534 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 19, 1889. 
The Peach Case. 
A lofty but narrow, though roomy enough, structure devised for 
protecting Peach trees, &c., on walls at a minimum cost of money and 
of ground space, but at the same time giving the same command and 
the same facilities as the ordinary Peach house. This glass case is 600 
feet long, in two divisions ; the back wall is planted with all the 
approved varieties of Peaches and Nectarines and bearing good crops in 
their season. At the time of my visit the fruit and foliage was nearly 
all off, and tall grown Chrysanthemums were standing before them. 
The front of the case is well trellised, and on the trellis are grown 
young Peach trees that are annually dispersed throughout the length 
and breadth of the kingdom, Trentham having been noted for years for 
its well grown fruiting Peach trees. In the second division are eighty 
trees of Calville Blanche Apples in pots, each tree bearing a few very 
finely grown and coloured fruits. Apparently, and after careful 
examination, these trees (so juvenile do they look) are about fifteen 
years old ; inquiry proves them to be between forty-five and fifty years 
old 1 The uninitiated must not suppose them to be gnarled and large 
trees in correspondingly large pots, far from it. They are trees that the 
inexperienced might, without appearing foolish, take to be five or six 
years old, and are in pots about 12 inches in diameter. In fact, the 
trees, with their fruit on, are frequently used for decorating the dinner 
table. 
The Plum House. 
At a right angle to the Peach case, and bounding the top of the 
enclosed kitchen garden is another range of glass, the first division 
being devoted to the Plum. It is 80 feet long, and is planted front and 
back with Plum trees. Mr. Blair is noted for bis Plums, and takes first 
honours easily wherever he exhibits them. The varieties grown in the 
house are Ickworth Imperatrice, Dennison’s Superb, Coe’s Golden Drop, 
Reinette Claude de Bavay, Golden Emperor, Jefferson, Transparent 
Gage, and McLaughlin’s Gage. Passing through one of the vineries 
we enter the Cherry house (which is a division of one of the long 
glass cases near the gardener’s residence, and used for Vines, 
Peaches, &c.), trees are planted back and front, and the wood is strong 
and clean, and covered with large flower buds which, in due season, 
will produce very fine fruit in great abundance. It is to be noticed 
that Mr. Blair does not overcrowd his fruit trees with young wood 
during summer and autumn, only to be cut out in winter ; but he 
thins the young shoots freely during the growing season, and leaves 
little more than will be required for bearing fruit the following year. 
That is a practice followed by all the best gardeners. If the most 
regular crops and the finest fruit be desired from any tree, the shoots 
must be so distributed that each leaf may receive unobstructed solar light 
upon the whole of its upper surface; all foliage in excess of that, or 
which smothers other foliage, indicates so much comparative waste and 
surplus wood, the smothered portion being weak in vitality, immature, 
and worthless. Therefore the golden rule is :—Allow just as much 
foliage, and no more, as will fill the allotted space without crowding, 
and allow the sun to shine upon and between all the leaves ; this 
applies as much to Vines as to Peach trees, Plum trees or Cherry trees. 
The varieties cultivated in the Cherry house at Trentham are Bigarreau 
Napoleon, Black Tartarian, May Duke, Rivers’ Early, Governor Wood, 
and Black Circassian. 
At the top end of the kitchen garden is a block of span-roofed houses 
built after modern ideas, several by the late Mr. Stevens, and several 
recently by Mr. Blair. All are substantial and roomy structures of 
equal length, and each house in two divisions, but vary in width 
and in height. The first division we entered is used as a Palm 
house, the central portion being occupied chiefly with Kentias and 
Cocos plumosus, fine useful specimens 8 to 12 feet high. The side 
shelves are occupied principally by smaller Palms and a large quantity 
of Anthurium Schertzerianum. On the roof are fine specimens of 
Pitcher Plants (Nepenthes). In this house and a corresponding house 
Mr. Blair has adopted a somewhat unique method of keeping a moist 
atmosphere. The usual practice is for the man in charge to damp the 
pathways of such houses so many times a day by means of a watering 
pot. This has been dispensed with, and a small water pipe is carried 
along the front of the stages next the path, and this pipe is perforated 
at intervals with pin holes. By turning a tap the water is discharged 
through the pipe at any desired pressure, and may either be arranged to 
run slowly all day and night, or may be turned on with greater force 
for a few minutes. By these means the alternate damping and drying 
of the usual system is avoided, and an equable atmospheric moisture 
sustained. That the plants like the treatment is amply demonstrated by 
their luxuriance and cleanliness. 
The next division is the Cattleya house, and consists of a large cen¬ 
tral stage with a water tank underneath and side shelves. The chief 
occupants of the centre stage are a grand lot of Lrelia purpurata show¬ 
ing ninety flower spikes. Considering the short time since these were 
imported, it is probable these plants could not be surpassed for size and 
health by any in the country, and the same may be said of the scores 
of Cattleya Mendeli accompanying them. On the side shelves were fine 
examples of Cymbidium eburneum, C. Lowianum,Zygopetalum Mackayi, 
Varda coerulea, a handsome variety ; Barkeria melanocaulon,anda grand 
lot of Lafiia anceps andL. anceps Dawsoni, all showing 112 flower spikes, 
which will probably be a grand sight by the time these notes appear. 
