August  31,  1899. 
185 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
PEACH  TREE  TRELLISES. 
It  is  nearly  thirty  years  since  Mr.  T.  Challis  of  Wilton  House, 
Salisbury,  introduced  the  system  of  training  Peach  trees  in  early  as 
well  as  late  Peach  houses  on  perpendicular  transverse  trellises,  in 
place  or  tho  usual  longitudinal  ones.  These  were  arranged  in  pairs, 
G  inches  apart,  with  intervening  SDaces  between  them  of  5  feet  G  inches. 
BeiDg  placed  immediately  under  the  roof  rafters,  which  afforded 
means  of  support,  they  were  carried  across  to  the  pathway  at  the 
back,  over  which  they  formed  an  arch,  to  the  back  wall,  to  which  they 
were  secured. 
The  chief  objects  in  view,  in  adopting  this  system,  were  to  increase 
the  training  space,  to  give  freer  access  to  the  trees,  and  also  to  give 
uninterrupted  light  to  the  trees  planted  on  the  bick  wall.  Many  and 
great  were  the  objections  raised  agiinst  this  system  at  first  by  friendly 
critics,  but  these,  fortunately,  have  all  proved  groundless,  and  the 
system  is  now  extensively  adopted  in  every  part  of  the  country. 
When  first  planted,  the  usual  fan  form  of  tree  was  chosen,  these 
were  planted  back  to  back,  one  tree  to  each  trellis,  and  the  time 
occupied  to  cover  each  trellis  was  about  six  years.  Now,  however, 
the  upright  cordons  only  are  used,  three  maiden  trees  being  planted 
equi-distant  on  each  trellis,  at  abiut  3  feet  apart. 
Instead  of  taking  six  years,  the  whole  trellis  can  by  this  means 
be  easily  covered  in  three  years,  and  a  very  fair  crop  can  be  taken 
the  first  year  after  planting.  This  is  an  immense  gain  on  the  old 
method,  and  one  to  which  I  would  venture  to  direct  special  attention, 
as  by  this  method  of  planting  and  training  net  only  can  a  grerter 
number  of  varieties  be  grown,  and  a  better  succession  of  fruit  be 
secured,  but  the  fruit  obtained  therefrom  is  better  in  every  respect 
than  that  borne  by  the  fan-trained  trees. — Visitor. 
DEATH  OF  M.  HENRY  DE  VILMORIN. 
Many  who  have  from  time  to  time  at  the  meetings  of  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society  and  the  reunions  of  the  Horticultural  Club  met  the 
distinguished  Parisian  horticulturist,  if.  Henry  de  Vilmorin,  will  regret 
to  hear  that  he  has  been  taken  away  whilst  still  in  the  very  prime 
of  life. 
Henry  Leveque  de  Vilmorin  (of  MM.  Vilmorin,  Andrieux,  &  Co.) 
was  the  son  of  M.  Louis  Lcvequo  de  Vilmorin,  who,  with  others  of  the 
same  family,  have  been  prominent  figures  in  French  Horticulture  for 
more  than  three  generations.  He  was  filty-six  years  of  age.  In  1861, 
when  he  was  only  eighteen,  he  entered  the  business  and  began  to  take  up 
the  study  of  horticulture  and  agriculture,  on  the  decease  of  his  father, 
whose  life  had  been  devoted  to  the  pursuit  of  these  kindred  sciences. 
In  1866  he  visited  England  for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  himself  in 
the  language,  and  also  in  order  to  make  himself  acquainted  with 
those  English  educational  and  commercial  institutions  which  had  a 
direct  bearing  upon  the  subjects  which  he  was  interested  in  promoting 
at  home,  both  theoretically  and  practically.  Throughout  the  long 
business  life  M.  Henry  de  Vilmorin  not  only  found  time  to  travel, 
but  also  to  organise  societies,  and  to  make  numerous  contributions  and 
monographs  to  the  proceedings  of  the  various  agricultural  and  horticul¬ 
tural  institutions  of  which  he  was  a  member.  Among  these  may  be 
mentioned  “A  Study  of  Heredity  in  Vegetables”  (1879),  “  Les  Meilleur* 
Bl&s  ”  (1880),  “  Experiments  in  Crossing  Different  Cereals,”  contributed 
to  the  Journal  of  the  Botanic  Society  of  France  (1880),  “Systematic 
Catalogue  of  Potatoes”  (1886),  “Les  Plantes  Pctagkres  ”  (1887),  “  Les 
Plantes  de  Grande  Culture,”  “Flowers  of  the  Riviera,”  which  appeared 
in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  of  thU  country  in 
1893,  with  many  others,  including  annual  contributions  to  “Le  Bon 
Jardinier”  during  a  space  of  thirty  year3. 
