THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



perfection their undeniable attrac- 

 tions. Perhaps some of these remarks 

 may be deemed heretical by many 

 rosarians ; still I think it will scarcely 

 be denied that more accurate descrip- 

 tions both as to " form" and " colour" 

 are desirable, if they can be attained, 

 although at the expense of violence 

 to current opinions, and by a little 

 trouble. We should aim at perfec- 



tion, even in our amusements, and 

 accurate delinitions tend to promote 

 correct judgment, and improve the 

 taste — elements of progress in every 

 pursuit, and important aids to excel- 

 lence in the light and fascinating 

 recreation of floriculture, as well as 

 in more serious subjects of study. 

 W. D. Prior. 

 Homerton, Feb., 1SG3. 



FEUIT CULTUEE.- 



-FORMATION OF BUSHES AND 

 PTEAMIDS. 



TnBRE is perhaps no department of 

 fruit culture more perplexing to 

 amateurs than the formation of 

 bushes or pyramids from maiden 

 trees, as these are sent out from the 

 nurseries. Of late years there has 

 been so much said about them, that 

 the cultivation of miniature fruit 

 trees has become a distinct hobby ; 

 and as the Floral World has had 

 its share in rendering bush fruits 

 popular, it is but fair we should do 

 our part towards aiding the amateur 

 in the routine of training and prun- 

 ing needful for dwarfing the trees, 

 and rendering them prematurely 

 fruitful. This is not the time or 

 place to discuss the comparative 

 merits of the dwarfing system. It 

 suffices for the present that there are 

 two great objects accomplished in 

 checking the natural tendency of the 

 trees to become trees : first, early 

 fruitfulness, so that instead of plant- 

 ing for posterity, we plant for our- 

 selves, and taste the fruit of our 

 labours at once ; and, secondly, that 

 the bush form is so favourable to 

 economizing space, that a consider- 

 able variety of fruits may be grown 

 on an area which would accommodate 

 but one or two of the old-fashioned 

 standard trees. 



The system of pruning followed 

 in the formation of bush and pyra- 

 mid fruits very nearly dispenses with 

 the use of the knife altogether. But 

 so much has been said in favour of 

 finger-and-thumb pruning that it 

 might fairly be supposed that the 

 knife had become obsolete among 

 fruit growers. Such a supposition 

 would be erroneous. It may be fairly 



conjectured that there is not a bush 

 or tree in the British islands worth}' 

 of severe criticism which has been 

 formed by finger-and-thumb pruning 

 only ; nevertheless, as the knife is 

 chiefly used to remedy the defects of 

 pinchmg, we are bound to assign to 

 the pinching system the importance 

 which is its due. The cultivator 

 needs to consider from the first what 

 is to be the permanent form of the 

 tree which he has taken under his 

 care. In determining upon this foi'm 

 he will have to be guided somewhat 

 by the nature of the variety. Thus, 

 among pears some varieties form 

 pyramids with scarcely any training 

 or pruning, others form difi'ase bushes 

 on quince stocks, or robust and strong 

 groaning trees on pear stocks. So 

 with apples, plums, and in fact fruits 

 of every class, varieties differ ; and it 

 would be a folly to compel them all to 

 submit to precisely the same modes 

 of treatment. For bush fruits that 

 are to be grown in the smallest pos- 

 sible compass the style of training 

 known as en q^uenouille, or distaff*, is 

 undoubtedly the best. In this case 

 the object is to obtain a clean stem, 

 densely clothed from tip to toe with 

 fruit spurs, and by thus bringing the 

 tree into a habit of early fruitfulness 

 to prevent robust growth, and render 

 the pruning a quite nominal aff'air. 

 Suppose we begin with a maiden ap- 

 ple tree just received from the nursery. 

 It will have an appearance similar to 

 the tree represented in Fig. 1. If 

 this is left unpruned, each of the 

 three side-shoots and the leader will 

 grow from their terminal buds, and 

 there will probably be few or none 



