October 19, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
109 
MESSRS. THOMAS RIVERS & SON. 
For maDy years past this well-known firm have been 
in the front rank of English fruit growers, and from 
their huge establishment at Sawbridgeworth thou¬ 
sands of fruit trees of all kinds have been distributed 
over all parts of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland ; indeed, there are remarkably 
few gardens to be found where some at least of 
Messrs. Rivers’ trees are not to be seen either in the 
under glass or hardy fruit department, or both. The 
nurseries in question are within a few minutes’ walk 
of the Great Eastern Railway Company’s Stations of 
Harlow and Sawbridgeworth, which are within easy 
distance of the company's terminus at Liverpool 
Street. Between these two points the traveller is 
carried over some of the finest rural scenery of Hert¬ 
fordshire. The River Stort, which here forms the 
dividing line between the afore-mentioned county 
and Essex, describes a huge semi-circle between 
Harlow and Sawbridgeworth, and thus partially en¬ 
closes a great part of the nurseries, which are situated 
on the rising ground immediately overlooking the 
fertile valley. 
Of late years a great deal of interest has been 
taken in the question of fruit-farming as a paying 
industry for the poor 
farmer, who, in the face of 
bad seasons and compara¬ 
tively scanty crops, with 
the, to him, crowning mis¬ 
fortune of being unable to 
obtain anything like a re¬ 
munerative price for his 
crops of cereals, finds the 
funds of his exchequer 
getting lower day by day, 
with no prospect of an im¬ 
provement to complete his 
tale of woe, of misery, and 
of despair. Mr. T. Francis 
Rivers, the head of the firm 
of Messrs. Rivers & Son, 
as a result of the know¬ 
ledge proceeding from 
long experience in fruit 
culture, is one of the 
strongest advocates of 
systematic fruit cultiva¬ 
tion on a large scale, and 
does not, to quote his own 
words, recommend the 
planting of orchards “ as 
an adjunct to a farm ” 
merely. That Hertford¬ 
shire, as a county, is well 
adapted to the cultivation 
of hardy fruit on an exten¬ 
sive scale is very evident 
from the excellent samples 
of fruit, and the not less 
excellent specimens of 
fruit trees of all kinds to 
be seen at the nurseries. 
True, in vividness of 
colouring, the Apples may 
have to take a second place 
to those grown in more 
southern counties, Kent for instance ; and, indeed it 
is very problematical whether Hertfordshire fruit will 
ever be able to vie in this respect with the samples 
produced by their more favoured neighbours ; but 
still it is of splendid quality, whilst under ordinarily 
skilful cultivation heavy crops may be obtained. 
We know of no more profitable way of spending a 
few hours, for those who are interested in fruit 
culture, than to take a run over a nursery devoted to 
the propagation, and rearing to suitable market size, 
of fruit trees, which, bye-and-bye, are destined for the 
replenishing of old orchards and the formation of 
new ones, or it may be for stocking glass erections 
of all descriptions throughout the length and breadth 
of the country with the necessary material. Flow 
keenly the observant eye drinks in all the different 
methods of training, of planting, and, in the earlier 
stages, of propagation, the different kinds of stocks 
used for the various subjects, together with all the 
little etceteras which are, after all, of considerable 
importance. It matters not at what time of the year 
the visit is made, there is always something to amuse 
and something to instruct. Our visit fell upon a day 
at the beginning of October, when it ought to have 
been fine, but unfortunately Aquarius had been 
offended in some way or other and vented his spleen 
by usiDg his watering-pot almost unintermittently 
the whole of the afternoon. As Messrs Rivers have 
about 150 acres devoted to fruit trees it is 
very obvious that the wet day considerably impeded 
locomotion, the soil of Hertfordshire clinging lovingly 
to our boots with a tenacity that evinced no ordinary 
affection, whilst overhead the playful raindrops per¬ 
sisted in making our close acquaintance. In spite of 
these unfavourable climatic conditions our interest 
was clothed in waterproof and suffered not the 
slightest from the prevailing dampness. 
The Old Nurseries. 
These lie close to the picturesque little village of 
Sawbridgeworth, and contain the major portion of 
the trees that are ready for distribution, also a 
quantity of young stock, together with the whole of 
the glasshouses. These, as may be expected, are 
pretty numerous and exceedingly well appointed. 