M.  Henry  de  Vilmorin  participated  also  in  the  Botanical  and  Horti¬ 
cultural  Conferences  held  at  the  great  French  Exhibitions  of  187S  and 
1889,  at  which  he  read  papers.  He  was  also  commissioned  by  the 
Council  of  the  Society  of  Agriculture  of  Franco  to  visit  tho  United 
States  to  inquire  into  the  conditions  of  the  grain  culture  and  trade 
prevailing  there,  and  was  the  delegate  of  the  French  Government  to 
tho  International  Exhibition  at  St.  Petersburg  in  the  present  year.  In 
1881  he  was  appointed  Vice-President  of  the  Botanic  Society  of  France, 
and  in  1889  ascended  to  the  Presidency.  He  was  the  first  Vice-President 
of  “The  National  Society  of  French  Horticulture,”  in  whose  journal  his 
contributions  form  a  prominent  and  regular  feature.  As  the  founder 
of  “  The  Society  of  French  Agriculturists  ”  he  always  took  a  deep 
interest  in  their  proceedings,  and  occupied  himself  much  with  experiments- 
in  their  laboratory  regarding  questions  connected  with  the  fertilisation  of 
cereals.  He  made  also  frequent  communications  with  reference  to  the 
utilisation  of  city  sewage,  the  nature  of  manures,  and  questions  relating 
to  cropping. 
The  distinctions  conferred  upon  M.  Henry  de  Vilmorin  are  too 
numerous  to  mention.  They  came  from  almost  every  Foropean'country 
— Prussia,  Italy,  Denmark,  Russia,  Belgium,  and  others.  In  his  own 
land  he  had  been  a  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honour  since  1882.  In 
England  he  was  the  recipient  of  the  Veitch  Memorial  medal.  Being  a 
fine  English  scholar,  and  commanding  a  good  colloquial  faculty  of 
English,  he  was  much  at  home  with  us.  Englishmen  found  h  m’ quite- 
Eig.  37.— Mons.  Henry  de  Yilmorin. 
sympathetic,  which  congeniality  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  not  only  a  fine  linguist,  bat  a  man  of  broad  and  varied  culture 
He  died  on  the  23rd  of  August,  and  was  buried  last  Saturday  at  Massy 
Verrieres,  near  Paris. 
Cultivation  of  Turnsole.  —  The  “  Tvew  Bulletin  ”  translates 
from  “Le  Petit  Journal”  the  following  account  of  the  cultivation  of 
Chrozophora  tinctoria  at  Grand  Gallarguos  in  the  Department  ol  Gard, 
South  France  :  — “  This  year’s  harvest,  which  has  been  a  fairly  good  one, 
is  for  the  most  part  as  usual  absorbed  by  the  Dutch  cheese  industry. 
Our  soil  is  peculiarly  suited  to  the  cultivation  of  Chrozophora  tinctoria 
(Croton  tinctorius  ;  Croton  des  teinturiers  or  Turnsole),  and  it  grows  with 
us  even  in  a  wild  state.  When  the  reaping  is  done  our  farmers  gather 
the  stems  and  leaves  together  and  place  them  in  small  heaps  on  tho 
outskirts  of  the  village  to  ferment.  Fermentation  brings  about  tho 
changes  necessary  for  the  development  of  the  fine  red  dye,  which  for 
centuries  has  been  employed  by  the  Dutch  cheese-makers.  Year  by  year 
for  several  centuries  has  a  Dulch  ship  put  into  Cette  and  taken  off  a 
cargo  of  Croton  stems  and  leaves  prepared  as  just  described.  To  give 
them  their  red  colour  the  cheese  manufacturers  of  Holland  wrap  their 
cheeses  in  the  Croton  leaves  and  take  them  out  tho  red  balls,  which  are 
exported  the  whole  world  over.  Grand  Gallargues  is  thus  the  source  of 
the  red  of  the  Dutch  cheese.”  The  “Bulletin”  adds,  “A  little  of 
interest  may  be  added  to  the  above.  Not  until  1808  was  it  shown 
clearly  that  Turnsole  could  be  cultivated  from  seed.  Belore  this  date, 
the  people  of  Grand  Gallargues,  which,  then,  as  now,  was  tho  centre  of 
the  industry,  harvested  their  entire  crop  from  wild  plants.  Year  by  year 
in  the  mon.hs  of  July,  August,  and  September,  they  scattered  through 
the  departments  of  the  South  of  France — Bouches  du  Rhone,  Var,  Gard, 
He'rault,  Pyrenees  orientales  and  Vuucluse — gathering  the  plants  where 
abundant,  and  fermenting  them  on  the  spot.” 
