Hiy AiikiUiJi/i'UHiBT, {JA«UAi?y h Mb. 



tho case with bealthj- young trees, assumes thfi 

 stuutea or- stocky appearance so well known to the 

 practical gardener as being iurlicative of a disposition 

 to i,ioiluce flowers and trait. This condition tnay be 

 brouf;Iit on prematurely by repeated checking of 

 the "young shoots while they are making growth. 

 By this means the flow of the sap is checked, and 

 inste.nd of continuing the development of leaves and 

 shoots, it is thrown with greater force into the re- 

 maiuing hud, and, if the work has been judiciously 

 performed, and uot carried -to an extreme, organises 

 thei!i for a future year; but if the stopping is 

 overdone, the wholo of the buds may break, an'! 

 thus the the object of the operator is defeated. It 

 is evident, then, that summer pruning with the 

 object of inducing a fruitful habit, requires some 

 amount of observation and experience to ensure a 

 successful result. If commenced early in the season, 

 the stopping of a shoot does not produce any great 

 or lastiog effect, and the process must be repeated • 

 again and again, perhaps three or four times before 

 the desired object i» attain»a. We have peen trees, | 

 not cf extreme luxuriance, brought from a state of 

 barrenness into one of fertiUty in a single stason 

 by pinching the tops of the shoots . towards the 

 end ot the summer, after the season for exuberant 

 growth was past while the sap still flowed with 

 considerable vigor, though not so mnch as to cause 

 the buds, or at most only, a few ot them, to start 

 into growth, hut still sufficient to fill and cause 

 them to swell into fruit buds, instend of remamirg 

 as wood buds, which they would had the sap be(n 

 allowed to flow past them and eNpend itself in the 

 formation of more leaves and wood. It is, however, 

 a very nice point to time tho operation of stopping 

 tho shoots so as to produce the desired clfect, for 

 by the weather or other causes, the process might 

 be spoiled either by inducing too large or too 

 small a flow of sap; in the first case causmg tho 

 buds to break at once, anu .a the other preventing 

 them from swelling owing to the deficiency of sap. 

 Tender some conditions, trees may be brought into 

 a fruitful state by leaving them altogether unpruned ; 

 for, as a rule, the more a tree is pruned the more 

 wood it makes, but if left alcne its supprfluous 

 enci'gies become exhausted in course of time and 

 fruilfuIu'-SR supervenes. A similar effect may be 

 produced by ringing the branches, by which means 

 a ciieck is given to the sap that almost invariably 

 throws tbcm into a bearing st:'.te. The sap may 

 be flso checked by bending the tops oi the branches 

 towards the gi-ound, by which racaua fcrility can 

 bo generally produced in the course of %Be. or two 

 years. 



itoot pruning is, however, the luost rapid as 

 well as certain method of inducing f^rtility m a 

 vi''orour» tree; by this means tho flow of sap can 

 be" checked to such an extent that growth may 

 almost entirely cease and the whole of the leaf 

 bulls bo transformed into fruit buds the following 

 year. And it has this advantage, that by the time 

 the fruit buds are formed tho young roots, if 

 properly fed, are roady to supply an amount of 

 Jiourlshmcnt sufiicient to bring the crop to perfection. 