Some of them are remarkably roomy erections, and, 
indeed, they would need to be, taking into considera¬ 
tion the huge specimens of pot-trees that have to be 
accommodated. In one large orchard house some 
magnificent pyramidal Peaches in pots arrested our 
attention. Marvels of good training were they in 
Mr. T. Francis Rivers. 
good sooth. Nor were they infants in age either, to 
judge from the size of the central stem. A row of 
these ran down the middle of the house, which was 
of span-roofed construction, whilst on either side 
were standing dwarfer standards, also in pots, with 
well-filled heads of almost spherical outline. These, 
Mr. Rivers informed us, fruited regularly and well 
each year, despite the fact, continued he, pointing to 
some of them, that these were trees in my father’s 
time, fully forty years ago. This statement of itself 
speaks volumes for the efficiency of the cultural 
attention bestowed upon them in order to keep them 
in a fruitful condition for such a lengthy and pro¬ 
tracted period. Other cool orchard houses were 
filled with Apples, Pears, Peaches, and Plums, all 
carrying wondrously heavy crops and growing in 
relatively small pots; but these we shall have 
occasion to refer to again. The large house devoted 
to the forcing of Nectarines is now empty, under¬ 
going a thorough cleansing and painting in readiness 
for its occupants, which are now perforce taking a 
rest and ripening their wood outside. These trees 
will be started into growth with the new year, in 
order to get ripe fruit by the end of May. Visitors 
to the Temple Show of the current year will remem¬ 
ber the superb group of Nectarines in fruit exhibited 
by Messrs. Rivers & Son, which deservedly received 
a Gold Medal in recognition. The material of which 
the group in question was composed was taken from 
this large house, which was then full of trees in pots. 
Vines.— These form one of the chief features of 
the nurseries. House after house is filled to over¬ 
flowing with strong healthy canes in pots, in all 
stages of growth, from the young plants obtained 
from eyes inserted last spring up to those that, 
having completed their two or three years of growth, 
are ready to be sent out in fulfilment of orders which 
will soon begin to literally pour in. A range of 
houses, nearly 300 ft. in length, is filled with large 
fruiting vines of a number of sorts which have the 
greatest market value, and thus find the readiest 
sale. From these are procured the eyes that are put 
in each spring in such large quantities. The amount 
of fruit these vines are now carrying is simply 
enormous ; indeed, we may say without exaggeration 
that they are bearing the heaviest crops of fruit of 
any we have seen this season. Large, heavy bunches 
of Gros Maroc, Black Flamburgh, Muscat of Alex¬ 
andria, etc., are splendidly coloured, whilst the firm¬ 
ness of the wood, which is already in an advanced 
stage of maturation, attests 
the fact that the canes 
are not loaded above what 
they are able to bear, 
although the crop is such a 
phenomenally heavy one. 
The collection of Oran¬ 
ges forms a prime feature 
of the establishment, and 
one to which peculiar 
interest attaches, for as 
far as we are at present 
aware, no other firm 
have attempted to deal 
seriously with this tropical 
fruit. We learnt in pass¬ 
ing that young Orange 
trees are being sent out 
from Sawbridgeworth for 
planting in various parts 
of the Colonies, the West 
Indies more particularly, 
where experts are of 
opinion that Oranges 
should flourish. This 
seems curious enough, 
but is accounted for by 
the fact that the sorts pro¬ 
pagated and sent out by 
Messrs. Rivers are superior 
to those which could be 
obtained from sources 
nearer to the proposed 
scenes of operation. 
We must not, whilst 
dealing with the glass de¬ 
partment, omit to mention 
the large lean-to house 
filled with grand healthly 
plants of Marechal Niel 
Rose, which are induced 
to open their flowers early 
in the season, and thus command good prices. Up 
to the present Messrs. Rivers & Son have been so 
closely associated with fruit anc^ fruit trees that the 
fact that they are large growers of Roses as well, has, 
somehow or other, been passed over, but on this 
point our eyes were destined to be opened later on 
when we came to view the large extent of space out 
of doors wholly devoted to Roses of all sorts and con¬ 
ditions. 
Fruit Trees in Pots. 
The culture of fruit trees in pots as a system 
possesses a number of advantages over open-air 
cultivation that cannot fail to recommend it to those 
who desire to obtain an abundance of good fruit 
from a comparatively limited area. The first con¬ 
sideration is that the plants can easily be protected 
when in flower from the early spring frosts which 
prove so disastrous to the trees outside. About the 
end of May or beginning of June the trees may be 
stood out of doors, plunging them to the rims in 
ashes, and feeding liberally with manure water. At 
Sawbridgeworth an enormous quantity of Apples 
and Pears are grown in this way. In the space be¬ 
tween two of the houses batches of well-fruited 
trees were standing at the period of our visit, pro- 
