266 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
in sucn a mixture, and that they would gradually die branch by branch ; but 
the reverse is the case, no canker having yet appeared, and the trees are so 
fruitful year after year, that the Apricots here cannot be all used or preserved. 
The length of the wall is 360 feet, and the height 13 feet, and the trees, when 
planted in 1859, were lifted from the old kitchen garden, and filled all the 
available space at once. The trees when in the old garden never bore regular 
crops, and from £5 to £6 was usually spent every year in buying Apricots to 
supply the deficiency. After the trees were planted in 1859, the bad seasons 
of 1860 and 1861 occurred, but they bore good crops, and very large ones in 
1862, 1863, and 1864. This year I left 270 dozen to ripen, but as the 
summer turned out so dry and hot, and the border being only about 15 inches 
deep, I had to water and mulch the roots well; the fruit, therefore, of all the 
large sorts swelled to the usual size. This Apricot wall is covered every spring 
with long hothouse lights, which were saved from the old kitchen garden hot¬ 
houses. They are put on as soon as the blossom-buds begin to swell; and to 
this covering, and the border, I ascribe the uniform success in getting good 
crops. Apricot trees when in blossom cannot be kept too dry and airy for the 
fruit to set well; and the lights, not being put too close together, and open at 
the ends, just fulfil this purpose, keeping all the rain, hail, and snow showers 
off. A slight degree of frost, or cold winds, will not injure Apricot blossoms 
so long as they are kept dry. On this wall I have planted a few younger trees 
of the newer varieties of Apricots for successional purposes, and find that the 
St. Ambroise is an excellent early variety. 
Welbeck. William Tillery. 
NEW BOOK. 
The Orchard-House. By Thomas Biters. Twelfth Edition. London: 
Longmans, Green & Co. 
The fact that this work has reached its twelfth edition is almost sufficient 
guarantee of its merit, apart, even, from its coming from the pen of so eminent 
a horticulturist as Mr. Bivers. The present edition gives his latest experience 
on a mode of culture which is daily becoming more general, and practised with 
greater success ; and further directions are added on several subjects, such as 
laying out large houses, portable orchard-houses, the culture of standard Peach 
and Nectarine trees in borders with a solid surface, on Apricot culture, vine¬ 
yards under glass, the cultivation of the Tangierine Orange, and the manage¬ 
ment of Apple and Pear trees. We can heartily recommend the work to our 
readers, as one that may be read with pleasure as well as profit. 
As more failures occur in the pot-culture of the Apricot than, perhaps, with 
any other fruit, and as Mr. Bivers has shown by the examples which he 
exhibited before the Fruit Committee of the Boyal Horticultural Society how 
successfully Apricots can be grown in pots, and what beautiful objects they 
form when so grown, we extract the following :— 
“ The best trees for pot-culture are such as have been in pots one or two 
years : if these can be purchased, so much the better. The next best are trees 
that have been removed and cut down one year in the nursery. If neither of 
the above can be found, 4 dwarf maiden trees ’ will do. Trees taken from the 
open ground must not be potted till the end of October. Presuming that 
potted trees have been procured, they may, early in October, (or, if omitted 
then, in November or December), be repotted into pots of the size selected for 
this system. I have named 11-incli pots, because they are portable, and the 
trees may then be shifted into large pots as they advance in growth; 11-inch 
