^,i GAliDENlNQ GOSSIP. 



with wood, and to shorten their young shoots to within eight or ten inches of their 

 base in August. 



liut my raetliod of culture is still more simple, for 7«y trees require little or no 

 pruning, and the method will just suit mechanical gardeners, i. e., those lovers of a 

 good Pear who do not wish to have the trouble to think whether a shoot is to be 

 taken out or loft in, but who can spare time and mind enough to direct their trees to 

 be taken up and replanted — for I simply do this, i. e., about the first week in Novem- 

 ber a trench is dug around the tree, and it is lifted carefully with all the earth possible 

 adhering to its roots, and then replanted in the same hole. If the soil bo rich, it will 

 require no assistance ; but if it be poor, three or four shovelfuls of some light rich 

 compost may be given to each tree. Some mulch on the surface around the tree will 

 also do good. After two or three removals these Pear bushes become compact and 

 sturdy in their growth, and their roots so matted that they lift with a ball like a 

 Rhododendron, and bear fruit the season after removal just as if they had not been 

 touched ; the only effect perceptible is the moderate growth the trees make, so that 

 they are kept in a compact, bushlike form, easily protected from frost in spring by 

 throwing a net or a sheet over them, and also from the ravages of birds in autumn. 

 By the way, has this biennial autumnal removal ever been tried as a remedy for 

 your black blight, which I think I have read is brought on in some parts of your 

 country by over-luxuriance ? If not, pray try it. These Pear bushes require about 

 the same room as full sized Gooseberry bushes. 



Have I not read, in your pomological works, that with you the Apricot is diflScult 

 to cultivate in the open air ? This has also always been the case in Devonshire, the 

 mildest climate in England, owing to the trees becoming excited early in spring, and 

 the blossoms becoming frosted. They now grow them in orchard-houses with great 

 success. Can not you do likewise ? They may be grown as bushes, or even half 

 standards, planted in the borders or in large pots. If planted in the borders, and 

 inclined to grow too rapidly, biennial removal will make all right. 



It is quite refreshing to see the ardor with which pomological knowledge is sought 

 in your country. It makes one quite curious and almost desirous to go over to you, 

 only you have so much sunshine and so few clouds, so much frost and so little rain, 

 that one would lack moisture in old age. Pomology in England is at a low ebb. 

 There seems a sort of self-sufficiency in our best gardeners that quite keeps enterprise 

 down ; for they show the finest fruit in the world from the gardens of our lords and 

 dukes, and then say, "What do you want more than this?" True enough, nothing 

 can be finer; but then, to what a small class is it confined. Now I wish to see every 

 cottager's garden full of good fruit trees. In your country, a large class of active 

 wealthy men seem to enter into the practice of pomology with youthful vigor; and 

 the results of your numerous and well-arranged meetings must be highly favorable to 

 the health and wealth of your community, for the pursuit brings both. "We seem 

 here, as regards pomology, to be like an old English country gentleman living on his 

 estate, who pooh-poohs I all active improvement because his garden gives him all he 

 wants, and because he has fine Broivn Beurre and Crassane Pears from his walls, 





