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the most disastrous character. I planted forty Vines in different parts 
of the orchard house here—they were in pure turfy loam, and produced 
short-jointed rods of an enormous size, with bunches fully corresponding 
—but I soon perceived that even the first frosts and damps of autumn 
were too much for them, and to sacrifice for such fine crops of Coe’s 
Golden Drop Plum, which hangs on the trees in the highest perfection 
up to the middle of December, was not for one moment to be thought 
of. And who, I would ask, would ever partake of Grapes or even Pine 
Apples in preference to those ripened under the circumstances I have 
described. And what a splendid addition these stone fruits are to the 
dessert at a late period of the season—and at a time, too, when gentle¬ 
men usually have their large parties in the country—and they are 
invariably partaken of in preference to Pines, Grapes, Pears, &c. The 
same reasons that have induced me to root up these forty Vines, 
have also determined me in a great measure to discontinue the cultivation 
of the Fig in the house in question ; nor does a second crop of even the 
Marseilles variety ripen in the most favoured position. Consequently, 
1 hold that neither Vines nor Figs are proper subjects for cultivation in 
a house in which stone fruits are grown and kept till a late period of 
the season ; but should be in respective divisions in which much more 
warmth can be given than is required for perfecting wood, and keeping 
till a late period the various fruits to which I have already referred. 
On the proper style of plants for a large orchard house, there seems 
to be a diversity of opinion. Mr. Rivers recommends half standards, 
bushes, and pyramids, the three feet standards, to have their heads 
spread horizontally, by carefully pinching out their central shoots, and 
pruning so as to offer a large surface to the sun; for the Peach without 
a sunny side, i.e., a rosy cheek, is too often flat and insipid.” I have 
seen the standard Peaches in the gardens of the Earl of Essex, at Can¬ 
terbury under the very skilful management of the late Mr. Anderson, 
but I confess that even under his care this system did not please me; 
and I feel perfectly convinced that by no other means can the fruit and 
foliage be so well exposed in the sun and light as on a properly con¬ 
structed trellis. I do not mean those fancy things which one meets 
with now and then, and which usually fill the house with darkness 
during a great portion of the day. Such I acknowledge look ex¬ 
ceedingly well on paper, and make a very pretty picture for a work 
on gardening. The best practical men, however, with whom I have 
conversed, eschew them for the reason I have stated. A well constructed 
trellis ought to present to the sun and light the greatest possible surface 
for training that can be obtained in a given space, and some recent 
erections I have seen appear to me exceedingly faulty in this particular, 
the superfices of trellis bearing but a very small proportion to the 
amount of glass used in the structure. It is now, I believe, generally 
admitted that success in fruit growing does not so much depend 
on the quantity as in the excellence of the produce ; and here the 
thinning occupies some time, and one finds as the season advances that 
this operation had been better performed had it been done more severely, 
nor do I find that plants grown in pots are less productive, or the fruit 
inferior in point of flavour to those grown in the free soil. I have never 
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