THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 18, 1860. 
the next exhibition a set of meteorological instruments, as a prize 
for the best collection of Chrysanthemums of varieties sent out 
within the last three years. 
WINTER HEATHS NOT FLOWERING. 
In Yol. XVIL, page 28S, I see a classified list of Heaths, and 
in the class which should bloom in December, January, and 
February, I see hyemalis and Wilmoreana. I have plants of these 
two from two feet and a half to three feet in height, and nearly 
as much through, and these are os yet showing no signs of 
flowering. I may tell you the treatment I have given. I bought 
the plants in flower, I think about the beginning of March. After 
flowering I pruned them, and kept them rather close for some 
weeks till they had made some growth, and then gave them a 
shift of one-size-larger pots, and kept them rather close again for 
some weeks longer, after which I gave them more air, and about 
the middle or between the middle and the end of July, I put 
them out to the north-east side of a hedge, where they only had 
the morning sun. 1 kept them here for some weeks, and about 
the middle of August I placed them on the south-west side of a 
hedge, fully exposed to the sun, the pots being placed inside 
larger pots. Sometime in October I removed them into the 
house. Healthier looking plants you could not desire to see 
than they are, the stems of last year’s growth being from fifteen 
inches to eighteen inches in length, and stout and robust in pro¬ 
portion. I have another spring-flowering Heath (Andromedee- 
flora) which had the same treatment, and it is at present all over 
flower-buds.—J. M., Lanarkshire. 
[You have treated your Heaths exactly as we should have 
done, only the season being so sunless they would have been 
better to have had more light. The Andromedseflora is a weaker- 
growing plant, and the wood woidd be sooner perfected. We 
trust that the others will bloom before March.] 
THE CONSTRUCTION OE ORCHARD-HOUSES. 
I AM glad my paper on the orchard-house has drawn an 
answer from Mr. Rivers. My object in writing was to provoke 
di scussion and elicit truth. As I take The Cottage Gardener 
in monthly parts I have only just seen my friend’s paper. Mr. 
Rivers says “ my cultural directions are all good he, however, 
hands in a good bill of exceptions, to some of which I wish 
to reply. 
I have, it is true, not seen his last house ; from his description 
it must be a fine one, and I will take an early opportunity of 
seeing it. But I think Mr. Rivers will allow he has gradually 
progressed in his ideas of house-building from his first “glass 
sheds,” (I am sorry this expression is not approved of), with a 
hedge for the back, to a boarded house with a glass roof, “ the 
ventilation through the boards of which was so perfect,” to his 
winter garden, 100 feet by 24, which is anything but a glass 
shed—in fact, a fine house from his description, with glass sides 
and ventilation at command. So go-a-head a man will come 
at last to a brick foundation, iron posts, or something equally 
substantial. We are all indebted to Mr. Rivers for teaching 
how a glass house may be erected at a less cost than the absurd 
prices formerly charged : he has worked hard and paid for 
information, and we all have the advantage. My reason for 
taking up the subject was that I saw many houses erected in 
accordance with ideas since exploded which did not answer their 
purpose, and wished to show that now experience taught that an 
orchard-house was not a glazed shed. I still think five or six 
j courses of brickwork laid in Portland cement a much better 
foundation than oak posts, even where oak is to be procured 
cheaply'. 
The larger the house the less it costs per square foot. Mine 
with raised beds of brickwork cost Is. 8 d. per square foot 
covered ; Mr. Rivers’, without beds, Is. 2c?.—one covering 1200 
square feet, the other 24,000. If his house is not a very good 
one, I shall think mine, considering its size and stability and 
raised beds, nearly if not quite as cheap, though costing "more 
money. 
