Aagast 8, 1B67. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE QAEDENEE. 



96 



the shoota should be cut away in autumn, and the youngest 

 trained in its place. It will be necessary to train-in a young 

 shoot from its base in the succeeding year, and that producing 

 fruit is to be cut away, and the young shoot trained in its 

 place, or both may be left another year, in which case no buc- 

 oesaional shoot will need to be originated until the season suc- 

 ceeding the removal of the old one. 



We have by this system branches several years old, and 

 shoots originating from them at 12 inches apart, and laid in 

 between them. These shoots are to be shortened at the winter 

 pruning to 12 inches, more if weak, less if strong, and in the 

 second summer from the base of each a shoot is to be laid-in 

 and trained alongside, and the shoot two years old, having pro- 

 duced fruit, is to be cut out, the young shoot pruned and nailed 

 in its place, and a shoot originated from its base in the follow- 

 ing season ; but if the old shoot does not produce fruit it is 

 not to be cut out in autumn, but to bo retained for another 

 year along with the young shoot, and in that case it will not be 

 necessary to originate a young shoot from the base in the 

 following season, but only in the season succeeding the re- 

 moval of the producing shoot. There may be some difficulty 

 in producing a succession shoot from the base of the preceding 

 year's shoot, which may sometimes be overcome by training in 

 from the main branch an eligibly situated shoot, and when this 

 can be done it is very desiiablo to do so, as such shoots are 

 more free in growth, and the successional shoots are more 

 readily obtaine 1 from their bate. 



In addition to the shoots above mentioned, there will arise 

 along the main branches a number of others. All those spring- 

 ing from the front of the branches should be rubbed off closely 

 in the disbudding, which should be done early, so that no knife 

 will be required. The best time to do this disbudding is when 

 the shoots are sufficiently large to be laid hold of by the finger 

 and thumb. Beyond this disbudding of the foreright shoots 

 which result in nothing but useless breastwood, no other dis- 

 budding is required for the Apricot. Disbudding should bo 

 done early as already recommended, otherwise the bark is apt 

 to be torn if the shoots are left until they become woody, and 

 in that case they should be removed with a knife, and to make 

 sure of the wounds healing, it is well in all cases to cut away 

 aU foreright shoots with a sharp knife, as the wounds heal 

 more readily, and the liability to gum is lessened. AU other 

 shoots not required for laying-in and for the extension of the 

 tree should have their points taken out at the second, or at 

 most third leaf, and be stopped again at the next leaf, and re- 

 peatedly throughout the season. These will form spurs, or be 

 plentifully sprinkled with fruit-buds by autumn, and upon 

 them fruit may be produced in the following year. They 

 should not be allowed to extend too much, but should be kept 

 close to the wall, and any that are long should at the winter 

 pruning be shortened to 2 or 3 inches. 



Besides the shoots already described there will be more or 

 less of shoots that do not grow longer than an inch or two, and 

 produce a number of leaves. These are natural spurs, which 

 ought not to be shortened or interfered with, except where they 

 are very close together, when they may be thinned. From the 

 natural spurs no long shoots will arise, or very rarely ; but if 

 there be, such shoots are to be pinched back to two leaves, as 

 neither from these nor the young shoots that are stopped to 

 induce spurs or fruit buds should long shoots be encouraged. 

 They must be removed ere they have done mischief by shading 

 the one and two-year-old bearing wood and the spurs. 



Winter pruning is best performed early in February, but if 

 the summer pruning has been properly attended to little winter 

 pruning will be necessary. — G. Abbey. 

 (To ti« continued.) 



ALTERNANTnERAS— VIOLA CORNUTA. 



Will Mr. Bennett be good enough to give us a little more 

 information as to the Alternantheras and Toleianthera versi- 

 color ? Did they grow to his satisfaction when planted out '.' 

 Are they easily kept over winter, and do they retain their 

 colour in a cool greenhouse, or do they require a stove ? They 

 are so very pretty, that, if not delicate, they must become 

 invaluable for both in-door and outdoor decoration. There is 

 another Alternanthera advertised as paronychioides. Can any 

 one report upon it ? 



