94 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



r Aagnst 8, 18W. 



gentle and careful ; they muBt, however, be frequent. Plants 

 on the side of a steep hiU aeon dry up and wither, and drought 

 is the great enemy of Selaginellas. A careful dust with the 

 syringe may often take the place of the wateriug-pot. From 

 the position of the plants it is obvious that their water-want is 

 not largeness, but frequency of supply. They may require 

 sprinkling four times a-day, or thorough soaking tlu'ough the 

 mass once a-week ; much will depend upon the atmosphere. 

 Moisture in this is of more vital moment for these than for 

 the large sorts ; in fact, perfect success is impossible without 

 it. They may be said to rest upon the peat, and feed upon the 

 air. Their tiny roots before they can grasp the former must 

 perforce collect food from the latter. Unless they find it they 

 wither and perish : hence the necessity of providing them with 

 suitable pabulum through the medium of a moist atmosphere. 



But although all this heat and moisture are essential to their 

 perfect growth, they may be preserved in beauty for many 

 months under widely different conditions. The kinds under 

 consideration require, perhaps, more heat to preserve them 

 in beauty than any other sorts. In a low temperature or a dry 

 atmosphere they are apt to lose that glaucous hue which is one 

 of their chief charms. Still they retain much of their beauty 

 for some time in a sheltered corner of a conservatory ; and 

 many kinds, such as Danielsii, atroviridis, and stolonifera, 

 retain their beauty for months in conservatories. The latter, 

 in fact, is hardy, and will stand anywhere, and it is one of 

 the best for pyramidal growth. 



The chief point to be attended to in bringing such plants 

 from a tropical to a temperate clime, from the forcing-house or 

 stove to the conservatory, is to make the transition gradual. Let 

 them pass through the intermediate stages of vineries. Peach- 

 houses, &c., and allow some time — a month, perhaps — on the 

 journey. In this way the plants will not feel the change ; and 

 when they finally arrive in a cool temperature the entire treat- 

 ment must be modified. The object is no longer the produc- 

 tion or extension, but simply the preservation and exhibition 

 of perfect life. The stimulating regimen must, therefore, give 

 place to one of great %vatchfulness, restful care, and delightful 

 enjoyment. The anxieties of the producer will be exchanged 

 for the pleasure of possession, and few plants can confer more 

 than pyramidal Selaginellas grown in the manner that I have 

 attempted to describe.— D. T. Fisn, F.R.H.S. 



APKICOT CULTURE. 



{Continued from par/e 75.) 



As regards training, no better mode can be adopted than 

 fan-training, as vacancies occasioned by the dying oft of the 

 branches can be filled up, which is not the ease when hori- 

 zontal training is practised. A maiden plant should be headed 

 down to within 9 inches of the ground during mild weather in 

 February, or early in autumn, but not later than November. 

 In consequence of this cutting-down shoots will be developed 

 from the buds below the cut. Three of the best for vigour and 

 position are to be retained, and the others should have the 

 points taken off at the second or third leaf, at the next 

 leaf at every stopping throughout the season, and in October 

 they are to be cut back to within an inch of their base. The 

 three shoots retained without stopping are to receive every en- 

 couragement, the central one being trained upright, and the 

 side ones to the right and left of it. In nailing them (and it 

 should be done loosely to allow for the growth of the branches), 

 the weakest should be trained more erect than its more vigorous 

 neighbour ; but if both are equally strong, then they should be 

 trained at an angle of 4.5°, bringing them down to a" horizontal 

 position about the end of September. To encourage the side 

 branches or shoots the leader or central shoot may, if as strong 

 as the side shoots, be stopped in the last week in May, or first 

 week in June, or when it has grown 9 inches, at which height 

 it may be stopped. This will encourage the side shoots, which 

 cannot be too strong. 



