384 



JOUHNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ May 9, ISB. 



■with red. C'ulumn Blender, white, streaked vrith purple. — 

 (IhUL, t. 5966.) 



Saxifeaga Stkacheyi. ^a*. ord.,SaxifragaceiB. Linn, arr., 

 Decandria Digynia. — A native of the Himalaya Mountains. 

 Leaves closely "sheathing at the base, with orbicular stipular 

 sheaths. Flowering stem from 4 to 8 inches liigh, drooping, 

 glandular, pubescent. Flowers pink. — (/tirf., ^ 5967.) 



DEiJcnoBiCM AMETHTSTOGLOSSUM. Nut. ovd., Orchidaceffi. 

 Linn, an:, Gj-nandria Monogynia. — Stems 2 to 3 feet high, 

 1 inch in diameter, dirty green, tapering at the apex. Leaves 

 not seen. Eacemes very many and dense-flowered, the flowers 

 imbricating before fuU expansion. Flowers ivory white, ex- 

 cept the amythestine purple end of the limb of the lip. Column 

 short, the sides produced upwards into two short toothed 

 wings.— (li/rf., t. 59G8.) 



Feiiillakia tulipifolia. Nat. ord., LUiaceffi. Linn, arr., 

 Hexandria Monogynia. — A native of the Caucasus. Stem 

 4 to 6 inches high, leafless below, clothed at the base with 

 appressed sheaths. Leaves three or four on each stem, nerve- 

 less, pale green. Flower nodding and tuUp-shaped. Perianth 

 segments oblong, rusty brown, purple within ; the outer ones 

 glaucous blue, streaked with purple outside ; the inner ones with 

 a broad glaucous blue band down the back. — {Ibid., t. 5969.) 



Show Pelaegoxicsis. — " Fnmpey (Foster). A very large 

 flower, of rich colour and fine form ; orange lower petals, ma- 

 roon top, with orange margin ; lai'ge white eye. Acliievemoit 

 (Poster). A pleasing, large, light variety of great merit ; Ulac- 

 rose lower petals, maroon spot on top, large white centre ; 

 very dissimilar." — {Florist and Pomologist, 3 s., vol. v., p. 97.) 



fruit-spurs which have flowered, or which bear fruit at the 

 usual time when pinching is performed. Every young shoot 

 which is developed on each of these must not be pinched in 

 the ordinary manner, but cut back level with its origin on the 

 spur {see Jigs. 2 and 3) when it is at least 6 inches long. But 



PEUNING THE SPUES OF APPLES AND 

 PEABS. 



The primary object of all the trouble we take with fruit trees 

 is to make them bear fruit. The long pruning of the branches 

 of the framework, and indeed the non-pruning of them, bear 

 witness to this fact. We force the young branch to throw out 

 short spurs for about a third of then- length. These ai'e our 

 first and best spurs, since they are situated directly upon a 

 branch, and can be protected if necessary. 



But do these kinds of productions, such as are obtained by 

 the present method of treating fruit trees, remain always the 

 same, and do they yield fruit continually without growing be- 

 yond the foremost fruit-bearing spurs? No, unfortunately. 

 Some, and they are not the smallest 

 number, bear at the base of the spurs 

 one or several smaller spurs, of which 

 the farthest-off first come into bear- 

 ing, but others, such as the Winter 

 Bon Chretien and Beurre Diel, have 

 only a long spur terminated by a 

 fruit-bud, aU beneath which is bare 

 and hard, as may be seen on reference 

 to Jii;. 1. The greater number of these 

 spurs springing du-ectly from the 

 branch or shoots do not pi-oduce fresh 

 spurs but vigorous young shoots,wMoh 

 in the ordinary mode of management 

 we are obliged to pinch when they 

 have about three leaves, in the same 

 way as the shoots nearer the stem, in 

 order to make the spurs produce anew. 



