246 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t March 81, 1870. 



trained, it will be necessary to describe the operations fully in 

 the various stages of the plant from the cutting state, as repre- 

 sented at page 107. The cutting being struck and potted-off, 

 it should, in its growth during the first season, be confined to 

 the formation of a single stem, which, when it reaches the re- 

 quired height, should have the growing point pinched out ; this 

 will serve to give it greater strength, and probably induce the 

 formation of two or three shoots. All side shoots should be 

 resolutely pinched back. After the fall of the leaf the plant 

 should be cut back to whatever is the proposed height, and when 

 the shoots begin to grow, four or five should be selected to form 

 the head. These, as they grow, should be regularly pinched. 

 This being the third 

 season, the plant will 

 have attained a size 

 something similar to 

 that represented by 

 Jig. 11, which, during 

 the succeeding win- 

 ter, should have the 

 shoots pruned back as 

 represented by the 

 transverse lines. By 

 pruning back thus, 

 the plant is kept in a 

 compact and bushy 

 condition. 



The tree being, as 

 it were, now formed, 

 no further special di- 

 rections are required. 

 The pruning of the 

 plants must be con- 

 ducted henceforward 

 according to the prin- 

 ciples laid down at 

 page 162 — that is, 

 either for the produc- 

 iion of fruit simply, 

 or for the further en- 

 largement or forma- 

 tion of the plant. 

 The larger and older 

 the plants become the 

 less winter pruning, 

 &c, will be required, 

 that portion of the 

 labour being then 

 better performed by 

 pinching the young 

 shoots in summer. 



Summer Pinching. 

 — This is one of the 

 most important of 

 operations in connec- 

 tion with the cultiva- 

 tion of Figs, especially 

 of those in pots. It 

 is one upon which 



success greatly de- Fig. 11. 



pends, and it is one 



of the most simple and easy to perform, requiring the exercise 

 of no faculty, save incessant attention and perseverance. It is 

 an operation which can be performed at any time ; whilst look- 

 ing-on and admiring the plants, or having a friendly chat, the 

 finger and thumb could be usefully employed in nipping out the 

 soft-growing tips of the shoots. It is a sensible way of employ- 

 ing one's hands when being spoken to, for to many gardeners of 

 the diffident sort they are unaccountably in the way at times. 



In pinching, it is only necessary to break off or pinch the 

 very tip of the shoot ; at least, pinching should take place before 

 it is required to do more than this. It is always bad policy to 

 allow leaves to expand and then to have to destroy them. It is 

 causing a needless waste of the energies of the plant. In pinch- 

 ing the shoots of young plants, due regard must be paid to the 

 formation of the tree, &c. The shoots of these should, therefore, 

 be allowed to grow a few inches before being stopped, the object 

 being in this instance not so much a repression of vigour as a 

 concentration of forces, or a formation of more shoots. Fruiting 

 trees on walls, or trained to trellises in houses, should have their 

 shoots pinched when they reach 4 or 6 inches in length, and 

 every subsequent formation during that season as closely as it is 



possible to do so. Bush trees planted out or in pots should, when 

 they have attained the desired size, 4c, have the shoots pinched 

 very closely, say at about the length of 2 inches, for the first 

 growth, and all subsequent shoots as closely as possible. This 

 must be adhered to vigorously and determinedly, as here it is 

 a repression of vigour that is aimed at. This continuous pinch- 

 ing (and while the plants are growing fast they will require 

 looking to almost every day), seems to induce fruitfulness to a 

 considerable extent; those shoots which are pinched showing 

 fruit (the second crop) at the axils of almost overy leaf, whilst 

 those left unpinched and allowed to grow to their full extent 

 much more rarely do so. Moreover, incessant pinching, by 

 preventing the full development of the plant, thereby checks the 

 natural tendency to excessive vigour which it has in a young 

 state, and promotes fruit-bearing. Thus, while pinching directly 

 affects the production of the second crop of fruit, it also in- 

 directly, by causing the production of more stubby, short-jointed 

 wood, which ripens better, affects the production of the first 

 crop of the following season. Some allowance must, however, 

 be made in respect to the different habits of the plants. Some 

 varieties, such as the Angelique Noire, are of a much more 

 robust habit of growth than others, and can scarcely be pinched, 

 so closely. The CEil de Peidrix, again, is of a very stubby 

 nature, and requires scarcely any pinching, whilst the Brown 

 Turkey is of an intermediate form, somewhat straggling in habit, 

 to which the foregoing remarks will most correctly apply. 



In a moderate-sized houseful of Fig trees in pots, an hour or 

 two every day may be very profitably employed in pinching ; 

 it is a very pleasant pastime, and, unlike pruning or any other 

 operation, a mistake in regard to it can scarcely be committed. 



Ringing the Stem. — By this is meant the cutting off a ring 

 of the bark round the stem. It has the effect of checking ex- 

 cessive vigour and thereby inducing fruitfulness, and may be 

 resorted to in extreme cases. It may be called an old and 

 barbarous practice. It has, nevertheless, the merit of being at 

 times efficient. — A. B. C. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Mr. W. Egeeton Hubbard's Prizes of £5 and £3 respec- 

 tively, for the best essay on Cottage Garden management, and 

 the best essay on Window Gardening, have been awarded, the 

 former to Mr. E. W. Badger, of the Midland Counties Herald^ 

 Birmingham, and the latter to Mr. H. Buttery, of Clapham. 

 The essays on Cottage Garden management, from which Mr. 

 Badger's was selected, were thirty-four in number ; and those 

 from Mr. W. P. Ayres, Nottingham, and Mr. E. Luckhurst, 

 Egerton House Gardens, Kent, were highly commended ; while 

 those from Mr. D. T. Fish, Hardwieke House, Bury St. Ed- 

 mund's ; Mr. A. Meikle, Read Hall, Whalley ; Mr. P. Grieve, 

 Culford ; and Mr. W. Earley, Digswell, were commended. On 

 Window Gardening there were eighteen essays, that from Mr. 

 D. T. Fish being highly commended, and those from Mr. E. 

 Luckhurst, Egerton House Gardens ; Mr. A. Meikle, Read 

 Hall ; and Mr. W. Moss, Shelfield, Wickham, Hants, were 

 commended. 



Her Majesty, accompanied by the Princess Lonise 



and the Princess Beatrice, visited Mr. William Paul's Exhi- 

 bition of Spring Flowers, at the Royal Horticultural Gardens, 

 South KensiDgton, on the 21st inst. Bouquets of Roses were 

 presented to Her Majesty and the Princesses by Master F. and 

 Misses Ella and Emily Paul. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



kitchen garden. 

 Sowing seeds, planting trees and shrubs, and laying-out 

 dressed grounds, must now be carried on with speed ; at the 

 same time the destruction of insects must not be neglected ; 

 any inattention at the present time will cause much mischief 

 during the summer. Make a new plantation of Artichokes, if 

 not already done. The preparation for planting Asparagus, 

 consists in deeply trenching the ground, and in burying in the 

 bottom of the trench a considerable quantity of raw vegetable 

 matter, such as refuse vegetables, Cabbage stalks, weeds ; or, 

 if they can be obtained, half-rotten leaves with which a 

 little manure has been blended for linings in the previous 

 year, are very good. The ground on which Celery has been 

 grown may be prepared in a special way with a view to its 

 beiDg laid down with Asparagus. In takiDg up the Celery for 

 nee, the bed (on the Scotch system) is broken up to a great 



