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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



made a blank in that department. Messrs. 

 Veitch and Mr. Dod led the way in stove 

 plants, exhibiting much the same as at 

 Chiswick, and novelties were decidedly 

 scarce. Still, as a show, it was satisfactory, 

 and the attendance was good. 



Oxfordshire Horticultural Society. 

 — The exhibition took place on the 

 15th of June. In the prize list, open to all 

 England, Mr. Dingle, gardener to A. 

 Lawrence, Esq., of Bath,- took the first 

 prize for stove and greenhouse plants; his 

 collection consisting of Erica depressa, 

 Dracophyllum gracile, Pimelia Hendersonii, 

 Medinilla Magnifica, Ixora coccinea, Heli- 

 chrysum prolifera, Erica Cavendishii, Aphe- 

 lexis macrantha grandiflora, Genetyllis 

 Hookeriana; 2nd to Mr. Griffin, nursery- 

 man, Bath ; 3rd, to Mr. Bailey, gardener to 



G. V. Harcourt, Esq., M.P. The first 

 prize for Cape Heaths, in six varieties, 

 to Mr. Dingle, for Masoni, major, Ver- 

 nonii, Candoleana, Ventricosa, Both- 

 wellianai Perspicua Nana, Mutabilis; 2nd, 

 to Mr. Griffin, Bath, Yentricosa superba, 

 Eximia, Cavendishii, Tricolor, rubra, 

 Masonii, Ventricosa breviflora. Mr. 

 Charles Turner, Slough, took first prize for 

 Geraniums, (not fancies), in eight-inch 

 pots, 12 varieties — Etna, Floretta, Cynthia, 

 Matilda, Dollabella, Bianca, Evelyn, Sym- 

 metry, Floribunda, Mazeppa, Flora, and 

 Belle of the Season ; 2nd, to Mr. John 

 Soden, Barton, for Virginia, Arethusa, 

 Sanspariel, Carlos, Topsy, La Blache, 

 Forget-me-not, Majestic, Wonderful, Row- 

 ena, Petruchio, and Fair Ellen. 



OLD AY ALLS AND MATERIALS AND METHODS OF TRAINING 



Our opinion is, that forbrick walls nothing 

 is better than the old system of nailing the 

 shoots to the walls by shreds and cast-iron 

 nails ; our objection to loops or nails 

 driven into the wall permanently, for 

 tying the branches to, is that, although 

 they iti some measure save the walls, they 

 inflict great injury on the trees, by the 

 branches, in the course of time, growing 

 into them and causing canker. We have 

 tried both loops and common nails exten- 

 sively, and are now discontinuing then- 

 use for the above reason ; besides, a man 

 can get over a wall of trees much quicker 

 with the nail and shred, than by tying in 

 the shoots to the nails, and make a better 

 job of them to boot. The shreds should 

 not be cut too wide, and when the young 

 wood of the trees is unnailed in the 

 autumn, the shreds should be picked over 

 and boiled, and then dried for use. Wall 

 nails are frequently used too large, for, 

 with the exception of securing the large 

 branches of the Peach and spur-bearing 

 wall trees, winch require stout nails, and 

 should be fastened with osier twigs, small 

 nails will be found to answer best, as more 

 easily driven into the wall and extracted. 

 Some descriptions of walls are built of 

 materials so hard that nails can only be 

 driven into the joints, which, when the 

 stones are large, may be too wide apart for 

 training ; in this case, and especially if the 

 face of the wall is rough, we recommend a 

 coarse stucco and wiring with either copper 

 or galvanised iron wires placed close to the 

 wall. It is of but little use attempting to 

 grow good fruit against old brick walls, 



full of nail holes, and with bad joints, as 

 these harbour insects to such a degree as 

 to frustrate all hopes of keeping them 

 down. Our plan is to unnail the trees 

 from the walls, and either early in the 

 autumn, or when all danger of severe frost 

 is over in the spring, rake out the joints 

 and fresh point them, after which put 

 some unslaked lime in a tub and pour 

 boiling water on it ; when the lime is 

 slaked, pour in sufficient gas-tar to make 

 it a paste, well mixing the whole together ; 

 give the wall a couple of coats of this, 

 diluted to the consistency of whitewash, 

 allowing it to dry before the second 

 application. Tliis will prove an effectual 

 preserver of the brick-work, as it forms a 

 body which resists all damp, and fills up 

 the chinks and nail holes at the same 

 time. When this second washing over is 

 well dried, the wall may be coloured to 

 taste, with a mixture of- Roman cement, 

 Spanish brown, or red and umber, as may 

 be required. We prefer a neutral tint 

 ourselves, but a few trials will show the 

 proper proportions of each to be used. 

 We should recommend all old walls to be 

 brushed well over with the above 

 composition once in two years, to destroy 

 the eggs or larvae of insects, as well as to 

 preserve the walls, and can assure our 

 readers it is at once the most cheap and 

 effectual preserver of brick-work they can 

 employ. 



Espaliers, trees on the old plan of stakes 

 and rails, are most troublesome and 

 expensive to manage. The cheapest way 

 in the end is to purchase what is called 