I am growing Mr. Wills's variety of Viola comuta, and I 

 have not had an example of its dying off. Has any one noticed 

 the habit of this plant when it is grown from seed or divided, 



and when it is struck from a cutting ? In the former case, it 

 has an upright growth of from to 10 inches, and in the latter 

 it spreads the same distance on the ground, and is not more 

 than 3 inches high. The same thing is to be observed in 

 Lobelia speciosa. I am of opinion, however, that seedlings of 

 Lobelia speciosa kept over the winter bloom better than cat- 

 tings taken in spring, but this order of things is reversed with 

 regard to the Viola, the cuttings being preferable. — Calcajua. 



THE DOUBLE ROCKET. 

 Some warped analysts of human nature affirm that the best 

 and most benevolent among us feel, deep down in our heart of 

 hearts, a sort of grim satisfaction at the misfortunes of our 

 dearest friends ; that with one set of feelings we condole with 

 and sincerely commiserate them, while with another, or with a 

 peculiar arrangement of the eame, we inwardly chuckle oyer 

 their adversities. 



Now, without for one moment confessing to anything like 

 this degree of depravity, I did indeed feel no inconsider.ible 

 amount of pleasure when visiting a gardener friend some time 

 ago, and the cause of my so doing I will briefly explain. A few 

 years ago I received from him a number of plants of the Double 

 Rocket, with directions how to grow and propagate them. The 

 plants were thankfully received, while the advice was as thank- 

 lessly rejected. This was in the end of autumn, and the plants 

 were kept in a cold frame during the winter, and in the fol- 

 lowing spring planted out in a piece of well-manured ground at 

 the east end of a Peach-house. Here they received as much, 

 if not more, attention than their rank and position in floral 

 society entitled them to, and they grew amazingly, throwinga 

 wonderful flower-stems for young plants ; but just when I was 

 beginning, with that self-complacency so peculiar to gardeners, 

 to congratulate myself on how I should out-Rocket my neigh- 

 bour, death came ; and never did worm-bit Gourd more speedily 

 wither and die. Fully one-half of the plants seemed to be 

 attacked simultaneously, the rest dropping off one by one, until 

 only five or six out of the original three dozen remained. I 

 had long been aware that they had a strong propensity for 

 going suddenly off in this manner, but never before saw them 

 do so in such a wholesale fashion. 



My friend said it was very provoking, but had his advice been 

 attended to such a thing would not have happened. Judge, 

 then, how the fiendish part of my composition was thrilled 

 within me with delight when, on going into his garden in June 

 last, I found the most of his Rockets quietly withdrawing 

 themselves from this world of grubs and maggots, and a boy 

 planting Asters betweea them, so as to cover what would other- 

 wise evidently have been in a short time a total blank. 



Since my misfortune happeued I have been paying some 

 little attention to the culture, habits, and enemies of this 

 rather interesting flower, and have lost this year only three 

 out of about fifty plants. 



The Double Rocket (Hesperis matronalis), is an old plant, 

 having been introduced into this country about the end of the 

 sixteenth century, and in the decoration of English gardens of 

 these good old times it was largely used ; but now neglected, 

 despised, and utterly out of fashion, it is comparatively seldom 

 met with, although many lavish their attention upon plants 

 not half so beautiful. Easy of cultivation, and capable of 

 adapting itself to almost any soil, it is yet a difiicult plant to 

 keep, owing to its liability to be attacked by the larva of _a 

 certain fly known to entomologists by the name of Anthomyia 

 brassiciE, and unfortunately too familiar to most of us as the 

 Cabbage grub. The parent of this pest deposits her eggs 

 throughout the summer in the crown or collar of the plant, 

 and these when hatched work their way into the interior, where 

 they remain all winter, the plant meanwhile showing no symp- 

 toms outwardly of anything being amiss until spring, when, 

 the tissues of the young shoots being all but destroyed, the 

 leaves begin to flag and become yellow, and death ensues. 



To prevent this state of things it is necessary to lift the old 

 plants about the beginning of September, by which time they 

 will be pretty well grown, and the grub-producing fly may 

 reasonably be supposed to have given up egg laying for the 

 season. Carefully separate the young shoots, retaining as many 

 roots to each as possible, and rejecting those which have none. 

 Examine the base of each very narrowly for maggots, which, 

 if found, must be picked out with the point of a knife. A 

 rather close inspection, however, is needed to detect them, 

 some being no larger than a pin-head ; but as, if present at 



