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1 
THE FLORIST. 
are also somewhat extensively grown there in pots. I have also another 
house under my care, in which all the plants are in pots and forced, and 
they are at this moment a source of great “ interest ” and “ delight” to 
me. They consist of Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Figs, Cherries, 
Plums, Raspberries, Currants, Strawberries, and Gooseberries ; there is 
also a Brazilian Guava growing in the free soil and trained on the back 
wall of the house. 
First, then, Mr. Editor, you state' in a foot note at page 20 of the 
current volume, “ There can be no question that orchard houses are 
valuable addenda to large gardens, not so much for Peaches and Necta¬ 
rines (as glass-covered walls and Peach-houses abound) as for obtaining 
Pears, Plums, Apples, &c., in such perfection for the dessert table, and 
ensuring a crop.” Now I here firmly and emphatically enter my 
protest against this doctrine, and assert that these erections are valuable 
addenda to every garden—that they are proper erections wherever the sun 
and wind can reach them ; and so thoroughly am I imbued with this 
impression, that I have recommended two of my friends to put up 
orchard houses on the leads of their houses, situated in Oxford-street! 
Peaches, Nectarines, and all stone fruits do well in these houses if there 
is an abundance of air. The best-flavoured Pears that I have eaten 
this season have been grown under glass; and no doubt some of the 
more delicate Apples, which are never grown to perfection in this 
country, (and of which the American Lady Apple may be taken as a 
type) might be very judiciously grown in these houses, and each and 
all of the fruits named would unquestionably do equally well in houses 
or glass-covered walls as Peaches or Nectarines are grown, and vice 
versa. But I presume you would not wish to be understood as recom¬ 
mending the Hawthornden, a Scotch kitchen Apple, which grows and 
fruits anywhere and everywhere, and that, too, in all seasons. Why, 
at Waterer and Godfrey’s nursery, I observed some years since a hedge 
of it, w;hich I fancied at the time was the most perfect specimen of fruit 
tree training I had ever seen, and I expressed my admiration of it by 
stating that I thought it was the very best thing they had about the 
place; they however pointed to some large grafted specimens of the 
Noble Pine, admitting, however, that the Apple hedge might probably 
be the most useful, by reason of its productiveness. 
That Grapes can be grown and ripened in glass structures, year after 
year, without the aid of any heating apparatus, there cannot be the 
slightest doubt. I, at least, have accomplished this for many seasons ; 
and I have seen a plentiful supply of ripe Grapes at Sawbridgeworth, 
in October, perfected without such assistance; but how Mr. Rivers 
keeps them afterwards, that gentleman can best describe. Those under 
my care are usually in cut till the middle of February, being kept 
safely from the ill effects of frost and damp by the kindly warmth of 
a hot water pipe. But notwithstanding all this, I by no means consider 
that Vines are adapted for a cool orchard house in which Peaches, Apri¬ 
cots, and Plums are grown, the temperature necessary for the one being 
altogether unsuited for the other. Nor does the foliage of the Vine harmo¬ 
nise with the others; and if they are trained on the pillars, rafters, or 
other prominent parts of the building, the shade they produce is of 
