172 
THE FLOIilST AXD P0M0L0GI3T. 
[ August, 
annexed plan of a garden (dg. 3), tlie tanks are so placed as to admit of the 
water being distributed vhth the greatest ease; and it is not too much to assume 
that, with an arrangement of this kind, tv70 men with a garden-engine, or a lady 
with her handy man ” v\*ould do more effective watering in a few hours than 
half-a-dozen men with the usual means vrould in a day. If it is desired, a pound 
or two of guano, or any other concentrated 
manure can be dropped into the tanks, and 
there •will be a suppl}^ of liquid manure; or 
by the same rule lime may be thrown in, 
and there will be a supply of lime-water 
in a few minutes. 
Whether, then, we look to the palatial 
gardens of the nobility, or the simple plots 
of the artizan or labourer, the new conduit 
tile will confer a great boon upon the gar¬ 
dening public. Of course, its form may 
be varied to suit the requirements of de¬ 
signers, but the conduit itself will be as 
useful to the architect in the forecourt, or * 
in the elaborate geometric garden, as it 
will be to the gardener. Tiles for edging 
grass verges are in preparation, and these 
once properly fixed will do av,my with the 
edging-knife and the raw, dark edgings which are such a dissight in most 
gardens every spring, and will secure what has long been desired, a perfectly 
true and even grass verge to our walks. The tiles are manufactured in terra¬ 
cotta, and, considering the material employed, arc sold at a reasonable price.— 
W. P. Ayres, Nottingham. 
ON THE FxVILUKE OE FKUIT IN 1869. 
^^HERE has been some discussion in these pages on the failure of Fruit 
in 1869. Some who have ’written on the subject laid much stress on the 
hot and dry weather of the previous summer, by which the trees were 
deprived of proper nutriment to mature the fruit-buds. Others have 
contended that the failure was owing to the ungenial weather when the trees 
were in bloom. This coincides best with the observations of those who wrote in 
the proceeding autumn, for they observed that the young shoots and fruit-buds 
of the trees were strong and well ripened. Yet our best hopes were blighted, 
and not by biting frost,” and we must look to some other cause for the failure. 
In my opinion, it was the lack of sunshine when the trees were in blossom, for 
without the genial rays of light all the gardener’s art must fail. That is also 
well shown by the abundance of fruit this season. Some Northern gardeners, 
Fig. 3. 