Shoots will result from stopping the central shoot. These 

 may be stopped at the third leaf, for if a quantity of foliage be 

 left on the central thoot, it will, if so inclined, outstrip the side 

 shoots in thickness, and this it must not be allowed to do. The 

 stopping of the leader in June will, in most cases, be sufficient 

 to give equal or greater vigour to the side shoots, and in that 

 case stopping the laterals need not be resorted to. The 

 side shoots resulting from the stopping may in that case be 

 trained in, one on each side of the leader, it being presumed 

 that three shoots have resulted from the stopping, as in the 



case of the heading of the maiden plant, and there will con- 

 sequently be a leader and two side branches, the result of the 

 summer heading, and two strong side shoots, the result of the 

 heading back of the maiden plant. No knife should be need 

 upon these branches in autumn, except the leader, which 

 should be cut back to 9 inches above the divergence of the 

 uppermost side shoot. The central shoot not having been 

 stopped, should be shortened to 9 inches, by a clean cut with 

 a sharp knife, and the side shoots reduced two-thirds their 

 length, for it will not do to head back the leader at the winter 

 pruning, and not the side shoots, for cutting back the shoots in 

 winter is very different in its results from stopping them in 

 summer. The first causes an increase of growth, the latter a 

 lessening of the vigour of the tree, or that part denuded of 

 fohage ; the sap thereby diverted into other channels must 

 necessarily be weaker than were the foliage permitted to increase, 

 and the sap be expended or concentrated upon one shoot or 

 branch. 



The side shoots (or branches, as we must now term them), 

 having made a good growth in the first year, or that of their 

 origin, will in the second push a number of strong shoots, and 

 the leader will no doubt be likewise pushing strong shoots. 

 The side branches should not be allowed to extend by more 

 than two branches each, and one of these should spring from 

 the extremity of the branch and be trained in as a continuation 

 of the branch from which it takes its rise ; and the second 

 shoot should originate at from 12 to 15 inches from the junction 

 of the branch on which it is situated and the stem, and it 

 should be trained out straight along the side of the branch. 

 All other shoots should have their points taken out at the third 

 leaf, and be kept closely pinched in to one leaf throughout the 

 season, except that a shoot is to be left at every 12 inches and 

 laid in alongside the principal branch. Any strong foreright 

 shoots should be entirely removed, as they only tend to keep 

 the sun and air from the other shoots. This much for the 

 side shoots or branches in the second year. The leader is to have 

 the shoots it gives rise to reduced to three — one as a leader, and 

 two as side shoots ; and the side shoots are to be trained at 

 such an angle that when 3 feet in length there will be 15 inches! 

 between them and the lowest branch, and the leader is to be 

 treated in a similar manner to the leader of the preceding 

 season. 



In autumn the strong shoots may be reduced one-third their 

 length, and the weak two-thirds. The branches should be 

 trained so that there may be 15 inches distance between them at 

 their greatest divergence, and they should all diverge equally 

 from the stem or brauch from which they take their rise, and 

 when they extend so as to be 15 inches apart each branch 

 should be forked by training in another shoot, and be trained 

 alongside it until it has extended so as to be 15 inches distant 

 from the branch next below it, when it should be again sub- 

 divided ; and this is not to be the case with one branch in 

 particular, but should prevail with all. The principal branches 

 will therefore be evenly disposed, with sufficient space between 

 them for the training-in of young wood. The leader will, in 

 the course of the third or fourth year, have its office rendered 

 unnecessary by the side branches being produced at an angle 

 that will necessitate their being trained at a less distance than 

 15 inches, and it is then to be trained and subdivided the same 

 as a side branch. 



As the Apiicot produces its fruit upon spurs and on the 

 wood of the preceding year, and the spurs are plentiful on he 

 wood of two or three years' growth, shoots ought to be trained 

 in between all the principal branches, but not too thickly, 

 12 inches being a good distance to leave them upon the prin- 

 cipal branches. These shoots should be trained in rather 

 close to the branch from which they take their rise, and if the 

 growth of the shoot exceeds 12 inches it may be shortened to 

 that length, hut if less, it is well to leave it with its point entire, 

 unless it is very weak, when it should be cut in closely, and a 

 shoot be originated near the base, which will in most cases 

 prove sufficiently vigorous. These shoots may bear in the year 

 following their production ; but if not, room should be left, by 

 training them rather close to the principal branch, for encou- 

 raging a shoot from its base. This is to supersede that of the 

 preceding year should it produce fruit, and if this be the case 

 the oldest, or that which has borne fruit, should be cut out 

 in autumn, and the other trained in its place ; but the shoot 

 first produced not bearing, and having formed a number of 

 fruit-buds or spurs, both it and the shoot of the current year 

 ought to remain, aud no successional shoot will in the follow- 

 ing season be required. When fruit is produced the oldest ol 