 This process also requirss a large share of skill and 

 experience lo enable the operator to carry it out 

 to the proper extent, so that, while the \ngor of 

 tho tree i.^ sufficiently reduced, the pruning may not 

 be so sovcrc a?- to cau.se H to be starved and rendered 

 iooa'ptib'o of producing either leaves or fruit. The 

 pruning must, therefore, Ijo in exact proportion to 

 (be vigor of the tree. As a rule, it is best not to 

 overdo it. for, if it is found in the ensuing 

 teasou that it hai not been severe enough a few 

 more roots can at any time be cut through. The 

 t unmon practice is to cut only a portion of the 

 roots at one operation, leaving the remainder until 

 a further check is required. Boot pruning gives the 

 na-deuer great command of the vita! energies of a 

 ir.e ■ he csu, at any time, by lessening tlie supply 

 of sap, slop the too vigorous growtb, while it is 

 also in Ills power to increase the vigor by extru feed- 



ing of the young roots that are quickly formed in 

 place of those cut off. Thus- the process may be 

 even made use of for the renovation of partially wurn 

 out trees. For when a tree has got into a stunted 

 condition its roots become almost inactive and incap- 

 able of furnishing sap in suflicient quantity to 

 maintain a state of \-igor in the tree. But if the 

 roots, or a portion of them, are cut through they 

 pre.seutly send out young fibres, and if these are 

 supplied with rich food and plenty of moisture thoy 

 increase rapidly in strength and vigor , and are 

 presently able io impart new life into the parent 

 tree, bringing it back to a state of growth and 

 fruitfulnes.'i, which may be maiutained for an almost 

 unlimited period by periodital root pruning, first 

 one side of the tree and then tho other.— iendor. 



SOILS. 

 Lime is one ot the most important ingredients of the 

 soil. 1st, lime is in constant requisition for building 

 up the framework of plants and animals ; 2udly, it 

 absorbs moisture and carbonic acid gas from the atmo- 

 sphere and from the minerals which surround it in the 

 soil, and, owing to its great affinity to acids, it facilitates 

 several chemical changes that take place within the 

 soil (decomposition of vegetable and animal matter, &c.). 

 In combination with clay or alumina, lime forms a mixt- 

 ure called m.irl. It has been pointed out that we eau- 

 not form a lump of marl by simply mixuig up, ever so 

 intimately, diJfereut proportions of clay and lime ; a 

 piece of such substance as would appear to he perfect 

 marl, put into water, is .sep.arated again into clay and 

 lime, which form distinct sediments at the bottom of 

 the vessel. "VVe have found also that a piece of clay 

 soaked in lime water changes into true marl, and we 

 may thus presume that the enormous layers of that 

 sub.stance which we occasioually find have been formed 

 in nature by a similar process ot ii\filtration of lime 

 water into clay. Marl is easi'y distinguii'hed from clay 

 by its containing lime. On application of hydrochloric 

 acid the lime will testify its presence by causing an 

 eftervesceuce ; the lime takes up tho hydrochloric acid 

 and gives oif its carbonic acid. Pure clay shows no 

 effervescence. The difi'ereut kinds ot marl may br classi- 

 fied according to the quantities ot clay, lime, magnesia, 

 and sand which they contain. There is— 



1. Marly clay; it contaius 5-10 per cent of lime and 

 9005 ot ciay. 



2. Clay-marl ; it contains 15'28 per cent ot lime and 

 75-85 of 'clay. 



3. Common marl ; it contains 25-50 per cent of lime 

 and 60-SO of cUy. 



4. Loam marl ; it contains 15-25 per cent of lime and 

 20-25 of clay ; the remaining portions being sand or 

 silica. 



5. Chalk marl contains 5000 per cent of lime ; In 25 

 per cent of clay or silica. It effervesces in nitric acid. 



6. Magnesia marl, 10-30 per cent chalk; 20-50 clay ; 

 10-40 per cent magnesia. It effervesces with byilro- 

 chloric acid. 



7. Clayey marl, 90 per cent lime and 10 per clay — 

 which may always be called chalk soil. 



There are also marls containing gypsum, &c. Tho 

 important featureof the marl family is their temlency 

 to lose all coherence when they are exposed to the in- 

 fluence of the atmosphere. For this reason they are 

 more easily cultivated than stiff clay soils. This pro- 

 perty, as well as the power of marl to absorb moisture 

 and gases as clay does, greatly depends upon the pro- 

 portion of the clay or the magnesia to the lime in the 

 mar! : the greater' tlie proportion of c!ay_ the greati r is 

 that power of absorbing, and ot retaining also what 

 has been absorbed. C4reater p>-rcent-iges of lime, on 

 the contrary, interfere with the absoibiug power of the 

 clay and more readily give up again the water uuder 

 the influeiicii of heat, The capacity of cl.iy nf holding 

 back greater quantities of water than lime iloes is the 

 cause that clayey marls generally form cold soils ; they 

 require greater heat to act upon them .so as t« infuse 

 the warmth necessary for tho process of vegetation 



