THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— July 8, 1856. 
258 
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I 
many of the ornamental trees recently imported may 
be possessed of that long-maintained vigorous existence 
which enables them to bravo centuries, like our own 
Oak, Yew, and other trees. 
Qne of the longest-lived amongst foreign trees ac 
oliinatizcd with us is the Cedar of Lebanon; and, cer¬ 
tainly, there is nothing yet amongst the numerous Pine 
family to excel it in point of beauty, its sturdy, hori¬ 
zontal limbs, stretching at right angles from its stem, 
seem to bid defiance to everything around it, and its 
general good appearance, apart from the veneration due 
to its name, entitles it to the first place amongst trees of 
its class. 
My purpose here, however, is only to throw in a few 
hints about the selection of trees for future effect. It 
would be well in all oases to ascertain the constitutional 
durability of a tree ero it be allotted a place where an 
aged one is wanted, ns some unfortunate mistakes have 
been made that way. The latest introduced trees arc not 
necessarily the most ornamental, and those who plant 
lor future elleot would do well to consider if utility 
rather than novelty might more likely accord with their 
successor’s view. By this 1 do not mean to condemn 
the search after, and planting of, new trees; but when 
certain objects have to be gained, and trees are to be 
planted at certain places to form important features in 
after effect, it is better to adhere to well-tried old 
friends than trust to the highly extolled new comers, 
whose acquaintance was only made yesterday. New 
trees ought first to be tried elsewhere, otherwise it is 
likely nine cases out of ten will be unsatisfactory. 
I have been partly induced to pen the above from the 
fact, that in making some alterations, 1 had occasion to 
cut down some half dozen large Oriental Plane trees, 
containing from twenty to sixty cubic feet of timber 
each ; but not one of them was sound, although, until 
within the last few years, they seemed in robust health, 
and the situation in which they were growing suited 
them, as is proved by their sizo. Now, Sycamore is 
seldom found diseased, neither is Beech, which, 1 believe, 
attains a great age. Elms are certainly not so long- 
lived, neither is the Ash, the longest, perhaps, being 
the Yew, Oak, and Hawthorn. I n some places aged Scotch 
Firs form very interesting objects, with their expanded 
heads and orange-coloured bark, differing widely from 
the small plants of the same species. One tree puzzles 
me—the Spanish Chestnut. It is grown hero rather 
extensively; and, although it is often found of tolerably 
large size, it is rarely fitted for any purpose of small 
work; not that it decays so much, but that the timber 
has a tendeucy to shiver or fall in pieces when sawn up 
for use. All specimens of it do not do this; and some seem 
to hang together as well as Oak. Even while growing 
on the same soil as the other varieties, most likely they 
are varieties of the original, and it would be well to 
ascertain which is the most adhesive one, and to plant 
only that. J, Robson. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
FORCING PEACHES IN POTS.—PLANTING A 
VINERY. 
“ 1 have two small lean-to houses heated by hot water, 
facing south, fifteen feet by nine feet each, in which I want 
to force Peaches. My notion is, to have them in pots or 
boxes, so as to be able to use the houses for other purposes. 
I mean to train two or three Peach-trees to a trellis on the 
back wall, but to have these moveable as well as the others. 
“ Some plain directions for growing Peaches in pots or 
boxes would be very acceptable to me, as well as to many 
others. 
“ I have a small house, about seventeen feet by seventeen 
feet, in which Vines are to be planted. The house is heated 
by hot-water. Will you say how the Vines should be planted ? 
The front wall is not built on arches, but, of course, nothing 
is more easy than to make a passage for the roots through 
the wall, supposing you recommend planting inside the 
house. How many Vines?— Ignoramus.’’ 
[Peaches in pots may be alluded to hereafter in detail; 
meanwhile, these are the main points :—Get bearing plants 
from the nursery, or obtain maiden trees. Those for a 
trellis cut for fail training, those for a single stein grow in 
the standard pyramidal style. They may have, at first, 1 fl¬ 
inch pots ; use maiden loam, and top-dress with rotten dung. 
The second season and onward tticy will require pots from 
fourteen inches. Do not prune very close, Unless you are 
quite sure of the wood-buds; better to prune finally when 
the buds are all broken, so as to select your shoots. Leave 
as many all along the stem as can obtain air and light 
enough ; but do not ftisbud all at once. Do not give more 
than 50° until all the buds are fairly broken, then the tem¬ 
perature may be increased to 00°. Use chilled water for 
watering, and after growth is proceeding use it freely. Keep 
down insects, and get the pots out of doors by the end of 
July or the beginning of August, and if well mulched and 
watered until the end of September, you may expect wood 
that will be full of flower-buds next season. The thing then 
is to start gradually, and disbud gradually ; dust the pollen 
on the young incipient fruit, give plenty of air, with 
moderate waterings while growth is progressing freely, and 
then there must be no dryness until the fruit is gathered 
and the wood getting ripe. 
In such a Vinery as you describe the border may he en¬ 
tirely within the house, and if such is resolved upon, the 
Vines had better be planted against the back wall, and 
trained up it, and then down the roof. If it is preferred to 
train up from the front in the usual way, there is nothing 
against it, though we prefer the other plan, unless, indeed, 
you knock holes through your wall, and give the roots an 
outside border as well. We prefer inside planting when it 
can thus be done. If you have a border outside as well as 
inside, see that the outside border is not higher than that 
within, or you will bury the roots too deeply.] 
PREPARING VINES FOR EARLY FORCING. 
“ I have just cleared off a crop of Grapes, and still tlie 
Vines seem inclined to grow. They are eight or ten years 
old. Had 1 better keep stopping them, or let them ramble 
as they please ?—A Young Gardener.” 
[The more they grow, the more will root action be pro¬ 
moted, only take care that the main leaves have full 
exposure to light. In the course of a month thin the 
laterals considerably, and in a month more remove them 
entirely, and if you purpose early forcing, do everything to 
ripen the wood early by all the sun and air possible, and 
keeping the border dry. If you contemplate very early 
work, as we presume you do, the sooner the wood is 
hardened the better, and the less rain after September the 
more lit will the roots be for forcing early.] 
CONSTRUCTION OF A VINERY. —HEATING TWO 
HOUSES FROM ONE BOILER. 
“The jiart of my garden devoted to forcing purposes is 
enclosed by walls about 9 feet high, and is about 110 feet 
long, i.e., from east .to west, by 62 feet from north to south. 
I have at present, on the wall facing the south, two houses 
joining one another, 10 feet clear inside, and about 80 feet 
long the two. These are lean-to houses. I havealsii a span- 
roof, with the same aspect, opposite these, at about 1 ? feet 
distance, II feet wide, 35 feet long, and 21 feet from the 
wall on the north side. 
“ These are at present heated by three of Rivers’ boilers, 
which are placed inside the houses, but which I do not like, 
on account of the dust and escape of gases. 
“ I am about building another span-roof for Vines, for 
early forcing, in a line with the span-roof; dimensions, 12 
feet wide, inside measurement, and 40 feet in length. It 
will bo sunk 2 feet in the ground, with height sufficient for 
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