228 THE FLORIST. 



will not suffer, fi-om severe frosts. What he says is this — that trees or 

 orchards treated as he recommends will not suffer to the same extent 

 as neglected ones. Now this I believe to be quite true. 



]\Ir. Bailey says, " It will, 1 presume, be on all hands admitted that 

 plants suffer injury from frost in proportion to the quantity of fluid they 

 contain." Granted ; but, I ask, are we not much more likely to get 

 short jointed well ripened wood by following M. de Jonghe's system than 

 by letting them go unpruned and uncared for ? By letting the air pass 

 freely through the trees we secure those fructiferous growths which all 

 gardeners hke to see, instead of those watery unripened shoots which 

 we get when the trees are neglected ; and as these watery unripened 

 shoots contain more fluid than well ripened wood, they of course suffer 

 more from frosts. Again, the organs of fructification are never so 

 perfectly developed on unripened as on well ripened wood ; indeed, they 

 mostly fall off without setting under the most favourable circumstances ; 

 a striking instance of the kind came under my notice this season, which 

 I will presently mention. 



Notwithstanding one of the coldest seasons on record, we are likely to 

 have an abundant crop of most kinds of fruit ; everything, excepting 

 Plums and Apricots, will be an abundant crop in this district. Plums 

 and Apricots are a very light crop generally, owing principally to the 

 excessive heavy crops of last year. In some of the gardens I have 

 visited Plums on walls will be a tolerable crop, and Apricots likewise ; 

 but the farmers and cottagers, who bring the great bulk of the supply to 

 the markets in this district, have little or none. As every good action 

 has its own reward, so e\ery bad one brings sooner or later its own 

 punishment ; those who were too covetous to thin their Apricots last 

 year will have to do without any this season. 



The crop of Apricots in these gardens is very good, and as the fruit 

 has for some years been regularly thinned I have no fear as to the 

 results next season, whether it be late or early, precarious or otherwise. 

 Twelve out of 14 trees are IMoorparks ; these have never missed having 

 a good crop for the last seven years ; there is one tree of the Orange, 

 this also has yearly set a good crop of fruit. The other tree is, I 

 think, Shipley's, but of this I am not quite certain ; this tree has not 

 for the last seven years had anything like a crop of fruit. It never 

 ripens its wood properly ; this year it appeared better, and certainly no 

 tree could flower better than it did. It had more blossoms on it than 

 any four of the Moorparks, and yet it has fewer fruit on it than any 

 of the others. It occupies nearly a central position on the wall ; the 

 Moorparks are on both sides of it, and it is, and has been, under the 

 same circumstances in every respect ; still it has only a few fruit on it, 

 whilst the Moorparks have good crops. 



From examination I am satisfied the organs of fructification were 

 not perfect, owing to the unripened state of the wood, and consequently 

 they fall off. If the wood be not properly ripened and the buds 

 properly formed the previous autumn, all the genial springs that were 

 ever experienced would not save a crop of fruit. 



Strawberries are a good crop, and, notwithstanding the cold weather, 

 will not be many days later than usual. Raspberries, Currants, and 



