140 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— May 20, 1850. 
fast-going people may appear slow; but knowledge usually 
increases by very small increments. Now, should a calve’s- 
liouse have helped forward the idea, no gardener should 
object to such aid; for it is commonly said that a donkey 
taught us gardeners the art of pruning fruit-trees. And if a 
calve’s house, or a calf, or a donkey, can afford us any good 
idea, let us be thankful for our instruction, aud give due 
I reverence to our teachers. 
It is not necessary that the Orchard-house should be con¬ 
fined to those forms which have been referred to above. 
1 Glass sides would be nearly as cheap as brick, and glass ends 
would be. a further advantage: light would thus be admitted 
on all sides; and with ventilating boards all round, and a 
similar contrivance at the ridge, air would be freely admitted 
from every quarter, as required, and the trees bo furnished 
with this most essential supply. Rut then, Ibis is a glass¬ 
house! To be sure it is. It is a glass-house in any form 
you take it, but it is the least expensive of all such structures; 
that is one of its merits, and it affords the means of culti¬ 
vating fruits under it in a better climate than outside, and 
offers facilities for a greater variety. However little may be 
thought of the 230 dozen of Teaches obtained last autumn 
in Mr. Rivers' Orchard-house of sixty-six feet in length, 
there is many a garden in this island which could not, last 
season, have furnished from well-kept walls the tithe of 
that number. There is one advantage connected with this 
mode of fruit-culture, not mentioned by Mr. Rivers, which 
ought not to be lost sight of. We all know that fruit grown 
on standard trees, properly ripened, is finer in quality than 
the same sort produced on a wall; they are smaller, it is 
true, but better flavoured. Quality in fruit is its first virtue; 
and size, though often put first, is but a. secondary affair. 
Gardeners should not estimate fruit as the judges do bullocks 
and hogs at the Smithfield Christmas Show. Peaches, Ac., 
in pots, in an Orchard-house, are standard trpes, and give 
them light and air all round, the fruits ripened there ought 
to be of the highest flavour. 
At page 183 of Vol. XV. of The Cottage Gardense, two 
plans are offered, claiming to possess superior merit to the 
Orchard-house. These plans cannot properly he brought into 
comparison with such a modest structure, not only on the 
ground'of expense, but because their cultivation is entirely 
different. The Orchard-house and these plans embrace dif¬ 
ferent ideas. Rut let me notice one objection, which a first 
look at these plans suggests: there are two rows of trees 
shown, which are to grow under the .shade of those trained 
immediately under the glass. Trees may grow in such a 
site, and produce some fruit; hut stone (or any other) fruit 
in the shade can never possess the qualities of what is 
grown properly exposed to light. Indeed, this objection is 
so far applicable to ordinary Reach-houses, anil especially 
those of the lean-to form, as ihe light only falls upon one 
sido of the fruit. The same may he said of Reaches on 
walls: the best part of the fruit is the side exposed to the 
sun ; and where the situation is not very favourable, it is 
only the sunny side of the Peach which is ripened. 
Mr. Rivers says that the Orchard-house is spring frost- 
; proof. This will depend on circumstances. If it be pro¬ 
perly aired, it will be in better condition to resist frost than 
if airing be neglected. Air is vital air to a plant, ns well as 
to a man. The functions of fruit-trees cannot healthfully 
he discharged without it; hut if these functions are active as 
in spring, and the plants are denied plenty of fresh air, their 
developments will be feeble and tender, and more easily 
destroyed than if they had been in the open air. So now 
let me answer the question, “ What did 1 R.’ gain by cover¬ 
ing his trees with glass ?’’ A great disappointment, in the 
I first place; and next, a little knowledge. My trees which 
were covered, were, beyond all dispute, made tender by tbe 
process, and I lost fruit instead of gaining it. On referring 
| to my statement at page 90, it will be observed that I say 
I there, “ I think I could manage better now;” and this is 
my explanation. The sashes which 1 put before my trees 
' were fixed in an upright position. As the trees might be 
said to he in a recess, made of two boards perpendicular, 
and one at the top horizontal, and as I had stalled every 
crevice between the hoards and the wall with moss, to keep 
out frost, my trees were, as far as it was possible, shut out 
from air. This was uncommonly bad gardening, but it was 
the fact; and hence the failure, as I believe. The trees, 
deprived of air, and made as close as if they had been 
packed in a box, were forced on by the bright sun at railway 
pace, and, their functions being performed in such unhealthy 
conditions, their developments of the fruit first, and the 
young shoots afterwards, were incapable of resisting a 
degree of cold which was borne without injury by what was 
1 fully exposed. I was ignorant of the meaning and value of 
proper aeration to fruit-trees. Had I given plenty of air hv 
j day, and the advantage of the protection of the glass by 
night, I might have had some better recotnpcnce for my 
labour. Still, we gain instruction from failure. We are 
not, from such a case, to come to the conclusion that glass 
is worse than useless : it must afford a certain measure of 
protection, which will be enough, in general, to save the 
season’s fruit, if the trees are properly cultivated. Some 
gardeners attain great results by humble appliances, through 
sagacity and skill, and others, with every possible requisite 
in their hands, never know success. 
