Angnut 29, 18CT. ] 



JOURNAL OF nOBTIGULTURE AND COTTAGE GAIU)ENEP.. 



151 



to the present we have had a sncceesion of five or eix really 

 good blooms open at once, some of them magnificent specimens, 

 BO much so, that the Rev. S. R. Hole, of Caunton Manor (no 

 mean jiidRp), declared upon seeing them, bis entire patisfactinn 

 at the success in the growing and blooming of Marijchal Niel 

 in the open ground. 



Every plant was worked on the Manctti last February, and 

 many of tlicm have produced four and five blooms each, and at 

 the present tirao we have between thirty and forty bloom-buds 

 on the forty plants. — H. MEirnvwEAxnER & Sons, Thu Ninsfry, 

 Soidhwi'tl, Nolls. 



TIMES FOR TRANSPLANTING AND ROOT 

 PRUNING. 



I OBSERVE in your Journal of August 1st, that Mr. Abbey, in 

 his article on the culture of the Apricot, recommends that the 

 trees should bo transplanted in the middle of September. Now 

 this very early moving so wholly contradicts one's old-fashioned 

 notions on tlio subject, that I, for one, should be very glad to 

 have your confirmation, or otherwise, of Mr. Abbey's dictum. 



I have to state for my own part, that the only trees which 

 did not do well with mo in tho transplantings of last autumn, 

 were three dwarf Apples that I had from the nursery in the 

 middle of October, and planted tho same afternoon — two 

 Manks Codlins, and one Hawtbornden, healthy trees. 4 or 

 5 feet high, ond all of them wonderfully full of blossom-buds. 

 One of the Codlins died outright, the second failed to set a 

 fruit, and the Hawtbornden, after opening its blossoms weakly 

 and unhealthily, shows now only one Apple, and that half 

 starved and good for nothing. I am inclined to take this as a 

 lesson, never again to transplant so early by a fortnight. 



Since writing the above, I find in tho Journal of August 

 l.")th, that Mr. lladcljffe transplants his Roses by the score in 

 August, and that your valuable contributor, Mr. R. Fish, re- 

 commends root-pruning directly the fruit is gathered. 



Now, do tell me what I should do. My guide hitherto, Mr. 

 Rivers, says. Root-prune — that is, lift or remove your trees in 

 tho end of October. These new and startling instructors say, 

 Do it at once — that is, ten weeks earlier. I can only say for my 

 own part, that my trees, though the fruit is gathered, are in 

 such luxuriant foliage, that I shall wait. — Beta. 



rWe should not prefer transplanting fruit trees in the middle 

 of September, unless the kinds were early fruiters, the month 

 very dull, and the previous months had been so warm and dry 

 as to ripen the wood well. We have transplanted in the middle 

 and towards tho end of October, very successfully, but at the 

 first period, if hot sunny days set in, as they often do at the 

 end of October, we have taken the precaution to shade the 

 trees with a few evergreen boughs, to arrest evaporation. All 

 things considered, as soon as the leaves begun to change, long 

 before they became rjuite yellow and faded, we would not 

 hesitate to plant after the middle of October ; but we should 

 not think of doing so when the leaves were all green, unless in 

 exceptional circumstances, where we could shade, so as to let 

 the leaves fall off maturely, and keep the wood plump, instead 

 of shrivelled. If these objects are secured, then the sooner 

 transplanting is effected, so as to secure the advantage of tho 

 heat in tho soil to promote rooting, the more thoroughly will 

 tho plant he established for next season. Taking other cir- 

 cumstances into consideration, and which must be looked to as 

 well as transplanting, fruit trees in general will give least 

 trouble, and with that least trouble thrive the best, that are 

 moved between the last week of October and the first week in 

 November. By that time growth will be at a minimum, tho 

 leaves of deciduous trees on the wane, no danger of wood 

 shrivelling, ar.d a good deal of heatwill be still left in the ground. 

 Trees which ripen their wood early may be planted early with 

 propriety. 



