4G8 THE GARDENER. [Oct. 



are soon drained of moisture, mulching is of the first importance. 

 Although we must not grumble about moisture this season — we have 

 had enough and to spare — still the operations alluded to are just as 

 necessary this year, on account of the influence that sudden transitions 

 of temperature have upon plants : no roots will venture near the surface 

 where every particle of moisture is licked up by evaporation at short 

 intervals. We must therefore, if we wish to keep roots out of a 

 hungry subsoil, bring them to the surface and feed them there with 

 such rich stimulating manures as are most convenient to hand. 



With regard to thinning the shoots, the principle is in no way dif- 

 ferent from that employed in fruit-growing. 



Take a Rose-tree with from a dozen to eighteen shoots in different 

 stages of growth, perhaps with several of the limbs barely alive — these 

 are supported and maintained from the same source as the healthy 

 shoots, — cut away all the weakly portions and diseased limbs early in 

 the autumn, and you take out a new lease of life for the portion of the 

 bush that remains. The work is simply one of concentration. The 

 number of growths being reduced, they shoot along with increased 

 vigour, and form large plump eyes, solid and matured by generous 

 treatment at the root, and thoroughly ripened by the action of the 

 weather. W. Hinds. 



A SUGGESTION. 



JSTowadays, when everything possible is being done to facilitate the 

 acquisition of knowledge by members of any particular craft or pro- 

 fession, I would suggest that concessions should be made in con- 

 nection with public horticultural societies, by which journeymen 

 would become members on the payment of say one shilling per 

 annum, and be entitled to certain privileges, such as gratis admission 

 to all the Shows, and be allowed to enter as competitors in certain 

 classes for which they would be eligible ; and probably, in the case 

 of very flourishing societies, a special class or two could be provided 

 for journeymen and foremen, the latter of which should be entitled 

 to the same privileges as the former on the annual payment of, say, 

 one shilling and sixpence. 



This system, if adopted, thrown open, and made known to all the 

 young uuder-gardeners in the country, would, I am confident, be highly 

 successful, and prove a great advantage not only to Societies but 

 also to young men, whose present interests in horticultural exhibitions 

 would thereby become enhanced, and their professional tastes con- 

 siderably elevated. In short, I think it would be one of the greatest 

 boons that could possibly be conferred on those young men who are 

 aspiring to fill in a satisfactory manner the positions of, or similar 



