THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 141 



Another method is to grow them, in large tnbs or boxes, which are 

 placed in sheltered positions, out of doors, from the end of May till 

 August, and then removed to an orangery or other suitable structure 

 for the remainder of the year. In any case, the more hot sun they have 

 the better. Under the most favourable circumstances the fruit never 

 comes to perfection out of doors in this country. It is a misfortune 

 that the pomegranate is deciduous, which renders it less worthy of being 

 grown in tubs, as when placed under cover for the winter, it is destitute 

 of all beauty and interest. 



Many amateurs who have pomegranate trees on their walls fail in 

 securing an annual supply of their beautiful flowers. It is desirable, 

 therefore, to state briefly how the tree should be planted and managed 

 so as to give it the best chance of making repayment for the care be- 

 stowed upon it. The position selecced should be the hottest wall in 

 the place, and with shelter from the east to counteract the effects of 

 those late spring frosts which do so much damage, not only among 

 rather tender but among quite hardy subjects in our gardens. What- 

 ever the soil or condition of the border under the wall, a station should 

 always be prepared expressly for the pomegranate. If planted with. 

 every needful care, and in the best possible soil, the probability is that 

 it will never succeed so well as when planted on a station prepared ex- 

 pressly for it. The first thing then t > be done is to take out the soil 

 eighteen inches deep, allowing a superficial breadth of at least four feet 

 right and left for each plant, and three feet forward from the wall. 

 Tread the soil firmly at the bottom of the excavation, and lay down six 

 inches of flints, bricks, or other hard refuse material, and pour a batter 

 of Portland or lioman cement (or common mortar, in which case the 

 excavation must be kept open for a fortnight), to form the whole into 

 a hard pavement sloping towards the general fall of the ground, so as 

 to carry away surplus water. Fill up the trench with a mixture of 

 strong turfy loam and rotten dung, the latter in a proportion of one- 

 fourth of the whole. If the soil of rhe place is a good loam, or even 

 clay, the addition of rotten manure, and if needful of sharp grit, and 

 getting it well broken and pulverized, will answer every purpose • but if 

 chalk or sand, the soil had better be removed altogether, and a good 

 loamy compost take its place. On hot dry chalk or sand the pome- 

 granate grows very fast at first, but appears soon to become prema- 

 turely aged, and strange to say rarely flowers at all. It grows well, 

 lives long, and flowers finely on a rich shallow soil, in which it cannot 

 make deep roots, and where it has the advantage of shelter and reflected 

 heat ; hence the mode of preparing the border as above directed. Sup- 

 posing the tree planted and growing freely, the business of the cultiva- 

 tor will be to train and prune with proper care so as to secure a fair 

 distribution of flowering wood. The flowers are produced on the little 

 twigs formed the same year, therefore it is desirable to encourage the 

 growth of strong buds at as nearly regular distances from each other 

 as possible all over the tree, and suppress such as would tend to fill 

 the tree with weak spray. In April the principal pruning should take 

 place, when all the weak branches of the former year should be re- 

 moved, and the strong branches be moderately shortened ; by this me- 

 thod the whole of the growth will have full exposure to the sunshine, 