The Orchard-house presents many enviable aspects. How 
i cozy the trees must bo there, when cutting winds, hail 
•showers, drifting sleet, and snow, too, arc committing whole¬ 
sale destruction outside! Of these enemies we have all 
sorry reminiscences; and Mr. Rivers’ trees, and fruit, and 
house, bring before me a contrast. In the early part of May 
last, my Plums and Rears were in full blossom. One night, 
at nine o’clock, the wind chopped round to the north-east; 
huge clouds came drifting up from the North Sea; and the 
thermometer had got down to the freezing point. Ry the 
help of a man I endeavoured to meet the exigencies of the 
occasion. We got out tulip-covers, old and new mats and 
rugs, every spare sash, even boards and straw, and wrought 
hard to beat winter. For winter it was in earnest; and tbe 
beds would have been stripped of blankets to cover tbe trees, 
but the night was not inviting for such an experiment. By 
tbe time we bad done, and were able to return to the house, 
there were two inches of snow lying on the ground, and 
i hard frozen. And what did we get by all this? Well 
pinched, hut no fruit. Mr. Rivers has had more fruit in 
his Orchard-house this season than I have obtained from 
one hundred yards of cold wall in eight years, and more, if 
I may presume to guess, than I shall see in other 
eight years to come.—R. 
TO COFHlESPONDErJTS. 
Hues (Brixlonum). —Write to Messrs. Neighbour. You will sec their 
address in our advertising columns. 
Name of Plant ( J. Dyer).— It is Saxifraga granuluta plena, nr 
Double-knob-ruoled, or White Saxifrage. This double variety was found 
growing wild by Mr. Joseph Blind, gardener at Barnes, about eighty years 
ago. He transplanted it into his garden, gave specimens to his friends, 
and it has since become common enough. It is easily propagated by its off¬ 
sets ; plant them after the leaves have decayed in early August in some 
shady place, and in good untnanured loam. During winter they may be 
fully exposed to the sun; but at other times they require shade. 
Raising Strawberries from Sf.ed (An Experimenter). —Ripe 
seed maybe procured in two ways:—First, during the first year the 
plants have produced fruit, collect a sufficient quantity of well-shaped 
and well-ripened berries, and the best time to do this is towards the end 
of the full crop, that we may he sure we have got the proper sort, and 
that we have not gathered the seeds either from degenerated plants, or 
from other varieties which may have intruded into tile bed. Put these 
! berries upon a plate, and set them in a dry place out of the reach of 
mice. They will then decompose and dry up. No danger is to he 
apprehended from the berries becoming putrid or mouldy ; for the de¬ 
composition of the pulp tends only to perfect the seeds. The Straw- j 
berries thus dried arc to he kept till the following spring, when, by 
rubbing them between the fingers, the seed may he easily separated 
from the remains of the pulp, which may he thrown away as useless, and 
, then the seeds will remain unmixed and almost perfectly clean. Or, 
secondly, take the Strawberries, selected as in the former ease, and 
squeeze them in a hair searce or sieve of a pretty close texture; pour 
water upon them, shaking and separating them at the same time /with 
i the hand ; press them against the searce, and in a short time the diluted j 
j pulp will pass through and leave the seed. These may lie either sown 1 
immediately, or kept in a dry place until the spring. Sowing should l 
j take place immediately the seed is obtained from tile berry, and the \ 
seedlings will then bear fruit the next year. Select a light, rich soil | 
with an casternly aspect, so as to he shaded from the mid-day sun ; sow ! 
very thinly, in drills nine inches apart, and bury the seed not more than j 
a quarter-of-an-inch below the surface. Give gentle waterings daily [ 
during dry weather, and keep the seedlings well cleared from weeds. In 
August, thin the plants to six inches apart, and those thus removed may 
lie pricked out at similar distances in a like sheltered soil. In the early ! 
spring, give them a slight top-dressing of leaf-mould. Instead of sowing | 
in the open border, some gardeners prefer employing pots or seed-pans, i 
which we consider necessary only where small quantities of hybridized j 
