106 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 19, 1889. 
compels the birds to become venturesome and to prey 
upon them. It might be more extensively planted 
than it is. Several Cotoneasters, including C. 
microphylla and C. Simonsii, are highly suitable for 
covering the fronts of dwelling houses, and are always 
easily kept in good order by pruning. Ivies are pretty 
frequently used, but nearly always confined to the 
broad-leaved Irish variety, whereas there are many 
beautiful kinds, both green and variegated, that might 
with advantage be employed. 
--- 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
-- 
Tuberous Begonias. 
As these go out of flower, gradually reduce the amount 
of water given them, so as to induce them to go to rest. 
By doing it gradually, the tubers will ripen off plump, 
and when the process has been completed it will be 
indicated by the plants breaking away at the joints, 
until the lower portion separates from the tuber. The 
pots containing the roots may then be stored away in 
any dark place from which the frost is merely excluded. 
During winter they should be kept tolerably dry, but 
not dust dry, and they will retain a plump condition 
until they commence to push again in spring. Begonia 
Evansiana, often called B. discolor, which is also exten¬ 
sively grown as a window plant, may also be treated in 
the same manner. A third kind—namely, B. Weltoni- 
ensis—being a true evergreen, must be kept exposed to 
light and watered all the winter, just giving it sufficient 
to prevent the soil becoming dust dry. Of course, if 
kept in rooms where there is no fire, it must be removed 
from the window in severe weather out of the reach of 
frost. By placing some dry sheets of paper over it, a 
great amount of frost may be kept out, and in a 
dwelling room this should be no difficult matter. 
Window Boxes. 
As soon as the plants in boxes on the outside sill get 
too much damaged, or cease flowering, the boxes should 
be emptied and planted afresh with hardier material. 
The old system of planting with Wallflowers and hardy 
bulbs is still a good one, and may now be done, putting 
the Wallflowers at the back, with a mixture of Hya¬ 
cinths, Tulips and Crocuses along the front, or any one 
of these may be used alone. A more lasting and 
pleasant effect can, however, be accomplished by the 
use of a few of the many hardy evergreen shrubs at 
command, chiefly Conifers, Euonymus or Hollies, all 
of which can be retained in sufficiently small size to be 
used for the same purpose several years in succession 
simply by pruning and the transplanting to which 
they are subjected every autumn and spring. What 
could be more elegant, for instance, than some of the 
Eetinosporas, such as B. plumosa aurea or even its 
green form, R. leptoclada, R. ericoides, or R. obtusa 
pygnuea ? The latter can hardly be considered elegant, 
but it would form bushy dwarf tufts for the front of 
the box, and it may be used for many years with¬ 
out getting too large. The Golden and Silver Queen 
Hollies are always pretty, and may be used to advan¬ 
tage. 
Showy Basket Plants. 
There is often a difficulty in getting something that 
will stand the winter in a cool greenhouse, where 
little or no fire-heat is used at all, and at the same time 
prove attractive. There are many things that are 
quite hardy, and may even be British, which, when 
appropriately grown, prove quite attractive all the year 
round, and never more so than during autumn and 
winter. "Variegated Periwinkles constitute a good 
instance, including Vinca major variegata, V. minor 
aurea variegata, and V. m. argentea variegata. The 
first mentioned is not aboriginally a native of Britain, 
but is naturalised in various places, and we therefore 
claim it. Of the three it is certainly the most hand¬ 
some, because the leaves are large, and the creamy 
white margin is both broad and very conspicuous. 
When well grown, the slender trailing stems hang down 
to a great length. The leaves of Vinca minor are much 
smaller, but when well grown under a proper exposure 
to light, the yellow or white margins render them 
pretty. 
Carpet Bedding in Winter. 
There are various subjects with which the beds may be 
filled in winter, such as Conifers, Hollies, Euonymus, 
and what not; but something in the way of carpet 
bedding may be more acceptable in small villa gardens. 
