COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 
349 
Fkuuuary I 'L 
3 'ear of training. Trees of about tins ago, which Inul 
been about two or three j’cars removed from the nursery, 
and planted against the garden-walk, in what were 
termed ca))ilal borders, I have noticed several times, 
during the la.st thirty years, as producing young shoots 
I of four or five feet in length, and gross in proportion; 
and these, during the months of October and November, 
quailing beueatli the autumnal frosts, when the wood 
of mature trees, under proper management, would bear 
a zero thermometer. Such are starling facts, and might 
well teach us a lesson in more things than Peaches and 
Nectarines. Such young trees, and under such circum¬ 
stances, I saw at Heaton Park, the seat of the Earl of 
Wilton, about twenty-six years since, when an old friend 
of mine, now no more, was gardener there. These trees, 
in the month of October, had one-third of the extremities 
of their young shoots withered, and, indeed, for some 
distance below the withered portion there were livid and 
cancerous blotches, shewdng, plainly, that the whole 
system of the tree was diseased, less or more. On 
saying to my friend, that the trees were too gross; that 
the border was an overmatch for the climate; he stoutly 
denied it, and said that the dirty atmosphere of old 
Mancuuium was alone to blame. Now, on examining 
this made border, 1 found that it was almost equal parts 
manure and the richest of adhesive loams. Such a 
border, in the south of France, or, let us say, in Cin¬ 
cinnati, U. S., woidd, perhaps, have been the very thing. 
And, now, let me clo.se these practical observations on 
Peaches and Nectarines by recommending preventive 
before corrective measures in the management of these 
delicate trees. Tliey are easily grown well, as easily 
ofleiuled, and the abstract of really good culture may be 
thus given:—Do not pamper them; endeavour to obtain 
wood neither strong nor weak ; seek to equalise the 
summer spray by early disbudding and thinning, and, 
also, early training; do not retain one more shoot than 
is requisite after the end of June, and be sure to keep 
the finger and thumb at work once a week during Juno 
and July. One more point, I had almost said paramount 
to all, is—be sure to Keep them free of insects. 
11. Errington. 
Advantages of having a Home —“ A living man 
without A house can not take root. A man at a hotel 
is like a grape-vine in a flower-pot, movable, carried 
round from place to place, docked at the root and short 
at the toj)! 'J'here is nowhere that a man can get real 
root-room, and spread out his branches till they touch 
the morning and the evening, but in his own house. 
If I could, I should be glad to live in the house that my 
ancestors had lived in from the days of the Flood ! That 
cannot be, for in ascending the line of ancestry I find 
the people, but not the houses; and it is more than 
suspected that some of them never owned one; My 
father’s house! It is like a picture rubbed out. The 
frame and canvass are there, but strangers have possessed 
it. The room where I was born, where my mother 
rocked my cradle and sang as angels do, where she died, 
where all my boyish frolics began, and life spread out its 
golden dream—they are all overlaid by other histories. 
\Ve planted pleasant things in the old house, but the 
Assyrians came in and settled down upon them.”— M'ard 
Beecher's 'J.’hdnlcsyiving Sermon. 
QUESTIONS ABOUT VINERIES. 
There are several long letters before me on Vineries, 
one containing four pages of queries. The printing of 
these in full would occupy much room, and wo have not 
time to answer such letters privately, unless in very 
special cases. I have not had much reason to complain. 
lately, of letters being sent contrary to the express 
orders of the Editor; but it is really wonderful what 
expanded ideas some of the good public entertain of our 
duties and capabilities. “ F. H.” will be obliged for 
some definite information to be sent, addressed to the 
said “ J'k H.” at a certain post-office. 'The said “ F. H.," 
of whom 1 know just as much as I do of the man in 
the moon, very unselfishly and innocently imagining 
that his being obliged will more than compensate me 
for some hours labour, several sheets of paper, and a 
couple of postage stamps. With every desire to oblige, 
there are limits beyond which even prudence will not 
permit us to go; and, therefore, all correspondents 
should bear in mind that, though their inquiries are 
addressed, as they ought to be, to the Editor, private 
replies can be given but in special cases; and that they 
should send their inquiries in such time, that waiting 
from eight days to a fortnight will be no detriment to 
them. 
I shall now notice these inquiries in a very random 
manner. 
^h•:NTIEATION.—“ Vinery, twenty-one feet by fourteen 
feet; roof fixed; glass, sixteen-ounce squares, nineteen 
inches by fifteen iuebes; whether to have four or five of 
these squares to slide down, or to have three or four holes 
in the back wall with slides for back air? and in front, 
whether w'ould one-foot wooden shutters all the way, or 
glass, be best?” With such an amount of glass in the 
roof, and the bar-rafters so narrow as to be bevelled off to 
one inch, it matters very little, as respects the front, if not 
more than a foot in depth, and the wooden shutters will 
be less liable to casualties. For the back, for the same 
reason, I would prefer wooden slides, say six, each two 
feet long by one foot wide, and more especially if the 
wall has to be built. Were the wall built, rather than 
cut it to pieces, I would prefer as many openings in 
the roof as would give a similar amount of air, by small 
frames, to lift on hinges, or to swing upon pivots. 
The ends of such a bouse I prefer being of glass, or, 
at least, all the upper parts of them ; for their, supposing 
the house to face the south, you will obtain the rays of 
the sun more directly, morning and evening. In cold 
weather, this will necessitate more artificial heat than if 
it were made of brick ; but a covering could be used in 
severe weather, and the house will look more cheerful, 
and everything will have a chance of doing better; 
while I presume the glass will be as economical, at first, 
as any thing else that could be used. 
“ Walk in such a House, whether along the middle or 
all round?” Purely a matter of taste and convenience. 
If, as you propose along the middle, you will have five 
feet or more of a boi’der on each side; by taking the 
walk round, you might have a three feet border, back 
and front of the house, and a five feet bed in the centre, 
which you might allow to remain as a bed, or convert 
into a stage, or a pit, according to the bye-uses you 
wished to turn your Vinery to. A pit, in such a house, 
would bo extremely useful; for, filled with sweet ferment¬ 
ing material, as tan or loaves, it would forward many 
little desirables, and supply a nice, moist heat for break¬ 
ing the buds of the Vines. 
Concreting and Draining Borders. —This will apply 
to several inquirers. Whenever tlierc is a cold, unkind 
subsoil, it is advisable to resort to both these processes, 
as you thus escape stagnant moisture, and prevent the 
roots getting down deep, to which the roots of all trees 
have a tendency, and the natural result of which is 
to produce luxuriance at the expense of fruitfulness. 
A correspondent proposes placing a layer of broken 
bricks over the bottom of his border, and covering these 
with grass sods; but in an adhesive subsoil that would 
not bo sufficient. 'The water would accumulate about 
the bricks, and the best roots would be clogged and 
rotted there. There are many situations where neither 
