22 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



mation of the flower-buds. At tlie winter pruning' it will be simply 

 necessary to thin the slioots where too thick, and shorten a fe\Y of 

 the others if they appear likely to spoil the symmetrical appearance 

 of the tree. It will be thus seen that the summer pinching and 

 winter pruning of the trees are by no means formidable tasks even 

 for amateurs with but limited knowledge of fruit growing. 



If the trees grow too luxuriantly, they can be checked by digging 

 round them at a distance of thirty inches from the stem. A trench 

 should be opened cut to a sufficient depth to ensure all the roots 

 being cut through. Also well work the spade underneath the ball 

 of soil, to cut through the top roots, if any, for the excessive vigour, 

 and the consequent production of fat, ill-ripened wood, may gene- 

 rally be attributed to these roots, which strike down into the sub- 

 soil ; so long, however, as the trees make moderate growth only, and 

 produce good crops, they will not require any root-pruning. 



The undermentioned are the best sorts for securmg a good supply 

 of fruit from September onwards from pyramidal and espalier trees : 

 A^ifjiist : Citron des Carmes, Jargonelle. September: Williams's 

 Bon Chretien, Brockworth Park, Beurre d'Amanlis. October: 

 Louise Bonne of Jersey, Seckle, Urbaniste, Beurre Superfiu. Xo- 

 vemher : Van Mons Leon le Clerc, Thompson's, Soldat Esperen, 

 Foudante des Charneu, Beurre Berckmans. December and January: 

 Catinka, Glou Morceau, Monarch, Josephine de Malines, Ne Plus 

 Meuris, Winter Nelis, Alexander Bivort. Fehruari/ and March : 

 Beurre Sterckmans, Beurre Easter, Beurre Kance, Eliza d'Heyst, 

 L'Inconnue. 



THE PEEPAEATION OP FEUIT FOR THE TABLE. 



['NLESS there is some special and peculiar reason to the 

 contrary, this should be the work of the gardener. This 

 assertion will surprise such of our readers as have had 

 but little actual experience in the cultivation of fruits ; 

 but it will bear serious consideration nevertheless. It 

 is a common thing for handsome bunches of grapes, furnished from 

 the hand of the gardener with unbroken bloom and in perfect exhi- 

 bition condition, to appear shortly afterwards at table bloomless and 

 glossy, the result of having been freel}^ handled in the artistic pro- 

 cess of preparing them for the table. To handle fruit for any pur- 

 pose, if the preservation of its beauty is a matter of anj- importance, 

 requires much more skill than is possessed by the average of domestic 

 servants. But the question raised, as to who should prepare the 

 fruit for table, does not rest on the relative skill of the several parties 

 concerned ; there is the subject of honesty to be considered also. It 

 is scarcely an agreeable task to point to the occasional possibility of 

 the largest strawberries being abstracted from a fresh gathered dish, 

 or of a handsome bunch of grapes being denuded of its shoulders. 

 But we must face unpleasant facts and discharge unpleasant duties 

 sometimes, and we refer to these possibilities as furnishing a second 



