May  18,  1899. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
kinds  of  flowers,  not  omitting  Poppies  and  Daffodils ;  a  model  Beurrd 
Hardy  Pear  tree,  and  a  long,  high-sided  span-roofed  house  packed, 
like  the  frames,  with  a  great  assortment  of  plants  between  the  large 
pots  of  Peach  and  Nectarine  trees. 
These  trees,  about  two  dozen,  are  free  informal  standards,  laden 
with  thousands  of  fruits.  They  are  tall  enough  to  walk  under,  and 
in  looking  upwards  the  fruits  seem  closer  together  than  .stars  in  the 
firmament.  To  the  question,  “  Why  don’t  you  thin  then),  Mr.  Wilks  ?” 
comes  the  quick  reply,  “They  have  been  thinned;  they  have  to  be 
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(outside)  for  the  winter,  and  brought  under  glass  in  February.  The 
pruning  resolves  itself  into  a  coin  mon-sense  system  of  thinning,  to 
prevent  overcrowding  in  the  summer,  and  the  piodigious  weiglit  of 
fruit  prevents  any  a]  proach  to  luxuriant  fruitless  growths. 
As  has  been  said,  the  house  is  packed  with  plants.  Along  one 
side  is  a  row  of  Lilium  auratum,  the  inn  ease  from  one  bulb,  remark¬ 
able  for  their  vigour,  with  stern.*  as  thick  as  walking-sticks,  and  G  feet 
high.  There  scarcely  seems  room  fur  another  pot,  but  where  there  is 
an  opening  for  the  apex  of  a  Tcmato  plant  it  is  directed  to  it,  and  pokes 
Fig.  90.— the  CONSEKVATOKY,  WALTON  LEA. 
thinned  once,  twice,  thrice,  and  the  difficulty  is  to  know  how  far  to 
go,  and  when  to  leave  off.  We  left  300  dozen  to  ripen  last  year.” 
The  productiveness  of  the  trees  is  extraordinary,  and  in  no  other 
way  than  by  the  very  best  of  management  could  they  be  kept  in  such 
a  healthy  state  as  to  produce  and  mature  such  exhausting  crops  year  • 
after  year.  _ 
With  well  selected  varieties  a  regular  succes.sion  of  fruit  is  had 
from  early  summer  to  the  autumn ;  and  all  is  done  so  easily.  As  the 
crops  are  gathered  the  trees  are  stood  outside,  put  in  order  at  the  roots, 
and'  fresh  soil  given  towards  the  end  of  the  keason,  safely  plunged 
its  way  through  as  best  it  can  to  the  upright  glass  sides  of  the 
structure,  and  rcrambles  up  between  the  geneial  stock  and  the  Peach, 
trees,  thus  by-and-by  giving  fruits  to  lean  their  ruddy  cheeks  against 
the  gla.ss.  We  hear  of  stolen  crops  in  gardens,  but  this  is  like  .a 
stolen  crop  under  glas.s,  and  if  there  is  a  house  in  England  that  yields 
a  greater  amount  of  produce  for  its  size  than  this  does  it  would  be 
worth  going  far  to  see.  _ _ 
The  model  Pear  tree  mentioned  is  not  in  the  house.  It  is  what  may 
be  termed  of  natural  pyramidal  form,  or,  in  other  words,  has  beeu 
allowed  to  assume  the  shape  peculiar  to  the  variety.  It  is  some 
