104 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
May 15. 
readers the absolute necessity for immediate attention 
to those trees infested. 1 have already cleansed my 
Peaches and Nectarines; indeed, it was carried out in 
the last week of April, and such a sight as my Peach- 
wall is now 1 have never before witnessed in this way. 
Every brick of the wall occupied by the trees covered 
with the most healthy shoots, and clothed on every twig 
with fruit, for it appears as if almost every blossom had 
set. The wood, too, from end to end, as even, in point 
of strength, as if it had been moulded. I boldly affirm, 
there is not an insect or a curled leaf on a wall 240 feet 
in length, and this, too, in a garden where, twenty-seven 
years since, on taking to its management, 1 was gravely 
told hy an authority, that it was of no use purchasing 
and planting Peach and Nectarine trees, for the said 
authority had been on the spot thirty years, and had 
known them repeatedly renewed, but that they always 
“ went off” about the third year. I name this, to show 
1 how nonsensical such assertions generally are, and in 
order to encourage those who have got stuck in such a 
“ slough of despond,” to bestir themselves, and lay by 
their cowardice. 
This has been such a droughty April, and still.con¬ 
tinues so dry, that I fear we shall hear of stunted 
growths in fruit-trees, blossoms stingily developed, and 
a great tendency to Red Spider and other insect enemies. 
Let me here remind young gardeners of the immense 
benefits derivable from the application of mulch to 
either newly-planted plants, those in very shallow soils, 
and those in poor or exhausted soils. My practice is, 
to take each of these cases fully into consideration 
during severe spring droughts, and the beginning of 
May is, in my opinion, the most eligible time to carry 
out such operations. I would by no means advise an 
earlier application of the mulch; we have all been in 
error as to this through one-half our days. Whatever 
folks may think about what we gardeners term bottom- 
heat, whether as being philosophically nice, or as 
“ straw r splitting,” it is, nevertheless, as the late lamented 
Mr. Hume was wont to say, “ a great fact.” 
A man may, on planting a Peach or a Pear in De¬ 
cember, say—“ I will mulch this tree, or a severe frost 
may penetrate this loose soil and injure the roots.” 
Well, for the sake of illustration, let us grant him his 
postulate; but then, what will keep out cold will keep 
out heat; or rather, to be more philosophically correct, 
what will keep in heat will keep out heat! 
But let us be more plain, and come to the jioint, for 
I by no means claim infallibility in the correctness of 
my view, and, therefore, submit it. To mulch a newly- 
planted tree in November or December, where soil is 
loose, and easily permeable by any atmospheric agency, 
will, I grant, help to ward off sudden extremes. But 
this proceeding will also prove a barrier to the free 
admission of the solar influences, when, on the return of 
warm wmather, the earth seeks to regain that of which 
she has been robbed. My practice is to heap a good 
deal of mere soil about young and newly-planted trees 
in the beginning of winter; this I fill up in a sort of 
conical form. On the return of spring, say in the 
middle of March, I draw away the superfluous soil, 
and thinly form a sort of basin all round the fruit-tree, 
about half-a-yard away from it all round. This serves 
I to retain any spring watering that may be needed, and, 
j as before observed, as soon as I think the soil has re- 
i ceived warmth enough from the sun, I mulch on the 
surface of this basin. 
For the moment, I must have done with fruits, and 
I must beg to say something about vegetables, as bearing 
on the past terrible winter. 
The protection of tender vegetables, by means of 
litter of any kind, has been frequently urged in these 
pages; and now we have a case in point, it may be well 
j to endeavour to draw attention to it as a warning note 
for ensuing winters. Just before the period when our 
clever friend, Mr. Beaton, turned weather prophet, and 
with what success all the world knows, I had taken a 
fit of jealousy as to the probability of a severe trial. I, 
therefore, scraped together all rough litter of whatever 
kind, aud had everything in the kitchen-garden here 
covered as far as my materials would reach. I thus 
managed to cover lightly Brocolis, Coleworts, Celery, 
and a few other things, for which the cook or the butler 
are for ever ringing the bell. As for Brocolis, knowing, 
by long experience, their great value in the kitchen 
after a hard winter, I not only strewed this coarse litter 
over them, but also loaded the old litter with old Pea 
stakes, for fear of the wind baffling rny proceedings. 
I indeed had a presentiment of what is called, “ a run 
of bad weather,” but how I came by it I cannot say ; 
certainly it was not through my good friend Beaton’s 
prophecy. If I were to accept almanack weather from 
any hands, it really would be from his; but, unluckily, 
the almanack bump is not to be found on my cranium. 
But now, as to the results. I never was better off for 
vegetables, of nearly all kinds, during the thirty-four 
years that I have been a head-gardener. I have plenty of 
Brocolis, plenty of Coleworts, Green Kale, Cabbaging 
Kale, Brussels Sprouts, Savoy Coleworts, Branching 
Brocoli, Spinach, and everything else but Parsley; here 
I omitted to cover. As for Asparagus, but that is 
forced, I have never been one week without since the 
middle of last November; Sea-kale, of course, aud the 
other in-doors things. 
Now', I happen to know, that at two of the largest 
establishments within thirty or forty miles of this place, 
they have not only lost all their Brocolis, but have 
scarcely a Green Kale or Cabbage. 
So much for protection, not political, not of fruits, 
but even of culinary matters. R. Errington. 
MEETING OF THE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY.— May 8th. 
This was the largest and best meeting which the 
Society ever had in Regent Street, and an extra room 
on the ground floor had to be thrown open for the first 
contributions from Mrs. Lawrence for the last two 
years; but, unfortunately, her plants came in too late 
by two-hours-and-a-half for the present rules laid down 
by the judges, and her collections could not, therefore, 
be entered in competition. 
We rejoice to hear that Mrs. Lawrence’s health has 
much improved. She is now building more new 
“hothouses;” and they say, she will enter the lists 
again in a year or two, if not this season, to “ handsel ” 
the Crystal Palace show in June. 
The exhibition was very well balanced; the Azaleas, 
the new Rhododendrons, the greenhouse plants, the 
Geraniums, Cinerarias, Pansies, and Auriculas in pots, 
Orchids, specimens and novelties were all in due 
proportions, and, with the exception of “rare or new 
plants,” for which allowance should be made for want 
of time, they were all in the highest state of cultivation 
aud training. The vegetables and fruit were few ; but 
the former were much better than wo ever had them at 
this season. The May exhibition at the Regent’s Park, 
on the morrow, was predicted to cast a shade on this 
meeting; and if it is true that events cast a shadow 
before them, this show at the Regent’s Park will be one 
of the best they ever had in May. 
IIEDAROMA TULIPIFERA. 
The rarest and best new plant at this meeting came 
from the Messrs. Backhouse, of York; there were two 
beautiful plants of it in full bloom. It is a hardy green- 
