THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 15 
I 
Fuchsias, in the pyramidal form. Many of them were 
fully twelve feet high, with branches down to the edge 
of the pots, and each branch well-bloomed. This is, I 
am quite sure, the best and most elegant form of training 
this summer-flowering greenhouse plant. Our green¬ 
house would he sadly deficient in bloom in the months 
of July and August if the Fuchsias were absent. 
In a recess, at one end of the conservatory, I noted 
several pots of the winter-flowering Tree Carnation; 
many of them were dense plants, four feet high, and 
nearly three feet through, well furnished with buds; 
they were growiug in 12-inch pots, and had been 
stopped constantly, to induce the bushy growth they 
had made. My friend, Mr. Fish, has lately written 
excellent directions how to grow these useful plants; 
and the examples I saw here prove that fine plants 
may be grown if his directions are followed. I noted, in 
the borders, a new, self-coloured Carnation, which, I 
understood, Lady Wilton had brought from the con¬ 
tinent. I believe some of it was grown in pots, and 
prevented from flowering by nipping off the early buds. 
Its colour is a singular kind of orange-buff. 
The Orange Trees here are grown in large boxes, and 
are set out-of-doors every summer. The consequence is 
a fine autumnal bloom as soon as they are taken in. 
The summer’s exposure appears to give them a rest, and 
by that means induces plenty of flowers. I observed 
abundance of buds forming. This may not be new, but 
it is a practice seldom followed. There seems to be a 
fear of placing the Orange-tree in the open air, but I 
think, and am pretty certain, from the example I saw 
here, that with the proper precaution of not placing them 
in the hot,blazing sun, they may be safely set out-of-doors. 
I remember seeing some extraordinary fine specimens 
of this tribe exposed, in a similar manner, at Clievden, 
a seat of the Duke of Sutherland, near Maidenhead, not 
only without any ill effects, but, on the contrary, with 
manifest advantage. 
Though Heaton Park is situated so near to the smoke 
of the manufactories, yet I found here a good collection 
of Heaths well-grown, and several in flower. As many 
of our readers may wish to know what Heaths flower at i 
this time of the year, I noted the following:— Erica I 
Bowieana, E. Irbyana, E. Juliana, E. Savileana, \ 
E. rubens, E. umbellata, and E. intermedia. 
In the pleasure grounds, I was particularly struck 
with the great number of healthy Rhododendrons. They 
form the underwood of a large plantation, on a rising 
ground, a walk through which leads to the kitchen 
gardens. Mr. Shuter, the gardener, informed me that j 
he plants them in a very small portion of a compost of 
peat and leaf-mould to each, and they thrive well ; 
without my further trouble. 
There is here a good range of hothouses devoted to 
the culture of the Pine Apple, the Vine, and Peaches, 
and Nectarines. The Grapes were excellent; the Black 
Hamburghs were as black as could be desired, and the 
Muscats were equally well coloured. The Pines are grown j 
in the old fashion, in pots, and fruited in them, and the \ 
fruit was as good as need be; showing, that whatever 
method is adopted, if careful, judicious management 
attends it, success will follow. 
The Peaches and Nectarines in the houses had borne 
their crop of fruit, and were in a state of rest. On the 
walls, the Peaches do not thrive here, on account of the 
moist climate, and, very probably, the smoky atmosphere, 
also. It is intended to place glass against them in order 
to protect the trees, and so insure a crop of fruit. The 
idea that a covering of glass is necessary for the certain 
production of these luscious fruits is becoming very 
general. In my progress through the gardens in the 
north, I find this practice adopting frequently. Peach- 
houses are common enough, but they are for the purpose 
oi forcing the fruit early; but these glass-covered walls 
are put up merely to protect the blossoms in early spring, 
and to ripen the wood more perfectly in autumn, without 
any expence of fuel; the intention being merely to 
secure a certain crop of fruit in the usual season. I 
may mention, that this plan has been adopted at Tren- 
tham, the Duke of Sutherland’s; at Welbeck, the Duke 
of Portland’s; at Kinmel Park, the late Lord Dinorben’s, 
in North Wales; and at Thornycroft Hall, in Cheshire; 
and no doubt in many other places that I have not seen. 
At all these places the success has amply reimbursed 
the expence. I am aware, the same effect has been 
sought for by having the walls flued, the great objection 
to which is the number of necessary smoky chimneys, 
making the gardens, on a fine spring evening, more like 
a manufactory of some kind or other than a pleasant 
abode of Flora and Pomona; and even with this 
nuisance, ineffectual for the purpose, without protection 
of some kind, in the shape of curtains of canvass, or 
branches of evergreens. Now that glass is cheap the 
walls may be covered with it, and all these disagreeables, 
in the shape of smoke, littery covering of branches, or 
expensive protection of canvass, done away with; and, 
what is better, a certain crop of fruit insured. 
I think that sooner or later every Peach wall, in at 
least the more northern parts of the kingdom, will be 
covered with glass, or, if not, the culture of these fruits 
will be dispensed with, and the finer varieties of the 
Flemish Pears planted instead. No doubt, in some places 
good Peaches and Nectarines are produced occasionally 
on south walls; but the success is always precarious in 
our uncertain clime, and no one but a gardener can 
believe the anxiety and trouble this crop always gives 
the cultivator, even in the most favoured localities. 
Cover his wall with glass, and all this care will be done 
away with. There is another advantage in such a struc¬ 
ture, and that is the destruction of the green fly, which 
always attacks the trees in spring. The universal remedy 
of tobacco-smoke can be applied with unfailing success; 
and, also, the fruit can be protected from the destructive 
ravages of the wasp and the large bottle fly, by covering 
the air opening with canvass to prevent their ingress. 
T. Appleby. 
(To be continued .) 
A FEW WORDS ON TOMATOES. 
This member of a very suspicious family has been 
long established in our gardens, and, like many other 
productions of a minor kind, is regarded as a great 
delicacy by some, while others dislike it. Without 
enquiring the reasons for the latter conclusion, we be¬ 
lieve there are few but are offended at the smell given 
off by the foliage and plant in general. This, perhaps, 
has some influence in determining the condemnation 
of the fruit, which is a widely different thing. 
The young plants, reared in hotbeds, or otherwise, 
should be brought forward so as to occupy six or seven- 
inch pots by the middle of May, when it is time to plant 
them out; at the same time, it is better if they have 
been stunted a little, or, rather, pot-bound, so as to in¬ 
duce their shewing flower; if so, they are so much the 
better; for although a speedy and luxuriant growth 
usually does take place immediately after, yet, the ad¬ 
vance made is not lost, and they keep going on apace, 
in the way of making rampant shoots, until checked by 
the fruiting process, and that judicious pruning, &c., 
we have so often recommended. Now, this is not exactly 
sufficient; all this may be done, and yet no ripo fruit 
by the middle of September, at which time it ought to 
be in, consequently some other means must be adopted. 
The most common positions given to this plant, in 
most private gardens, are in those vacancies which 
occur in most fruit-walls where the trees do not cover 
j 
