258 THE GARDENER. [June 



with water and food for its healthy growth ; let the foliage get starved 

 for a very short period from whatever cause, and those parasites appear 

 directly, as if spontaneously. Get the suffering plant into healthy 

 condition, and the pest is checked and the cleaning process easy ; this 

 is the true inclined plane to break the force of this formidable breaker. 



Another instance where the gardener often contends with nature 

 and finds disappointment is in the matter of training. Take fruit-trees : 

 some Pears are almost fastigiate in their habit of growth; the branches 

 shooting upright and close together, it is found more difficult to fill up 

 a wall with those horizontally on walls or espaliers, while other varieties 

 are spreading or even pendulous in habit, and are easy to train : of 

 the first, ISTe Plus ]\Ieuris, or Beurre de Capiaumont are good examples; 

 of the second, Beurre Pose, Hessel, and Marie Louise ; so that, natur- 

 ally, some varieties are more adapted to fan training than to horizontal. 

 The same thing occurs among the varieties of the Peach. It is in the 

 case of flowering plants, however, where training is so much performed 

 in defiance of nature's will. To our mind there is a failure in training 

 an Allamanda, Bougainvilloea, or Cissus, in innumerable coils round a 

 balloon ; but trained espalier fashion, with the sprays at liberty to 

 stretch themselves out on either side or over the roof of a house, and 

 we have a specimen worth seeing. Would it not be possible to adopt 

 a standard of training that all could adhere to, having in view the 

 natural capabilities of every individual plant, so as to introduce variety 

 into exhibitions, and to get out of the old rut of training everything 

 whatever into globes and pyramids ? After all, cultivation is more or 

 less a contention with nature on the one hand and an encouragement 

 of her on the other. We court the sun himself in making an artificial 

 climate, and immediately we contend with him by shading. The soil 

 is put into a high state of cultivation for the production of vegetables, 

 and those conditions are the most favourable for the growth of weeds. 

 Fruit-trees and Roses, and many things besides, are grafted on hardy 

 stocks for the encouragement of nature, but there must be a sharp look- 

 out for suckers, else we are soon beaten — a suckerless Manetti is not 

 yet patented. We improve the quality of fruits, and immediately the 

 birds and wasps find them out, and good judges they are. 



In all our dealings with nature, remember she is feminine, and re- 

 member Stephenson. The Squire's Gardener. 



STRAWBERRY FORCING. 



I HAVE read the interesting articles on the above subject in your March 

 and April numbers, by Messrs Simpson and Cramb. I do not lay claim 

 to near the experience of either, but, as far as mine goes, it proves that 