This is a serious error. We are un- 

 able to preserve that which we have 

 first of aU obtained— that is to say, 

 spurs consisting of soft tissues, and 

 which should remain as such without 

 ever resuming the hard and woody 

 character of the shoots. From this 

 error it also results that the sap is 

 diverted into other channels to the 

 detriment of the crop, and really also 

 at the expense of the growth of the 

 framework of the tree. By the mode 

 of proceeding which I am about to describe this drawback is 

 done away with, for a spur, as soon as it has become fruitful, 

 wiU remain so without appai-ent lengthening or becoming un- 

 fruitful. Whilst permitting the sap to increase the size of the 

 tree and invigorate the shoots, which otherwise would be al- 

 most deprived of nourishment and would not bear. 



This simple and certain practice consists in watching the 



Fig. 1. Fniit-epUTpraned 

 in the ordinary -way, 

 bare and hardened at 

 its base. 



this concentrates the sap, which, being prevented from ascend- 

 ing, presses upon the wrinkled base of the spur, and starts 

 into life a number of fruit-buds. On the Apple tree (_fiff. 3) 

 these young shoots become fruit-buds before the sap ceases to 

 flow, and they expand in the following spring. On the Pear tree 

 these buds most frequently do not bear until the second year, 

 but in both the result is the same — fruits in abundance every 

 year, owing to the preservation of the soft tissue at the base 

 of the spurs, and the constant bringing-back of the spurs to 

 the main branches of the tree. The regular distribution of 

 the sap to all parts of the tree, large fruit, and the simpUcity 

 of the practice, such are, in my opinion, the advantages of this 

 mode of pruning. — (Delaville, in Hevue d'Horticole.) 



BOOM AND TABLE DECOEATION. 



No fete seems now to be complete without the aid of flowers 

 and plants, which occupy a far more prominent position than 

 the massive plate under which tables used to groan in former- 

 days. No one of taste can, I think, find fault with the change, 

 provided it be kept within due limits ; but there may be as 

 great vulgarity in the use of flowers as in the use of plate, and 

 there is a danger of running into excess. Talking tUe other 

 day with one whose good taste is undisputed, he said, " I was 

 vice-chairman at a dinner the other day, and I never saw the 

 chairman the whole of the evening." All this is a mistake, 

 and I entirely coincide with a recent letter in a contem- 

 porary, that gi-eat care will be needed in adjudicating for 

 the liberal prizes offered on the 15th inst. I have been led to 

 make these remarks from having had a peep at the decorations 

 provided for a Master's dinner of the Drapers' Company at 

 their splendid hall in Throgmorton Street on the 25th ult. 

 To all dwellers in the City these haUs are weU known, but I 

 confess their grandeur and beauty of ornamentation, rich 

 caiTiug, etc., were quite a surprise, and I was glad, if for- 

 nothing more, to see them at their best. 



There are two points, I think, to be borne in mind on tlie 

 subject of ornamenting rooms and staii'cases — that the plants 

 used be good and suitable, and that colour be toned off by 

 a considerable quantity of green. I remember a notable case- 

 of something of this kind where the greater number of plants 

 employed were scarlet Geraniums and Fuchsias, and yet a very 

 high price was placed on the work done. Now, if the thing is 

 to be done at all it should be done well, and there are so 

 many good plants which are suitable for employment in such 

 cases, and which do not suffer much from it, that I think the 

 use of rubbish is unpardonable. There was not on the occasion 

 above alluded to a very large scope for this kind of work. On 

 entering the door there was a tolerably wide recess on each 

 side, and in this Mr. Turner, for it was he who had the ar- 

 rangement, had placed some very handsome plants of Azaleas 

 in fiiU bloom, interspersed with Palms, Dracaenas, &c., while 

 on the stairs single pots of Azaleas, Geraniums, etc., were 

 carefully arranged, the pots being concealed simply by tissue 

 paper of pale shade of green. I was pai'tieularly struck 

 with the fresh character of the plants used, for often one 

 sees dusty and 01-conditioned ones that have done duty very 

 often. I think I should have Uked to have seen a few taller 

 Palms placed amongst the other plants, for at night nothing 

 has a finer effect than their graceful forms and dark green 

 foliage. In the furnishing of the table Mr. Turner did not 



