38 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
manner of verv fat Hereford cattle. The Thames Bank Peach, which with me 
•/ 
i3 yet only a very small tree, was moved to its present place only in February 
last, where it bore ten very nice fruits ; its peculiarity is its beautifully rich- 
looking yellow skin and flesh ; it is not by any means a bad peach, and for those 
who like yellow-fleshed sorts, it certainly has character enough to commend it. 
The fact of a small plant fruiting so freely ought not to be overlooked. 
Compared to Peaches grown in an orchard-house, with which I had at the time 
an opportunity of comparing them, those grown upon the open wall had decidedly 
the advantage. They were larger, far better coloured, and decidedly better in 
flavour. Those grown in the orchard-house were used in the kitchen; those 
from the open wall were served up as dessert. Of course, 1870 was an excep¬ 
tionally good year for Peaches and out-door fruit generally. My experience of the 
climate of Combe, although extending over but few years, teaches me to under¬ 
stand that we cannot depend upon every season for ripening out-door Peaches, 
even supposing them to set, and for a time to swell off favourably ; we sometimes 
get a cold sunless autumn, when instead of ripening, they shrivel upon the tree. 
The system which I adopt in training the Peach tree is that known as 
“ Seymour’s,” than which I know of none which is prettier, whether it be looked 
upon with or without the fruit. This system is here carried out to the letter, 
both in the form known as the fan, and also in that known as the horizontal ; 
the latter looks very pretty, not only on the walls, but it is introduced successfully 
on the trellising of our upright Peach cases. I am an admirer of the system, 
not only for its beauty, but also for its simplicity. When once it is understood, 
the trainer has no difficulty either in pruning or tying the tree into form. Most 
attention is necessary at the disbudding time, to see that a successional growth is 
secured at the base of the previous year’s lateral, to take its place after the latter 
has matured its fruit and is cut away, which operation we generally do imme¬ 
diately after the fruit is gathered. The leaves of the young laterals are then 
more freely exposed to the sun and air, and by the end of autumn are strong, 
plump in bud, and well ripened.— Wm. Miller, Combe Abbey Gardens. 
PICTURES OF PALM TREES. 
I. Djemonorops plumosus. 
CPUIIE Palms of the group Lepidocaryinece , which bear scaly or loricate cone- 
[ \pj like fruits, include several of the more familiar and ornamental genera of 
^ this princely family of plants, which are daily becoming more and more 
esteemed for their highly decorative qualities. Amongst them occurs the 
subject of the accompanying figure, borrowed from our contemporary the 
Gardeners’ Chronicle , and which forms one of the illustrations to a useful 
series of papers from the pen of Dr. Seemann, on the cultivated species of Palms. 
The group above referred to comprises the pinnated-leaved genera, Ceratolobus , 
Plectocomia , Zalacca , Dcemonorops , Calamus , Korthalsia , Eugeissona , Sag us, 