The next house is occupied with winter Cucumbers, amongst which is a 
very nice seedling raised by Mr. Blair, and more will probably be heard 
of it. In some small frames in the interior of this house the earliest 
Lily of the Valley and Hyacinths, &c., are forced. Mr. Blair makes a 
point of having his first Lily of the Valley by 17th November. The next 
division is filled with hundreds of beautiful plants of Poinsettia pul- 
cherrima ; these will be a sight worth a long journey to see. I am told 
these occasionally receive a sprinkling of nitrate of soda. 
The second Palm house is a counterpart of the first, the contents 
being somewhat varied, amongst which are splendid plants of Areca 
lutescens. In the third Palm house are quantities of Eucharis grandi- 
floia and Pancratium fragrans gro> ' ig luxuriantly as an undergrowth 
to the Palms above them. The best specimens of Eucharis I have 
ever seen have always been grown under constant partial shade and in 
warm quarters; it is impatient of prolonged low temperature and 
strong sunlight. Hanging next the glass in this house was a very fine 
lot of Dendrobium Jamesianum ripening off their new growths, which 
were very strong for newly imported pieces, but all the Orchids at 
Trentham are in the best of health. 
The next house and parallel to the others is a span-roofed Peach 
house, filled underneath the trees with a very fine lot of trained Chrys¬ 
anthemums, and the adjoining division is planted with Roses and 
Tomatoes alternately, and the borders are filled with scores of strong 
useful plants of Arums. The favourite Tomato here is Hackwood Park, 
a variety difficult to surpass, all points considered. The last house of 
this block we enter is the Fig house, and the trees are planted on each 
side, the favourites being Brown Turkey and Negro Largo. The next 
division is used as a greenhouse, and is at present filled with dwarf- 
grown Chrysanthemums, 2 to 4 feet high, and carrying three to six good 
flowers. 
Flowering Odontoglossum House. 
Those who have seen this at its best will not require convincing 
of its loveliness or of the health and vigour of the plants. It is a 
lean-to house with a north aspect, and about 90 feet long, and for 
quality of flower, general size, and healthiness of plants probably cannot 
be surpassed in the coi try. November is not the time to see an 
Odontoglossum house in fu 1 flower, but having seen this at other times 
I venture to say it is not possible by any word-painting to adequately 
describe its beauty. Hundreds of spikes of O. Alexandra, 0. Pescatorei, 
O. Rossi majus, 0. Insleayi, O. triumphans, O. Halli, Oncidium macran- 
thum, O. Forbesi, Epidendrum vitellinum. These and others greet the 
eye at different periods, and the year round this house is well worth 
seeing. There is a mirror on the door at either end of the house, and 
the walls about these r re coloured blue, which gives a very pleasing 
effect, more so than will be credited without being seen. The mirrors 
reflect the house and contents, and looked at one or both ways is 
apparently doubled or trebled in length. 
Leaving this interesting house, we enter some of the pits devoted to 
growing small plants in thousands. In the first pit are healthy lots of 
Dracaena rubra (true), Kentias, Aspidistras, Asparagus plumosus 
nanus, a grand batch of Adiantum fragrantissimum, Anthurium 
Andreanum, Phakenopsis violacea, P. amabilis, and Dendrobium Bry- 
merianum ; the latter there is a great quantity of first-class plants. In 
pit 2 we saw some Dendrobium Ainsworthi and D. Ainsworthi roseum. 
Mr. Blair knows when he has a good thing, and he loses no time in 
increasing it, and growing it m the best possible manner. Scores of 
pots of Pleione lagenaria (Indian Crocus) are on the shelf next the 
glass, and are pushing up their flowers from beside their flask-shaped 
pseudo-bulbs. In an adjoining pit are dozens of Bouvardias covered 
with flowers and flower-buds, and for general health cannot be 
excelled. 
Other houses and pits are c* voted to the establishment and culture 
of newly imported Odontoglossums, which are grown in tens of thou¬ 
sands. That the houses and treatment they receive is amply demon¬ 
strated by the stiff deep green and clean appearance of the plants 
collectively and individually, large and small. In the Odontoglossum 
and Masdevallia house at the back of the old Melon ground are several 
unusually strong plants of Oncidium macranthum, and fine lots of 
Odontoglossum cirrhosum and Masdevallias, the chief species of the 
latter being M. Yeitchi, M. ignea violacea, M. Dav'si, M. Shuttleworthi, 
M. Harryana, M. regalis, M. rotundifolia, M. Chelsoni, Thompson’s 
Scarlet, and Bull’s Blood. These are only a portion, and for size and 
healthiness they must be seen to be appreciated. The original Odonto¬ 
glossum house, and which yet contains the original Lapageria alba on 
the back wall, is being furnished with r new roof and front, and will 
probably be used as such for very many years to come. 
The Lapageria House 
Had thousands of flowers hanging from the roof during September and 
October, and it must have been a very unusual sight. Every square 
foot of the large roof is covered with luxuriant growth. The aquatic 
house does not look as it used to when aquatic and semi-aquatic plants 
were grown in and over the bank ; but the back part of the house is as 
pleasing as ever, if not more so. Bananas (Musa Cavendishiana) occupy 
their old home, and keep up an almost endless supply of their rich 
fruit. They are as strong, and possibly stronger, than usual. 
Several other ranges of houses have been raised higher by Mr. Blair, 
and are filled principally with miscellaneous stove plants for decorative 
purposes, and with a large quantity of Cypripediums (Lady’s Slipper) 
of all the best species and varieties. 
The Chrysanthemums. 
These have been a great feature at Trentham this autumn, and 
specimens of the general quality have been seen at. most of the principal 
shows in England, where they have occupied very honourable positions. 
