THE GARDENERS’ MAGAZINE. 
ADVANTAGES OF ORCHARD 
HOUSES. 
Much might he written and said with 
reference to the aid well-equipped oivhaixl 
houses are able to render in the mainten¬ 
ance of supplies of choice fruits during the 
greater part of the year, but there is no 
occasion in these pages to do otherwise 
than briefly touch upon this point. We 
We now refer to the matter for the pur¬ 
pose of presenting our readers with an 
object-lesson that is unquestionably of great 
practical importance. This year plums, 
more especiially the choice varieties, have 
been so scarce that even those who have 
trees traine<l to walls have had a diffi- 
A 
PLUM EARLY TRANSPARENT GAGE, 
heavily-fruited tree of this useful dessert plum, showing its value for orchard house 
culture. 
have, on more than one occasion, within 
a comparatively short period, set foith at 
some length the advantages of liaving one 
or two structures in the garden for the 
cultivation of fruit trees in pots; and 
last winter we were fortunate in being able 
to arrange with Mr. James Hudson, 
V.M.H., to write a series of articles on 
the fruits specially adapted to orchard- 
house culture. As Mr. Hudson is a past 
master in the art of growing fruit trees 
in pots, his conti'ibutions received wide¬ 
spread attention, and greatly stimulated 
the interest in this phase of fruit produc¬ 
tion 
culty in maintaining moderate supplies 
either for dessert or kitchen use. Pears 
very closely approached a complete failure, 
and it must have been very disheartening, 
both to owners of gardens and those re- 
.sjx)nsible for their management, to have 
scores of admirably-managed trees without 
a fruit upon them, or so few fruits as to be 
hardly worthy of notice. 
M liereas out of doors hundreds of plum 
and pear trees have been barren, there has 
been no shortage of orchard-house fruits. In 
gardens where fruits are grown in pots the 
crops have, as usual, been heavy, and of 
high quality, and in nurseries also the pot 
trees have been an interesting and profit 
able feature. AVe have onlv to refer to' 
the magnificent collections of fruit trees 
that have of late been exhibite<l by 
the leading nurserymen at the Roval 
Horticultural Hall to remind many ‘of 
our readers of the great exceUenay of the 
crop. For the purj>ove of enabling those 
of our readers who had no opportunity of 
secMiig the fiTiit trees shown at AWstmin. 
ster, we illustrate two trees which are fair 
examples of the Avhole. One is a tree of 
that excellent early dessert plum. Early 
Transparent Gage, which must have fnr- 
nishecl three or four dishes of finely-<leve. 
loped fruit, and the other that usitiil 
autumn pear. Souvenir du Congres, which 
had about eighteen large fruits. Roth trets 
were excellent examples of succc'ssful cul¬ 
ture, and were exhibited Avith a large num¬ 
ber of trees, all more or less good, by 
Messrs. J. Vedteh and Sons, at one of the 
late summer shows held by the Royal 
Horticultural Society. 
THE BEST TWELVE 
EXHIBITION FRUITS. 
During the months of August and Sep¬ 
tember, from a large establishment Avhere 
fruit is -a speciality and there are cr< ps 
under glass, it should not be difficult to 
stage at the leading exhibitions a collection 
of twelve kinds of fruits, and these of 
superior varieties. 
It is very strange that in some collec¬ 
tions we find so many inferior vai’iotii'S. 
By inferior I mean grapt^s like (fros Maroc, 
Alicante, or Gros Guillaume; Emperor 
Alexandei- or Gascoigne’s Scarlet aj)ple. Nv' 
one will admit that these possess really 
high flavour, and yet we often sec 
them included in collections of desscut 
fruits. The apples have ceiTaiidy only a 
bright exterior to recommend them. In 
the case of the grapes it is astonishing 
ht)w exhibitors cling to these inferior varie¬ 
ties when the more desirable soi ts can be 
quite as easily grown. How can either of 
the grapes named be compared to Black 
Hamburgh iai August, Madresfield Court 
or Muscat Hamburgh in September ? 
Gardeners, as a rule, confess to a weak¬ 
ness for variety in grapes, as in all other 
fruits, and in vegetables and flowers, but 
unfortunately it is at the expense of quality 
in far too many instances. I cannot under¬ 
stand why, instead of so much variety, 
double or treble the number of vines of a 
superior ATiriety are not planted in pre¬ 
ference to one or two canes, each of a con¬ 
siderable nunil>er of varieties, none of 
which are indifferent in quality. 
As a guide to the inexperienced I purpose 
giving a selection of the best Dvelve fruits 
suitable for exhibition during the 
months mentioned and the varieties 
adapted to such a purpose, liearing in miiK 
oidy those that pos^cn^s merit beyond ap¬ 
pearance. 
For exhibition purposes black and whi c 
grapes are regarde<l as distinct kinds o 
fruit. In addition to these I name pine¬ 
apples, |>eaches, nectarines, melons,^ ng';. 
plums, jx^ars, cherries, apples, and apri¬ 
cots or strawberries. This is gi^n^ ^ 
choice of thirteen kinds, without naMao 
recourse to currants’, goosel>erries, lasp 
berries, or nuts, none of which score nia . 
points in jeompetition. . • 
For use in August the following ' ^riet.^ 
would be unsurpassable if presented m ^ 
l)est condition each is capable of. ’ 
Black Hamburgh I regard as the hn^ 
black grape during the month of - ,, 
This A^ariety has a flaA-our all " nu. 
presented at its best. Bunches 31b. 
in Aveight, evenly-shouldered, fnm 
