THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 375 



cleansed, the labour will be well repair!, in the improved condition of the plants, bj 

 the increase of dayli.c^lit. Plants in flower must have warmth enough to sustain 

 them, and a genial heat must be kept up where Poinsettias and Euphorbias are, or 

 they will flower but poorly. Camellias and oranges coming into bloom should be 

 ■well cleansed, to make the foliagp bright. Primulas and cinerarias must be near the 

 glass. Hard-wooded plants must be kept as cool and dry as will be safe for them. 



*#* Past issues of the Floral Would contain copious calendars of operations, 

 and the Garden Okacle has a complete and concise calendar, adapted for reference. 

 For these reasons, the " Garden Guide" will be on a contracted scale this year. 



TO COEEESPONDENTS. 



PixcHiNG axd Pkumxg. — Your article on "Frilit Prospects," in the November 

 number, wherein you condemn summer pinching as a delusion, has " almost taken 

 away my breath." I admit, that though I am managing a moderately large col- 

 lection of bushes and pyramids of pears, apples, plums, etc., by that method, my 

 experience is not yet sufficient to warrant giving an opinion, as they are only 

 just coming into fruit ; but if summer pinching of p^i-amids and bushes be a 

 delusion, what becomes of espalier and wall-tree pruning, for the former appears to 

 be merely carrying out the principle of the latter ? Would you abstain from 

 pinching your pyramids in summer, and depend on winter pruning ? If so, can 

 you say why it is right to pinch the shoots of espaliers according to the 

 established method (vide, for instance, Thompson's '• Gardener's Assistant," on 

 espaliers), and why wrong to do the same to your pyramids r You may be per- 

 fectly right, even though unable to explain so apparent a contradiction, but it 

 ■would be satisfactory to have it explained. Or are you inclined to extend the 

 same condemnation of summer pruning to espaliers also ? ^Yhat, too, about hori- 

 zontal cordons, -which are miniature espaliers r They must be pinched constantly 

 to exist as such at all — so, at least, it appears to me. The comparison made 

 between the two methods of pinching and letting alone -would be fairer if the 

 " imaginary apple-tree" was in the open ground, and not in a pot. Pray tell me 

 how you would manage one of your "melon or mother apples" or '* Imperatrice 

 plums," if planted out in an orchard house, as you advise. Would you let them 

 have their own way all the summer ? As I understand you, you tvotild pinch to 

 form your tree, but not otherwise. You would also root prune, or remove annually 

 or biennially. I am glad to find, as I believe, that experience still approves of the 

 latter, as it is my only reliable method of preventing canker from the roots pene- 

 trating a cold clayey subsoil, which having been drained three feet deep, at twelve 

 feet apart, down to a slate-grit rock, still remains cold and wet. But trees will soon 

 become unmanagable for removal, unless cut in to a certain size at one season of the 

 year or anotlur, as espaliers are. — A. B. 



[We expressed ourselves, no doubt, in rather strong terms, through having 

 paid dearly for experience, and become quite accustomed to see people led 

 astray by the advocacy in certain quarters of the practice of excessive pinching. It 

 is quite true that a certain amount of pinching, to direct and regulate the growth, 

 is godd, and with espalier trees (which, of course, include cordons) the practice is 

 essential. So, again, trees planted out under glass may be pinched with advan- 

 tage, if with skill, but unskilful pinching is farworsethan leaving the trees to grow 

 wild. Alter making all tliese allowances, it still remains a fact that thousands 

 have been persuaded to plant paltry little trees, and prevent them ever acquiring 

 a vigorous state of growth by excessive pinching. We advocate allowing the trees 

 to acquire some degree of vigour, and to this end free groivth is one of the first 

 requisites. When penning the article to which you refer, we had in our mind 

 several collections of bush and pyramid trees that had been treated on the severe 

 pinciiing system, and had produce! nothine:, and had subsequently been left to grow 

 freely, and had become fruitful. It is quite true that if little trees are regularly 

 and severely i)inched, they become prematurely fruitful, and that miniature trees 

 in this fruitful state may be bought, and are really sold by thousands. But the 

 question arises, what is their value .- Our opinion of these stunted trees is, that 

 they are of no value at all, and that opinion we offer in these pages for the good of 



