1879] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 363 



little twisting and bending ought to be done, as tins causes suckers to 

 form and ruin the trees. Lay the fibres in the fresh soil over the hard 

 porous bottom, with the best garden soil over the surface, which may 

 be mulched with rotten manure, or longer and fresher mulching, before 

 winter sets in. The piecemeal system is much safer with trees than 

 lifting entirely during the period when they are at rest. We prefer 

 the system of having all mutilations healed over before fall of leaf, so 

 that they may not suffer during the winter. If Apricots suffer from 

 canker, they should be lifted entirely. When their roots are active 

 among cold wet clay, or soil extra rich, they cannot ripen their wood ; 

 and the consequence is, after they have passed the winter with appa- 

 rently little harm, they begin to die off piecemeal during spring and 

 summer. The above remarks apply to Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, and 

 Cherries. They may all be pruned on the same principle, by retaining 

 best placed wood of current year's growth, and leaving all natural spurs 

 close to the walls. The preparation of the tree has much more to do 

 with cropping than the weather. Some trees bear well most seasons ; 

 others scarcely ever bear at all, no matter what the season is. Leave 

 the whole of the roots a bunch of fibres in healthy well-drained soil, 

 which will give short hard wood and natural spurs. The roots are the 

 primary matter with every sort of plant, especially those which have 

 to bear fruit. Pears ought to be thin and well ripened in their wood 

 by this time. Those on walls ought to be stopped at several times, to 

 avoid checking them. Where the shoots are strongest, they should be 

 pinched first, going over the whole at intervals of ten or twelve days. 

 Apples, Pears, and Plums, as standards, should be thinned skilfully, 

 but not too severely, so that the buds wanted for next year should be 

 forced to break into growth. Figs ought to be kept stopped and the 

 fruit exposed to sun and air. Trench and manure land for Straw- 

 berries ; they do well planted now ; give plenty of room, say at least 

 2^ feet between the rows. Winter Onions or Lettuce may be grown 

 between them. Trim, clean, and mulch older plantations. Attend to 

 battling against insects, as formerly advised. Orchard- trees, when 

 cleared of their crops, must be thoroughly syringed, to cleanse them 

 from insects, dust, and cobwebs. Keep them cool and airy, and water 

 carefully at their roots. M. T. 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN". 

 With August returns the season for propagating the stock of bedding- 

 plants for next year's requirements, but this season it will be a simple 

 impossibility to obtain cuttings from Geraniums so early without 

 destroying all hope of a display of these for the season ; while those of 

 us who must leave the beds intact until frost cuts the occupants down, 

 have no means of saving the old plants to make up to some extent 

 for the want of young plants from cuttings. There will also be the 