As to root-pruning : as a general rule, with most trees, as 

 Apples and Pears, it will be towards October before the fruit is 

 gathered. Root-pruning and transplanting are very different 

 practices. The former is intended to give a much more gentle 

 check to the power of growth, and by no means such a check as 

 transplanting involves. Wo still think what was advanced by 

 Mr. Fi.sh, as to early root-pruning, so as to check growth, and 

 promote fertility, is quite correct. You may root-prune after 

 November, and that will check growth for the following sum- 

 mer, and give yon more fruitful trees in 186',' ; but if you want 

 your root-pruning to tell upon the fertility of 18G8, you can 

 scarcely do it too soon after the fruit is gathered, if done mo- 



derately. If done earlier the fruit would shrivel. If done early 

 and severely, the wood would shrivel, and the object would not 

 be gained. If done to such an extent as merely to arrest 

 growth, and not shrivel the wood, but yet to have a consider- 

 able amount of force from the sun to act upon it, then the 

 sooner the operation could be safely performed the better lor 

 tho fruit-buds of the following year. We have taken out a 

 small trench, and cut the points of the roots of a luxuriant 

 Cherry tree in September, but then the fruit had been gathered 

 in July and August, and the wood was firm, and a few potfuls 

 of water near the hole prevented any flagging. The autumn 

 sun studded many shoots with fruit-buds, which but for the 

 arresting of growth would have continued wood-buds all the 

 winter. Karly transplanting, and early root-pruning must, 

 therefore, be performed with more judgment and care than 

 doing either in winter. Of course, Ufting a deciduous tree in 

 full foliage is always attended with great risk. We have moved 

 Peach trees in winter, and had a good crop from them the fol- 

 lowing year ; but when it could be done, we would prefer prun- 

 ing the top almost as much as needed in August and September, 

 and lifting them as soon as the wood would not shrivel in the 

 beginning of October, even though a good many of the leaves 

 were green, and we were obliged to give a little shade in the 

 fiercest sun, so that they might ripen well before falling. Such 

 trees generally repaid the attention given, by a full crop the 

 following year. Of course, we are alluding to large fruiting 

 trees. Such moving can only take place when the trees are on 

 tho spot. When moved from a nursery at a distance, it is best 

 to defer the operation until the wood is ripe, and the leaves 

 beginning to drop. 



We shall be glad to see the opinions of others, as the subject 

 started by our correspondent is of mnch interest and practical 

 importance.] 



THE DOUBLE WHITE ROCKET. 



I HAVE read with much interest the able article by an 

 " Aybshike Gardener," on the Double Rocket (page 9.5) ; and 

 all lovers of ornamental hardy plants must feel obliged to him 

 for pointing out the principal causes of the plant so often 

 dying off, and the remedies. One point, however, he has 

 omitted, and on this I trust he will enlighten us. It is, whether 

 tlic Rocket he treats of is the old dwarf Double Rocket, or the 

 more robust tall one, which in the south of England has in 

 most places superseded the former? 



The tall Rocket, I may remark, is plentiful enough with 

 those who take any care to make it so, but the dwarf variety 

 is far from being common ; indeed, I believe it has been in- 

 ijuirpd for in the columns of this Journal without any response 

 having been made, and many old gardeners thought it lost to 

 tho country. This, however, is not the case, and it is very 

 probably the Rocket to which " Ayrshire Gardener " aUudes as 

 being so liable to die off. It is, doubtless, this tendency which 

 makes it so scaice in the south of England, where the larger 

 Rocket can be had in any numbers, and near here almost every 

 cottage garden produces plants which are robust enough. Some 

 growers call this the French Rocket. It certainly deserves 

 to be more extensively grown, as twenty or more spikes of 

 bloom, each branched into many spikelets, can be produced on 

 plants not two years old, and its sturdiness is also much in its 

 favour. When grown in good soil it is about 3 feet high, while 

 the dwarf Rocket rarely exceeds 1 foot in height, and is often 

 much less. The closeness of the flowers on the stem of both 

 cannot be improved upon. Some of the best examples of the 

 taller variety equal any diant Stock ever grown, being a foot 

 long, and closely set with bloom. 



The flower-heads of the dwarf kind rather form a short 

 conical spike than a cylindrical one ; but for many years I was 

 a stranger to this variety, and, in fact, despaired of seeing it 

 again, when, being in Lanarkshire two years ago, I met with it 

 in rather an old-fashioned garden, and obtained a plant, which, 

 after being divided in the usual way, has this season flowered. 

 I am sorry, however, to see the same symptoms of the plant's 

 dying as those " AvitsiiiitE (.lAr.DESER " complains of, and, in 

 fact, tho best and largest plant has died since flowering, some 

 of the smaller ones are following, and the remainder show 

 their dislike to the soil or the attacks of the insects mentioned 

 by the writer named. They seem more disposed to produce 

 side shoots upon the old tlower-stalks than around the collar 

 of the plant. This tendency is not so common in the large 

 white, and consequently that variety is not so readily pro- 

 pagated by cuttings of the flower-stalks, unless the operation 



