52 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I January 18, 1877. 



only on a few planta is yet worth noting. It is a great many 

 years ago when I was entering on a new situation, I found 

 that my predecessor had left some halt-dozen little snckers of 

 Queen Pines, and for want of a better place to put them in 

 had potted tiiem and placed them in a plant stove with a col- 

 lection of mixed plants, and, as might be expected, they were 

 covered with white scale as thickly stuck together as it was 

 possible. One of the best of these I shook-out of the pot, 

 and as some horse dung was fermenting at the time prior to 

 being need for hotbeds for Melons, I buried the plant com- 

 pletely in this hot dung, which I dare say ranged upwards of 

 100% It remained there some twenty or thirty hours, when 

 it was taken out and planted in suitable soil in a heated pit 

 intended for Melons, which were also grown in the part ad- 

 joining it. This plant throve and grew fast, quite as much 

 so as I have ever seen a healthy plant, and no scale ever 

 showed itself again upon it, and it eventually ripened a fruit 

 weighing 3} lbs., which was very fair for a Queen. 



I should be very glad if someone would give us a more de- 

 tailed report of the mode by which those foreign Pines are 

 grown by which the market is at present supplied, as they 

 differ so very much from the starved-looking West Indian 

 fruits we have been accustomed to look npon at certain seasons 

 during the last thirty years or more; and the fact of the geo- 

 graphical position of St. Michaels not being so much tropical 

 as we supposed the Pine Apple required, I have for some time 

 been looking for some information respecting their culture and 

 general treatment. — J. Kobson. 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBUBBAN GABDENING. 



Pruning E\t);bobeens. — In villa gardens the pruning of ever- 

 greens is a most essential matter to attend to for more than one 

 reason. In the first place, almost everyone makes a mistake at 

 first by planting too thickly, :md when so done by not thinning 

 out early enough to allow those shrubs intended for permanent 

 ornament to grow into an agreeable form. Villa gardens have 

 generally but small spaces to devote to a shrubbery, and there 

 must be some pruning done every year, but then let it be done 

 in a skilful manner. I was along a street in a large town the 

 other day where the gardens in front were planted with Aucu- 

 bas, variegated and green Hollies, common and Portugal Laurels, 

 Arbor- Vities, Yews, Euonymuses, and some low-growing orna- 

 mental plants in the foreground. Along this street the gardens 

 are conspicuous for their beauty in summer, but for some time 

 past they have been spoiled in appearance by bad pruning. 

 Laurels have had their branches cut with a knife, and with long 

 slanting cuts which are easily seen from the road, and to add to 

 this ugly appearance the bare stems are many of them left from 

 4 to tj inches above the surrounding foliage. Hollies and Yews 

 have been cut with shears, and other shrubs have been trimmed 

 in a similarly careless manner. It vrill be some time before 

 these shrubs assume their former ornamental character; whereas 

 if they had been carefully pruned in such a way as to hide every 

 cut without exposing the stem as well, by making the cut close 

 to the junction of a smaller or larger shoot as the case may 

 require, the shrubs would still maintain their natural habits 

 though confined by pruning to a smaller space. It is absurd to 

 cut a beautiful shrub or hedge of Holly with shears for the sake 

 of getting it into shape when it can be done so satisfactorily 

 with a kuife. The growth is not so vigorous as that of a Laurel, 

 but is stiff and short-jointed; and by a glance at the tree, at the 

 same time bearing in mind the shape it is intended to assume 

 when it is finally left to itself, a selection of shoots for cutting 

 out may be made, which wiU make the shrub more ornamental 

 than it was before. 



Many times it is necessary to think much before cutting, 

 because when a shrub is not intended to be left permanently, 

 and yet it is not advisable to part with it at once, the shoots 

 that are cut from it should bi- very carefully selected, so as not 

 to destroy the outline, and yet to give room for the shrubs next 

 to it. This is the most severe pruning of any, because it is 

 necessary to make room for others more particular ; but when 

 the time arrives that no pruning can be done to the shrubs with- 

 out spoiliog them, and then instead of disfiguring them and 

 detracting from the ornamental effect of the surrounding shrubs, 

 I would take them out entirely. 



Aucubas are easy shrubs to prune, owing to their close habit 

 of growth. As a rule their outline is good and very natural, and 

 the only pruning needed is in removing a few straggling shoots. 

 Arbor- Vitxs require very little pruning ; sometimes a thinning 

 of the wood is necessary, but a few stakes put inside, and the 

 shoots tied to them, will render them compact for a long time. 

 Laurustinusea may be pruned if desired; but this being the 

 flowering time, no pruning must be done till that is over, which 

 is just before growth commences. I never remember seeing 

 the Laurustiuus so full of flowers as this season, and upon 



shorter growth than common. I should be glad to hear if 

 its free-flowering is general this winter, it being a mass of 

 flowers, and when it is planted in street gardens it is a con- 

 spicuous ornament. 



