APRIL. 
117 
external influences and ensure a crop of fruit. But as the success 
of the Peach crop depends mainly on the well ripened state of 
the preceding season’s wood, hot walls offer great advantages in this 
respect—advantages even superior to orchard houses or glass walls; 
for, by warming the walls during the latter part of September and 
October, the wood of the Peach growing against them becomes ripened 
and changes to a dark brown colour more quickly than does the Peach 
wood in orchard houses; and if means could be secured to keep the 
roots tolerably dry at that season, I believe nearly all the difficulties 
attending the culture of the Peach in the open air would be removed. 
In the northern and midland counties, flued walls are tolerably 
common, and much appreciated ; and the experience of the last season 
confirms their value, of which I noticed a case the other day. A friend 
of mine has two south-east walls, against both of which Peaches are 
planted: one of the divisions is flued, and is regularly heated in 
unfavourable seasons, and of course was so during the spring and 
autumn of 1860—the result was a good crop of fruit borne by healthy 
trees. The other division had the protection of a woollen net, and 
although a good crop of fruit set they afterwards fell off, and the 
trees have fully one-half of the wood dead, and that remaining is'" 
greatly affected with canker; while the others are sound and healthy, 
and showing an abundance of bloom already. My friend tells me he 
always fires his wall in October, and continues the fires until the leaves 
on the trees change colour, and that he has never missed having a crop 
of fruit since the trees were planted; but, on the other hand, he has 
rarely averaged a crop on alternate seasons on the wall not heated, and 
is now going to take up his Peach trees and plant Apricots in their 
place. 
When we consider that it incurs little more additional (or a very trifling 
one, indeed) expense to build walls with hollow flues, than solid; and 
that the chances of securing regular crops of fruit and healthy trees are 
made almost a matter of certainty at a trifling expense of fuel, during 
at most two months in the year, it seems to me quite worth while, when 
walls are being newly built, that flues should be made in them—for, 
independently of firing them, the walls would be drier and warmer 
built hollow ; and supposing fires not always required, it would be a 
great thing to have the means of saving your fruit and trees, even during 
such seasons as the past, if you could do so by merely expending a few 
hundred weights of fuel. In the western and southern counties flued 
walls appear all that is really necessary for growing the Peach tribe, 
and I prefer them to orchard houses. 
R. S. 
FLUKE POTATOES. 
Hearing a great deal about the good quality of these, and their general 
freedom from disease, I was induced to make a trial of some. The 
first year, however, I only purchased a very small quantity. They 
were treated in every respect like other sets, but they were so long in 
