1871. ] 
ORCHARD-HOUSE FRUIT CULTURE. 
163 
in pots, consisting of Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Cherries, Plums, Pears, and 
Apples, besides pot Strawberries, which latter do exceedingly well. Of the for¬ 
mer more delicate fruits the crop last season was profuse, and the fruit of full 
average quality, both as regards size and flavour, but the Pear trees were 
extraordinary pictures of successful management. 
The treatment adopted at Gishurst Cottage is to crowd the trees into the 
houses for the winter as thickly as they can be packed, and in this position they 
remain during the period of flowering, since at that stage they require very little 
space. Subsequently, when the fruit is set, and the danger from spring frosts 
over, usually about the beginning of June, the hardier sorts, such as Plums and 
Pears, which ripen their fruit in greatest perfection out-of-doors, are drawn out 
and set in sheltered places outside. The tenderer fruits thus get the full benefit 
of the house space when they most require it, while the hardier sorts, as Plums, 
Apples, and Pears, are in due time plunged into the open ground, near the path¬ 
ways, where they can readily be watered. It is on the constant and unfailing 
attention to watering—copious waterings two or three times a day in very hot 
weather—that the swelling of the fruit depends, the quality being at the same 
time so well brought out by the other conditions of growth, that the fruits thus 
grown have generally carried off first prizes when exhibited. Indeed, Mr. Wil¬ 
son’s Louise Bonne Pears have taken the first prize for flavour at the Crystal 
Palace Autumn show, against 36 competing single dishes. Some superb speci- 
/ 
mens of Northern Spy Apple, grown in this way from the same garden, were 
figured in our volume for 1862. A few of the more prominent examples grown 
in 1870 are noted below :— 
Louise. Bonne of Jersey Pear. —A cylm- 
drical-sliaped tree, ft. high and from 2 ft. 
to 21 in diameter, and growing in a 13-in. pot, 
bore 73 fruits, all well-swelled fruit of full 
average size, the choicest sample measuring 
in. in length and 9£ in. in circumference. 
Another plant, in a 13-in. pot, bore 42 fruits; 
and a third tree, of about the same size, in a 
16-in. pot, bore 82 fruits. 
Williams Bon Ghritien Pear. —Of the 
fruits of this excellent Pear, some measured 
5f in. in length and 10 in. in circumference, 
and some 6£ in. in length by 9f in. in circum¬ 
ference. 
Marie Louise Pear. —A dwarf standard of 
compact form, in a 16-in. pot, the tree 4ft. 
10 in. high and about 2 ft. in diameter, bore 
45 Pears, some of which measured respectively 
5 in. long by in. in circumference, and 5| in. 
long by 8| in. in circumference. 
Winter Nelis Pear. —A loose bush tree, 3 ft. 
6 in. high and 3 ft. through, in a 14-in. pot, 
bore 73 fruits, of which the circumference 
varied from 7 in. to 7J im, the length being 
about 4 in. 
Easter Beurr€ Pear. —A compact bush tree, 
4 ft. high by 3 ft. diameter, growing in a 15-in 
pot, bore 27 fruit, selected samples of which 
measured 5 in. long by 10 in. in circumference, 
and 4£ in. long by 9^- in. in circumference. 
Glou Morceau Pear. —A loose bush tree, 
about 3^- ft. high, and the same in diameter, 
in a 14-in. pot, bore 40 Pears, which mea- 
sui'ed 5 in. in length and 8f in. in circumfer¬ 
ence. 
Triomphe de Jodoinge Pear. —A loose bush 
tree, 3 ft. high and 4 ft. through, growing in a 
15-in. pot, bore 68 fruits, the measure of 
which in the sample examined was 6 in. in 
length and 9^- in. in circumference. 
Marechal a la Cour Pear .—A compact bush 
tree, 4 ft. high by 3^ ft. through, in a 15-in. 
pot, had a crop of 77 fruits, the measured ex¬ 
amples of which showed the following propor¬ 
tions :—5£ in. and 5§ in. in length, and 8f in. 
and 9 in. in circumference respectively. 
Melon Apple. —A dwarf standard compact 
tree, 4 ft. high by about 2£ ft. in diameter, in a 
13-in. pot, boro 33 Apples, the ciroumferonce 
of which was 8f in. 
These were a fair sample of the collection of Pears and Apples, the produce 