I see in this neighbourhood that Roses are bursting into leaf, 

 smi people are afraid to prune them yet, for the back buds are still 

 dormant, and if pruning were done now, and the mild weather 

 continue, these would break, and the chance of a good first 

 bloom would be jeopardised. The Honeysuckle is ia leaf also, 

 but if this gets too forward it does not snSer like the BoBe. — 

 TnoM.is Becobd. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND WOEK FOR 

 THE PRESENT WEEK. 



HABDY FRUIT G.iBDEN. 



We have, as opportunity oSered, continued the pmning and 

 nailing of wall trees, and the pruning of standards and dwarfs. 

 As for digging, or even wheeling manure on to the ground, that is 

 not to be thought of, with the ground sodden as it is by the con- 

 tinued rains. The advantage of well-drained soil will be evident 

 this year. Where the soil has not been drained in orchards, and 

 the trees affected with lichens on the branches, this tribe of 

 parasites will have much improved in vigour. There are two 

 very evident causes of the growth of mosses of sorts on fruit 

 trees — namely, crowding the trees too closely together, causing 

 weak unhealthy growth, and plantiug in soil that is naturally 

 wet without making any preparation to drain away superfluous 

 water. There are soils drained naturally, and others can be 

 easily drained by artificial means owing to the nature of the 

 ground. Other soils, owing to their low-lying position, cannot 

 be drained at all. It would be very easy to say that a particular 

 soil and position is the best for fruit-tree culture ; but very few 

 gardeners have a choice of soil, and they have generally to make 

 the best out of the means they have at their command. 



The kitchen garden at Loxford Hall is composed of soil of the 

 very worst description for fruit trees^light sandy stony stofi 

 over gravel lying close under the surface. It might fitly be 

 compared to Burns' farm at EUisland, which according to his 

 account was formed *' of the riddlings c>f creation." Fourteen 

 years ago there were at least a hundred fruit trees in all stages of 

 decay, some of the Apples dying not from old age but from canker, 

 which had eaten into the centre of the largest branchea, and 

 caused decay in those of more recent grow'th. Some of them 

 could be pushed over by the hand, and no good frtiit could be 

 obtained. There was no course but to grub up the trees and 

 replant. Where the gravel was near the surface it was removed, 

 so that 18 inches of soil were obtained ; a little heavy loam was 

 worked- in, and some of the same substantial material was placed 

 around the roots when the trees were planted. For several 

 years afterwards the roots were annually lifted, and good loam 

 placed in contact with them ; the roots also were encotiraged to 

 work upwards by surface-dressings of manure being applied, 

 and out of a largo collection of the best sorts only two have been 

 seriously affected with canker — viz., Ribston Pippin and Dume- 

 low's Seedling or Wellington. The first-named has became 

 notorious for this characteristic, but the other we did not expect 

 to fail from this cause. Pears do better than .\pplea on our soil; 

 Plums and Cherries better than Pears. The tendency of all the 

 trees is to produce too much young wood, but by careful summer 

 pruning this adds to the production of fruit buds. 



Raspberry bushes have been pruned and made ready for the 

 ground being dug the first favourable opportunity. In the 

 quarters of Strawberry plants weeds have been unusually produc- 

 tive. All we have been able to do has been to remove the 

 largest by hand, and wait for a favourable opportunity to set the 

 Dutch hoe to work. If trees are infested with American blight 

 the parts ought to be dressed with paraffin ; it does not seem to 

 injure the trees or fruit buds, which boiled oil will do some- 

 times. The eggs of the Bombyx neustria (lackey moth) may 

 now be found glued to the small twigs of the trees ; they are 

 compacted firmly together, and clasp closely the twiga in 

 circles about quarter of an inch wide. They must be sought 

 for and burned. 



PINE HOUSES. 



We have been re-arranging the stock in the fruiting houses. 

 Our plan is, from a small number of plants to obtain a succession 

 of fruits all the year round. They are not required very fre- 

 quently, but it is necessary to have them on stated occasions. 

 Under such circumstancea it would lie foolish to try to have a 

 whole house of Qoeens to start at one time even if it were possible 

 to do so. One house had been rested in a temperature of from 

 an' to Gi)' with a dryish atmosphere, and the planta about the 

 1st of .January were quite dry at the roots. By increasing the 

 bottom heat to 90", as we have done by adding fresh tan to the 

 bed, and raising the temperature of the house to 0.5^ as a mini- 

 mum, and still keeping the roots dry, nearly all the Pines would 

 start. We do not want this, so the pots were twice watered to 

 thoroughly moisten the dried ball of earth and roots. The at- 

 mosphere ia fairly moist, and perhaps only one plant in three will 



