THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 12. 
I 302 
I • 
gratify it by a few observations, recurring to the subject 
as often as appears necessary. 
Mr. Rivers, the eminent nurseryman, ancl the ori¬ 
ginator of these economical structures, has the following 
remarks, explanatory of the objects of such buildings 
“We have now cheap glass, cheap timber, and cheap 
bricks; it is, therefore, time to endeavour to neutralise 
the uncertainty of our seasons by glass, for glass, with¬ 
out the least addition of artificial heat, will give us the 
climate, in average seasons, of the south-west of France, 
and, what is of vast consequence, without the least 
hazard of injury from spring frosts, from which all tem¬ 
perate climates, both in Europe and America, suffer 
occasionally so severely.” 
Mr. Rivers has one orchard house with nothing but a 
beech hedge for a back, and the following is his descrip¬ 
tion:—“I have an orchard house ninety feet long, the 
back wall of which is a fine beech hedge twenty years 
old, eight feet high, one-and-a-half thick; the front half¬ 
inch boards; the board next the glass, fifteen inches 
wide, is on hinges, and is always open in warm weather. 
This house is glazed with 1(3 oz. sheet glass, twenty 
inches by twelve, placed crosswise, so that the rafters 
are twenty inches apart. The glass is foreign, of the 
cheapest description, and cost 2Jd. per foot.” 
Mr. Rivers describes the fruit-trees, comprising about 
700 peaches, nectarines, apricots, figs, pears, plums, &c., 
as being in the most perfect health, and scorching un¬ 
known. To those who have not had access to Mr. Rivers’ 
interesting pamphlet we may say, that fruit-trees of all 
kinds, in any degree tender, are cultivated by him in such 
structures in pots, the pots placed on a prepared bed of 
soil, and the trees in the main cultivated on a dwarfing 
system—a principle so long inculcated in The Cottage 
Gardener. All details connected with their culture 
will be given in due time; and now, for the sake of 
leading those uninformed, step by step, to a due appre¬ 
ciation of the subject, and to put them in a position to 
judge for themselves, we must beg leave to talk about 
the pots and potting, and thence proceed to branch 
culture. 
Pots. —These may be of various sizes, according to 
the size and age of the trees, but, as a general rule, we 
should say 11-inch pots are amply sufficient. Pots of 
a moderate size may, when the trees are in fruit and 
ripe, be placed on the dining-room table if necessary. 
Soil. — A compost of three - parts turfy loam, of 
sound character, and one-part manure, nearly decom¬ 
posed, will be found to suit all, or nearly all, our fruits 
when kept in pots. The loam should, if possible, be 
obtained six months before use, and having been piled 
in a sharp ridge, to exclude all rain for that period, 
should be chopped down as wanted with a sharp spade, 
by no means using a sieve ; nearly half will thus be in 
lumps about the size of an egg. Now, as the trees, or 
rather bushes, are to remain some years in the original 
j compost, for disrooting is not in practice, and, perhaps, 
j not expedient, a mechanical openness must be secured, 
j and for this purpose a little sand, and some charcoal of 
\ the sizo of peas, may be added to the mass; for strong 
: loam will in time attain a degree of closeness which will 
! oppose the free and equal passage of liquid manure. 
And here we must be permitted to interpose what we 
j will, for the present, term an opinion, and that is, let the 
| soil be so compounded, and the tree so trained from the 
: beginning, as that every cubic inch of soil in the pot 
may be rendered capable of doing service to the plant, 
so long as it shall be deemed necessary to continue it in 
a pot. 
Choice of Subjects. —Now we have arrived at a 
rather important point, a point involving many matters 
for consideration. To speculate on what fruit-trees 
might be rendered by a due attention to dwarfing prin¬ 
ciples, commencing from the very first year of the 
seedling stock, would tend to overlay the subject in 
hand. No man has done more in this way than Mr. 
Rivers; and although we do not differ from his practice I 
in anything worth stepping out of the way to record, we ; 
would merely observe, that the principles on which lie j 
has acted are capable of some expansion, and in due 
time we hope to bo able to lay down our notions thereon 
before the readers of The Cottage Gardener. Mr. 
Rivers very wisely recommends trees which have al- | 
ready received pot culture, thus,—“ The most eligible 
trees for pot culture are those that have been in pots 
one or two years; if these can be purchased, so much 
the better; if not, trees that have been removed and cut 
down one year in the nursery; if neither of these de- ] 
scription of trees can be found, dwarf maiden trees will 
do.” “ Maiden ” is a term applied by the nurserymen 
to trees one year old from the graft or bud. 
Mode of Potting. — Some pots about eleven or 
twelve inches diameter, and of similar depth, being pro¬ 
vided, “proceed,” says Mr. Rivers, “to knock the hole 
in the bottom to about five inches diameter.” This is 
good advice. We advise those, however, who are for 
orchard-houses in earnest, to have pots made to order 
for the express purpose. These should have some five 
holes in the quincunx form, equi-distant over the 
bottom, and such in our way of thinking, should not be 
above an inch each in diameter. We reason thus: it 
will not be good policy to encourage many large roots 
through the bottom, but rather a multitude of small 
fibres, in order that the annual mutilation may not be 
unnecessarily severe, for Mr. Rivers recommends these 
roots to be cut clear away, every season, in October. In 
potting them, potsherds of a curved form should be so 
placed as to secure a free outlet for the fibres; if pro¬ 
perly done, various apertures of half-an-inch in diameter 
will be secured. And now these must be protected 
against the sediment arising from the decomposition of 
organic matter, carried downwards at all times by mere 
gravitation. We here suggest a thin coating of charcoal, 
sifted to about ^-inch pieces, those will act as filters, 
and the sediment lodged above them will be a rich 
pasture for fibres. Over the charcoal we would strew a 
layer of new horse-droppings, and on the latter a small 
portion of the fibrous turf of the compost. Now we 
do not say that this is the only good course, or even 
that it is the very best, but it is a mode of “ bottoming ” 
that we have repeatedly proved to be particularly suc¬ 
cessful. The young tree’s fibres having been liberated 
somewhat, and every bruise or blemish carefully sub¬ 
mitted to the ordeal of a sharp knife, and an attentive eye, 
taking care, also, that every vestige of a suckering pro¬ 
pensity is removed ; the plant may be placed in the pot, 
and care taken that the highest indication of surface- 
roots is an inch or two below the rim of the pot, if 
unfortunately higher, the plant must be taken out, and 
the bottom reduced in size, with a correct view as to 
depth. The ball or roots will now be on the turfy 
lumps, and the filling may proceed, by continuing to 
introduce the fibrous clots of turf frequently, as the 
filling proceeds, using a blunt stick, and ramming the 
soil slightly as the filling proceeds. When within an 
inch or so of the rim, the whole may receivo a coating 
of half-rotten manure, as a top-dressing. The bushes 
may now be set at once on the floor of the orchard- 
house, if prepared, if not, plunged in a sheltered nook, 
the pot above the ordinary ground-level. 
Subsequent Treatment. — The treatment requisite 
for maiden plants newly introduced to pots, and those 
which have been under the auspices of such good 
managers as our friend Mr. Rivers, should differ some¬ 
what. The former accustomed to run riot through the 
ill-bestowed liberality of a life of freedom, from the 
planting of the stock onwards; the lattor made to 
“ know themselves betimes,” and not to suffer their ram- 