There are various hardy subjects well adapted for this 
purpose, such as Herniaria glabra, Thymus Serpyllum, 
Sedum lydium, S. glaucum, S. acre, the variegated S. 
a. elegans, and others that may be used for carpeting 
the ground in various designs, the divisions being 
marked off with Sempervivum calcareum, S. tectorum, 
S. hirtum, or S. Ghiesbreghtii and Golden Feather. 
The first cost of these is not great, and they, with the 
exception of the last named plant, may be used year 
after year, merely altering the designs annually. 
Saxifrages with tufted rosettes of leaves may be used in 
the same way, and for the same purpose as Semper¬ 
vivum. Very neat designs may be formed by the use 
of any or all of the above mentioned, with the exception 
of Golden Feather, unless very small plants of it are 
used and kept within reasonable bounds. 
-- 
CULTURE OP PEACHES AND 
NECTARINES ON OPEN WALLS.* 
By Me. George Gordon. 
Although Peaches and Nectarines cannot in point of 
general utility be compared with Apples and Plums, 
they are of more than sufficient importance in the 
economy of the garden to justify our devoting a brief 
period to the consideration of the practicability of 
largely augmenting the supply of their distinctive and 
luscious fruits. As the question I have to submit to 
the Conference is “ Can Peaches and Nectarines be 
Successfully Grown Against Open Walls ? ” I shall not 
trouble you with the geographical details of their 
native country, or with the facts bearing upon their 
early history. Those matters would undoubtedly be 
full of interest, and enable me to present, with but 
little effort, an attractive paper. But my object is to 
promote a more extended and rational culture of these 
fruits in British gardens, and I am fully assured that I 
shall best serve that object by addressing myself as 
closely as possible to the question. 
It will not be possible to avoid history altogether, 
but I shall not take you back to the sixteenth century, 
when these fruits were introduced to this country. I 
shall confine my historical details to the period over 
which my own observation and experience extend, and 
take you back some thirty years. In those days the 
production of Peaches and Nectarines out of doors was 
regarded as one of the ordinary phases of garden 
practice, and in consequence their cultivation was 
decidedly more successful than it is at the present time. 
We had not in those days discussions as to the relative 
advantages of growing these fruits out of doors and 
under glass. If fruit was wanted in advance of that 
produced by the trees against the open walls, a glass 
structure was devoted to its production. But the out¬ 
door trees were depended upon for the main crop, and 
in consequence they had careful attention, with the 
result that they produced excellent fruit crops. Failures 
did occur then as now, but they were comparatively few, 
and taking a run of years the cultivator obtained an 
abundant supply. 
The Decadence of Peach Culture. 
Let us pause to consider why the opinion of culti¬ 
vators underwent so great a change that in many 
gardens it has long been considered an unsatisfactory, 
if not a hopeless task, to produce a dish of Peaches or 
Nectarines without the aid of glass. That glass is of 
immense service in fruit production no one could be 
mole ready to acknowledge than myself, but I would 
submit that it does not necessarily follow that because 
Peaches and Nectarines can be successfully grown in an 
orchard or Peach house, that those who have no such 
convenience should not have their table supplied with 
these fruits during some part of the year. The fruit 
grower cannot wholly escape from the influence of 
fashion. Thirty years ago saw a great change in the 
decoration of the flower garden and the uprising of the 
bedding system, by which the hardy flowers were 
replaced by bands and masses of colour produced by 
plants more or less tender. The propagation and pre¬ 
paration of these comparatively large stocks of bedding 
plants diverted much attention from other departments, 
and the bedding out had to be done just at the time 
when the Peach trees required considerable attention. 
The bedding system undoubtedly exercised a material 
influence upon the outdoor culture of these fruits, but 
the chief cause of the decline was not the fever engen¬ 
dered by the bands, crescents, circles, and stars of 
scarlet, yellow, and blue with which the flower garden 
was so liberally furnished. Rather was it to be traced 
to the more general introduction of glass houses into 
gardens about twenty-five years ago. We were then 
told on all sides that to attempt to produce a dish of 
either Peaches or Nectarines outside was an act of folly 
of which no sane gardener would be guilty. We were 
* Bead at the Meeting of the British Fruit Growers’ Association, 
Crystal Palace, October 9th, 1SS9. 
assured also that the seasons had so changed that to 
efficiently protect the flowers and young plants from the 
cold blasts of spring, or to properly mature the wood in 
the course of the season, was an impossibility ; but this 
was not all. For many years following the cheapening 
of glass by the removal of the duty and the adoption of 
improved processes of manufacture, it was too much 
the practice to attach undue importance to the indoor 
department of the garden. Twenty years ago the 
ambition of the majority of young gardeners was to 
obtain charge of the conservatory and plant stove. 
