December ll. 
COUNTTIY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
183 
through a grove of heaiitifiil standra’d Peaeli-trees, &c., 
wliere there was room to lend an arm to the invalid—room 
for the lovers, and even the wife and husband, to walk 
abreast. 
Now for the interior. Mr. llivers states nothing can 
equal his system for beauty of design, systematic arrange¬ 
ment, variety and scope for interesting objects ; but let him 
speak for himself. Ho says—“Cultivating Peaches and 
Nectarines for pleasure in any other way than in Orchard- 
houses, is all leather and prunella, and there is an end of ' 
it.” End, indeed; I think I hear even an English echo, , 
whispei’ing, pooh ! pooh ! l 
You have check-mated yourself, Mr. Rivers; but let us give 
you fair play, and dissect and ascertain what constitutes this i 
iion-xKch. Why one hundred trees in pots arranged as if for 
drill i six months out of the twelve, without leaves, and not 
much more than during three mouths interesting; giving no 
shade, which is so desirable in summer, and anything but | 
agi’eeable, with the smells of liquid-manure, &c. A pretty ; 
place for a lady to promenade in. A promenade, indeed ! 
What a name for a lane barely two feet wide. Why, it is a 
fit companion for Major’s Willows kissing the stream, in j 
the (Jueen’s Park, Manchester, alias, a two feet di’y ditch. 
(A fact.j So much for the delightful. 
Now, for pounds, shillings, and pence, allowing you to 
have gathered ‘dbO dozen of Peaches, seven to nine inches 
in circumference, in which I expect you include Nectarines, 
&c. Let us try them by the Covent Garden standard. 
Why, such puny things would not average two shillings per ^ 
dozen—f‘^3. Will this pay ? Have the goodness to let ! 
ns stay-at homes have a fair statement of the returns for ; 
fruit, also the value of the trees that have been required to | 
keep this show-house up, say, for this five or seven years , 
past. This is the hard matter-of-fact we want. ' 
Now, for the other side of the question; and to make my ^ 
explanations more plain, I will enclose you a few sketches, j 
Suppose we begin with No. 1, which is twenty feet in width, , 
twelve in height, 100 feet, nr 1,000 in length, if you like. 
The trees are I’eaclies, Plums, Apricots, Cherries, &c., 
trained in the form marked in the sketch, the centre sup. 
ported by two rows of iron rods, or pillars of such descrip, ! 
tion as may suit the proprietor’s taste, say six to eight ’ 
feet, to allow of a good, roomy promenade. 
The hot-water pipes shown in the sketch to form the 
edges, which might be painted, and dusted while wet with j 
sand, to give them the look of stone. Allowing this to | 
take in all eiglit feet, you will have borders si.x feet wide on 
each side. Now, if even the house was covei'ed completely 
with trees, the borders might be made very interesting, by ( 
covering them with dsvarf Ferns and Mosses, introducing | 
Cyclamens, early Tulips, Hyacinths, Ixias, Scillas, Snow- ; 
drops, the Musk Mimulus, dwarf Thyme, hardy Orchids, 
in summer, Ac,, taking care to keep everything low. Now, ‘ 
fancy such a house when the Peaches, Ac., are in bloom j 
and fruit, or, in fact, any time. In summer, shade is wanted ; 
in winter, light and air; here you have it, and without you 
turn it into a store-house for bedding plants, or a green¬ 
house in winter, you may never want to light a fire. My 
reason for introducing one at all is, that it enables you to 
take every advantage of favourable weather, to bring on the 
ti'ees, and, at the same time, run no risk in severe frosts 
occurring in April and May, The want of this is a great 
drawback on Mr. Pdvers’s plan. For instance, what can be 
a piece of greater absurdity, than when he states— a climate 
(if a u'ell-huill Orchard-house is spriny frost proof. See what 
15-, from Kelso, page !)0, gained by covering his frees 
with glass. Put I refer your readers to my own article, 
page !) and 10. They will see that I state my Pt'aches have 
been later in ripening for the last three years ; the reason 
of this is, my profession has taken me from home in March, 
April, and May, these three seasons, and I have been afraid 
to take the advantage of the glass to bring on my Peaches, 
from losing the crop of one range in one night in April, 
while in bloom, l>y the frost; not because my man forgot to 
light a fire, but it had been stormy, and blown the chimney¬ 
pot otf into the chimney, and my man had not the presence 
of mind to place two or three pots with hot ashes into the 
house, when he found the fire would not b\irn. It was July 
or Augirst before I found it out, as the man did not tell me; 
and I blamed him for not giving air enough; therefore, houses 
of this description in the hands of the inexperienced are 
dangerous playthings. If they are not expected to produce 
ripe fruit till September and October, what is the use of 
Orchard-houses. 
In ])age 10!) of this Volume of The Cottage Gardener, 
Mr. Rivers tells ns how to make boxes, but it is surely a 
mistake. Can this really be on tbe 13th of November, 1855. 
It appears to me almost impossible, though everybody knew, 
that boxes, whether made of slate, oak, Ac., for trees that 
would remain seven years in them, but why not fifty, were 
all made with moveable sides, so that the roots were as easily 
got at as the tops, and if large, Avhy should there not be 
castors under each corner, so that they could be easily 
turned. 
No. 3, I shall call a store-house. On referring to 
the. sketch, yon will see a cross section of five beds, 
which, on an average, are four feet wide; and take, for 
instance, a length of fifty feet, will make in idl 1,000 
square feet of surface for bedding-out plants. Straw¬ 
berries, French Beans, and Cucumbers, Ac. I use it for, 
say, on the lower beds. Calceolarias, Fuebsias, Salvias, 
Penstemons, &c., and fill the centre beds willi Geraniums, 
Heliotropes, Ac., the top one with Verbenas, Petunias, Ac. 
It may be asked. How do you get to water the top bod ? 
As you enter the house it continues over head four 
feet, then an opening of three to four feet, and goes on 
again eight feet; and then another opening, and so on. 
The fifty feet in length will allow of thirty Vines, averaging, 
on a fair crop, fifleen bunches of grapes each. As the 
aspect of the house is east and west, and as they are not 
planted opposite each other, they have the full benefit of 
the sun. It will also hold thirty Peach-trees, on a fair 
average producing three dozen each; therefore you may 
reasonably expect 450 bunches of Grapes, and 1080 Peaches 
or Nectarines. 
No. 3, is similar to No. 2, in dimensions, the top bed 
being dispensed with, and two extra I'ows of store pots 
substituted. These are surely new ? Oh, no! as old as 
the rest. All I can claim is the arrangement of the 
heating, the shelves, and beds. These three houses 
are fifty feet each in length; the centre one is shown 
as heated by hot air, and hot water also, at the option of the 
proprietor. To prevent being alarmed by Mr. Ayres,— 
“ Please, Sir, the boiler is burst,” and, “ Oh! Sir, the flue 
is burst,”—the latter has occurred nearer home, —I need 
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