As to Pears, let those grow them who have plenty of 
orchard-house room. If they require to be turned out of doors 
to ripen they can hardly be called orchard-house trees. Because 
two Pears this sunless season proved good in an orchard-house 
it is no proof they are worth growing under glass. I can only 
159 
repeat our3 were inferior to those grown out of doors. The 
same remarks will apply to Plums, though they are more satis¬ 
factory than Pears with us. Till I built an orchard-house, like 
Dr. Johnson I never knew what it was to be satisfied even with 
wall Peaches ; since becoming acquainted with orchard-house 
Peaches my respect for the family makes me unwilling to ineom- 
mode them with plebeian Pears and Plums. If these latter will 
but vacate their quarters in time we might ask a temporary 
shelter till the danger of frost is passed. 
The soil here used for fruit trees is a strong loam. If it were 
lighter we should have found no inconvenience from its having 
been made so soiid in the operation of potting. 
I was not aware the copper aphis was easily killed by fumi¬ 
gation ; if it is, it will require a well-constructed house to render 
this mode of destruction a cheap one. A boy with his brush 
kept ours perfectly clean with very little expenditure of time; 
but then they were never neglected a day whilst in flower. 
When I said twenty-five Peaches were enough to leave on a tree 
in a pot I did not contemplate pots six feet in circumference, 
but ordinary pots twelve inches in diameter. I have had forty 
really fine Peaches on a tree this year, but where fine quality is 
required would prefer less ; and if I wanted to impress any one 
with the superiority of orchard-house Peaches, I would not pre¬ 
sent one gathered from an overloaded tree. If roots grow through 
the bottom of the pots and are cut off level, I am at a loss to 
imagine how they can fail to fill the drainage-holes. They 
certainly have done so here in several cases ; besides which, our 
best Peaches this season were produced on plants which had 
never penetrated the border. 
With regard to manure water, I think there is great difference 
between manure mixed in water and urine from a cow-house : 
the latter I should be frightened at. Ours was made from 
manure gathered in the field; and I had a pot Rose watered 
twice a-week to see if it could be injured before using it for 
Peaches. It answered so well that I much prefer it to manure 
placed on the surface of the pots, which does not look very well: 
but let each try and judge for himself. 
Lastly. I see my unkind remarks against the poor lean-to 
house have raised a nameless champion. It appears that a well- 
built house twenty feet wide is not warm enough nor safe from 
frost, unless it has a back wall to absorb heat during the day and 
radiate heat at night. Never having lived in such a climate, I 
cannot tell how necessary it may be to build in this horridly 
ugly fashion. A man who would, recommend a lady to build a 
greenhouse in this way, and put up a high stage, must have a 
monkey’s notions of the pleasures of climbing. I have already 
shown why it appears to me so bad a mode of building an 
orchard-house.—I. R. Pearson, Chilwell. 
POTTED ERL IT TREES IN AN ORCHARD- 
HOUSE. 
1 send the enclosed interesting note as bearing on the culture 
of fruit trees in pots lately discussed in your pages, and on the 
culture of Pears and Apples in an orchard-house, feeling assured 
you will think it worthy of a place in your columns.—T. R. 
“ Dear Sir,—I cannot resist the pleasure of again writing to 
you on the subject of orchard-houses, and growing fruit of all 
kinds in pots. 
“ I am charmed with it. It embraces all that a gentleman 
can require, however large or small his family. 
“ My house is not a large one, but sufficiently so to grow fruit 
and flowers for myself and friends. It is 50 feet by 20 feet, and 
having flowers in it all the winter, I ran a four-inch pipe round 
it last year; the consequence was, that from June until Sep¬ 
tember I had fruit to offer my friends, who were not backward 
in availing themselves of the opportunity, as it is well known 
how worthless all out-door fruit was. Whereas, I may in truth 
say, that the Peaches and all other happy inmates of my house 
were of fine flavour and size, and well coloured. Some of the 
trees were pictures of beauty, and I will give you from my 
gardener’s notes a few particulars of quantities. 
“An Elruge Nectarine only the second year (a pyramid) 
carried twenty-four fruit of good equal size and fine flavour ; 
120 set fruit having been removed. The tree promises well for 
next year—indeed, is a picture. 
“ A Grosse Mignonne carried twenty-three—a beautifully 
spreading bush not more than two feet high. Then a Royal 