Work-in the Peach house, Pine pit, and vinery was not 
particularly objected to, but the pruning and nailing of 
wall trees was done with reluctance, and the rougher 
operations of the kitchen garden under protest. In 
consequence of this combination of circumstances, it is 
not surprising that the outdoor culture of the Peach and 
Nectarine should have almost become a lost art 
amongst us, or that the supplies should for a long 
period have been small and intermittent. Happily, a 
great change for the better has taken place in the ideas 
of young gardeners, and the Peach and the Nectarine 
have shared in the improvement that has been effected 
in the management of the fruit garden as the result of 
the change. We may, indeed, congratulate ourselves 
upon the fact that they are now being grown against 
open walls with greater success than at any period 
during the past twenty years. Much, however, has 
yet to be done before their outdoor culture can be con¬ 
sidered thoroughly satisfactory. Holding this view, I 
hope that there will be no relaxation on the part of 
those who take an interest in hardy fruits to complete 
this much needed reform. 
If I am asked what course we are to take to increase 
both the quantity and the quality of the fruit, I have 
no hesitation in saying that it must be in the direction 
of an 
Improved System of Management. 
I have been told, I am afraid to say how often, that it 
is simply a question of climate, and that if we could 
only change the climatic conditions which obtain, 
there would he no difficulty in securing an abundance 
of fruit. A change for the better in the climate would 
no doubt he an advantage ; but as that is beyond cur 
control, we must endeavour to cheat it by adopting a 
course of culture suited to the peculiarities of the trees. 
As the Peach and Nectarine are natives of Persia, 
which has a much warmer and drier climate than that 
of the United Kingdom, it necessarily follows that they 
are comparatively tender and more susceptible to 
adverse influences than are the majority of fruits grown 
out of doors. It is not necessary to tell you that they 
are liable to suffer from the frosts and biting winds of 
spring, or from severe weather in winter, following a 
summer not particularly favourable to the ripening of 
the wood. But I would submit that their liability to 
injury in these two seasons is greatly overrated, and 
that it may he materially reduced by judicious manage¬ 
ment. Success or failure rests chiefly upon the 
condition of the wood at the end of the summer, and 
if that is fairly well ripened, it depends pretty much 
upon the activity of the cultivator in the spring 
following as to whether or not he gathers a good crop 
of fruit in the course of the summer. To obtain well- 
ripened wood, excepting in seasons that are particularly 
favourable, is by many regarded as an impossibility. 
But I do not so regard it, for to do so would be to 
ignore the teaching of long experience and wide obser¬ 
vation. It is simply a question of placing the roots 
under proper conditions, and we must obtain clearer 
views as to what these conditions are, and sweep away 
some of the cobwebs that hang about the practice which 
generally obtains at the present time before we can 
hope to see the culture of these fruits placed on a 
satisfactory basis. We must fully appreciate the 
Importance of "Well-drained Borders, 
And to show how necessary they are, I would say that 
with a superabundance of moisture about the roots, 
in a stagnant state, the trees will make wood deficient 
in fibre, and continue in growth until so late a period 
that the completion of the ripening process is out of 
the question. Therefore, the steps necessary to prevent 
the water remaining in a stagnant condition about the 
roots must be taken either before or after the borders 
are formed. Anxious to avoid occupying time with 
mere detail, I will content myself with saying that a 
drain laid down along the front of a border, 6 ins. 
or so below the bottom of the border, will suffice to 
carry off superfluous water. In other cases it may be 
necessary to supplement the drain with a layer of 
brick rubble or broken stone underneath the border. 
On soils that are naturally cold and heavy, it is a great 
advantage to raise the surface of the border from 12 to 
