JULY 3. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
239 
The Heath tribe had also its representatives here. 
Very good bushy plants of Erica Cavendishii, E. depressa, 
E. ventricosa, &c., all bushy, good plants. It was the 
more creditable to the manager of these plants that they 
are so well grown, without any idea of exhibiting them, 
but solely for the gratification of the noble owners, and 
his own satisfaction and credit. In this house, I noticed 
several handsome plants of Ardisia crenulata, with 
abundance of their beautiful scarlet berries. This plant 
is usually grown in stoves, but it seems that the green¬ 
house suits it quite as well. It is used here to garnish 
the hall in winter, aud a very appropriate plant it is, 
for that reason. 
In the Fruit department there aro vineries and peach- 
houses. In the early vinery the Grapes were quite ripe, 
lair bunches, good berries, well coloured. The crop of 
Peaches andNectariues was rather thin, a circumstance 
that could not be accounted for. The trees were perfectly 
healthy, with fine, clean foliage. Probably it was owing 
to the wet autumn of last year. 
In the hardy Fruit dejiartment, I noticed a long row 
of Pear-trees trained as weeping trees. They are first 
trimmed standard height, and then the young shoots 
trained downwards. The upright shoots, which such 
trees, when healthy, are suro to attempt'to push, are kept 
under by diligent disbudding all through the season. 
Trees so trained are very ornamental, and though we 
may expect they will not he very long lived, yet they 
are so productive that the plan is worthy of adoption, 
and when they are old they may be easily renewed. 
1 was much pleased with the way in which that useful 
vegetable the Pea is cultivated here. A long south 
border was cropped with them, and three sorts were sown 
all on one day. The first to flower and be lit for use 
was the variety named Daniel O'Rourke, the second, 
Songster's No. 1 , and the third, Early Warwick; all 
good bearers and excellent Peas. By the time the first 
was gathered the second would be ready, aud the third 
would succeed the second. 
In the open quarters, two other sorts were sown on 
the samo day ; those were respectively the Champion of 
England aud the British Queen. Tho first would 
succeed the Early Warwick, and tho second come in 
after the first. This is an excellent plan, being an 
economy of time, and “regular system of a succession of 
crops.” Mr. Sparrow assured me that he found this 
method far better than the old way of sowing a crop 
novv-and-then. He manages the same wav with his 
Cabbage quarter, with this difference, that he mixes all 
the sorts that he grows together in the seed-bag, and, 
consequently, plants them out mixed. The same piece 
of ground then furnishes him with this useful vegetable 
all through the season, the earliest coming in for use 
first, and later kinds succeed them,^ and also furnish 
sprouts through the winter. 
There has been raised here a new kind of Lettuce, 
which has been named Moor Parle. I saw a border of 
it adjoining to another of the Brown Cos. The Moor 
Park appears to be even hardier than the latter variety, 
and cabbages well without tying, It is, besides, a 
better colour, and bleaches well in the heart. I do 
think this is a very superior variety, aud seedsmen 
would do well to try to get it, and introduce it generally 
to the public. 
Any new Implement that comes under any one’s 
notice ought to he made known to the public, as well as 
new Plants, Fruits, aud Vegetables. I saw, at Moor Park, 
a very ingenious implement, which is worthy of notice. 
It is a ladder, but when not in use, aud folded up, it 
looks like a pole. It was in the library, and was used 
to reach the books from the higher shelves. The steps 
are iron, with revolving socket and ball joints. On 
taking hold of the pole and pulling one side it 
divides in two, and the steps are seen; by continuing 
to pull down one side and shove up the other, the steps 
reach the horizontal line, where a catch stops any 
further progress, and then the pole is a complete efficient 
ladder. This no mere plaything, but a really useful 
instrument, It might be introduced amongst garden 
implements, especially in vineries, to prune the Vines 
in summer, and in plant-houses to train creepers. The 
house-steward assured us it had been in use for several 
years, and was not liable to get out of order. When 
folded up, it will stand snugly in any corner. 
T. Appleby. 
THE FRUIT CROPS OF THE PAST AND 
1 PRESENT SEASONS. 
; There are few things in the gardening world of more 
j importance than a “good fruit season;” for though cer¬ 
tain modes of culture tend to increase the chances of 
i the crop being a good one on trees which receive a 
1 large amount of artificial assistance, yet the hulk of our 
fruits are, in a great measure, subject to the vicissitude 
of the weather, in such a way as to leave the cultivator 
but little control over them; and some of the causes 
which operate on their well or ill-being are of so uncertain 
a nature, that a few passing remarks of what has come 
under my own eye may not be altogether out of place 
here; at the same time, I will promise to keep my obser¬ 
vations strictly within the scope of the district I write 
from, and more especially in the garden at this place. 
Recurring as far back as 1850, I may say that the 
spring of that year was moderately early, wall-trees 
being in bloom by the end of March, while on the 26th 
of that month we had the thermometer down to 17°, 
and on the 28th at 18°; these points being lower than 
any that winter, save the 29th December, 1849. Now 
14° or 15° of frost is no joke in the blossoming season ; 
but somehow the damage done was not so serious as 
might have been expected, as the crop of wall-fruit was 
good that year, and the protection the trees had at the 
time alluded to was simply a quantity of Spruce Fir 
branches nailed against them, while some had netting in 
front of them, or other homely contrivances ; but the 
great secret in their preservation lay in a natural cause, 
not in an artificial one. The air was exceedingly dry, 
as likewise was the ground; so much so, that the frost 
took but little effect on the ground, which it would have 
done had there been moisture; but, in fact, tho grass 
and other things seemed parched for want of it. Suffice 
it to say, tho crop of wall-fruit that year was good, and 
that of orchard-fruits fully an average one; but, as the 
autumn was anything but a fine one, the crop of the 
ensuing season was under an average, both on the walls 
and in the open ground. This arose partly, I should 
say, from tho defective state the preceding autumn had 
left the bloom-buds, and the absence of sunshine in the 
spring. Frosts there certainly were; but I find, on 
looking at my register, that 26° was the lowest point 
after the middle of M arch; hut the cold and wet more 
than compensated for the sharpness of the frost, so that 
the crop of wall-fruit in 1851 was anything but good, 
and that of orchard-fruits very indifferent. Fortunately, 
however, the summer and autumn were favourable, so that 
what fruit there was arrived at a fair state of perfection, 
and the trees ripened well, so that the blossom of the suc¬ 
ceeding year, 1852, was tolerably good, and the season 
being dry, much like that of 1850, a good crop was the 
issue. Notwithstanding the thermometer fell on the 
20th April to 21°, and on the 4th May to 27°, still, the 
dry state of the atmosphere, combined with the vigour 
of the well-set buds of the preceding autumn, tended 
to secure a crop ; orchard-fruits being also tolerably 
plentiful at the same time; but the wetness of the 
autumn rendered it impossible for the well-maturing of 
