such a thing were possible, to eventually 
fill the house. The super was nothing loth, as he had prepared the 
tree by root-pruning, Ac., the two previous seasons, expecting such 
a request. It took four men two days to disengage its roots from, 
the soil (no soil was allowed to remain that could possibly be 
removed from the ball). On the 5th November it was placed in 
its new station; every crevice at its base was firmly packed with 
new soil by the aid of a rammer, and its roots carefully laid out in 
good friable loam and plaster rubble, receiving at the finish a good' 
watering with tepid water. The following season it received water- 
at the rate of 150 gallons per week, and finished off a grand crop 
of 450 fruits, some of them over 10 ozs. in weight. At Ketton 
Hall, where Peaches are so extensively grown, the long and stated 
intervals system of watering is completely ignored ; the soil there 
is of a stiff nature, and if this system acts satisfactorily this is the 
sort of soil one would expect to see it exemplified in. 
As to the means employed in fertilising the flowers, one system 
is as good as another if thought and common sense are brought to 
bear on the matter. For instance, in dull, damp weather the man 
who so strongly recommends the syringe would modify his process,, 
using his favourite instrument on fine days and on others using 
some means to convey the pollen to the stigma which would effect 
it in a perfectly dry state. Or again, the man who so strongly 
recommends the camel’s hair pencil for fertilising in early houses 
would for the latest houses, if the weather were bright and 
favourable, be content to give the trees a shake two or three times 
a day, unless it were in the case of a tree which is usually a bad 
setter : then he would convey some foreign pollen to the stigma, 
this being generally effective if the tree is in a healthy state and 
the wood ripe. 
The principal points to observe in successful Peach culture are 
—do not allow the border to become dry at any season, aim at a 
temperature of 48° to 55° night, 55° to 58° day, from fire heat 
while in flower with a little air on constantly ; do not allow too 
many fruits to remain on the trees during the stoning period, train 
the young shoots in thinly so as to prevent overcrowding, prune 
the trees directly the last fruits are gathered, and re-arrange the 
remaining shoots, so that they and the leaves they bear may have 
fi’ee access to sun and air, thus becoming thoroughly ripened 
before autumn sunshine has passed away ; also using the syringe 
freely (excepting the ripening period) from the time the fruit is 
nicely swelling until the leaves and shoots are well advanced 
in ripening.—J. Tunnington, Ripley Castle Gardens, Yorks. 
CINERARIAS. 
I DO not agree with “ A Notts Gardener,” page 244, that 
Cinerarias are deteriorating in any of the points named when 
grown from a reliable strain, but if seed is saved from plants 
in a haphazard manner, the plants from this seed being grown 
in the same way, it is no wonder that results are unsatisfactory. 
In my opinion not nearly enough attention is devoted to the 
growth of Cinerarias, or there would not be so many complaints 
about the inferiority of the flowers and habit of the plants. No 
matter how good the strain may be from which seed is saved, if 
the culture is not correct satisfaction cannot follow. Cinerarias 
are easily grown if a few simple rules are duly followed, but if the 
seed is sown at the wrong time, the plants grown in too much heat, 
and allowed to be infested with insect pests, success must not be 
expected. 
Cinerarias can be had in flower for five months, commencing 
early in December, continuing throughout the month of April. 
Well grown plants, whether in 9-inch pots for conservatory deco¬ 
ration, or sturdy little specimens in 5-inch pots suitable for vases 
for room decoration, are always useful where bright colours are 
appreciated. 
Three sowings are requisite, the first being made early in 
March, the second a month later, while the third sowing need 
not be made before the end of May. A gentle heat, such as 
is afforded by a partly spent hotbed, must be provided for the 
first two sowings. The last sowing can be made in a cold frame 
placed behind a north wall, which will dispense with the trouble of 
providing shade daily. The seed germinates much better in the 
shade than when exposed to the sun, which parches the soil so 
much that germination is retarded. A compost of two parts leaf 
soil and one of loam, with a free admixture of silver sand, is most 
suitable for sowing the seed in. Employ well drained seed pans, 
over which place a square of glass covered with moss. This 
maintains the soil in a moist state, a condition favourable to the 
quick growth of the plants. Directly i he seedlings show above the soil 
remove the moss and tilt the glass a little on one side to admit air. 
