172 



JUC£NAL OF HOfillOULTUBE AND COTIAQB QABDBMEB. 



( March 8, 1817. 



DiSBCDDiNO. — This is resorted to, to prevent overcrowding and 

 to give shoots at required positions, as well as to secure the ex- 

 tension of the trees ; also to secure suitable growths for the sup- 

 port of the fruit, and to provide for produciog future crops. If 

 the trees are vigorous they will be ready for disbudding by the 

 time the flowering is past. Some advocate pinching out the 

 points of the shoots which have fruit at their base, and most 

 growers agree that disbudding should be done gradually, re- 

 moving part of the superfluous growths at one time and part 

 at another. Any who are timid over disbudding will have 

 many useless growths, which must afterwards be stopped or 

 out out. I cannot see the value of allowing shoots to grow 

 which must be ultimately removed. I can understand the 

 necessity of not disbudding all at once when the trees are 

 against walls or in a cold house, where the foliage acts as pro- 

 tection to the setting fruit, and its removal in quantity at an 

 early stage may cause the leaves to suffer severely from blister, 

 an evil which I consider is entirely due to insuflieient protec- 

 tion. I have never had a ' ' blistered " leaf in a heated structure, 

 and in such a house I do all the disbudding at once. 



When the shoots are long enough to be handled I remove 

 unflinchingly every shoot or bud not wanted. I practise the long- 

 pruning system, though I do not And fault with short-pruning, 

 but have a decided objection to the finger and thumb being 

 ever kept at work upon Peach trees — a certain mode, as I have 

 found it, of having lots of blossom, the fruit also setting freely 

 enough, but much of it dropping very soon from an insufficiency 

 of foliage and sap. Presuming that the trees are fan-trained, 

 the main branches 9 inches to 12 inches distance apart, and the 

 shoots upon them 12 to 15 inches distance and trained in be- 

 tween those branches, we have to remove the shoots on the 

 under and upper side of the branches, and leave side shoots for 

 training-in at 12 inches apart, and at about every 3 feet a shoot 

 will require to be laid-in and trained so that it will be at a dis- 

 tance of 12 inches from the shoot it originated from. A shoot 

 will also require to be left for the continuation of each main 

 branch. The bearing shoots have all the shoots removed except 

 one at the base, selecting the lowest in eveiy case for retaining, 

 and one at the extremity of the shoot or above the fruit ; and 

 this shoot, not being required for extension, is stopped to three 

 leaves, and any growth it may make afterwards is closely stopped 

 at one leaf. Any fruiting side shoots failing to set are out 

 away to the lowest bud of their origin for the production of 

 fruiting shoots for next year. 



The shoots trained in from the base of the current fruiting 

 shoots are, if very vigorous, stopped at a foot in length ; but 

 any shoots not likely to exceed 14 inches in length are not 

 interfered with, as the moderately vigorous shoots of from 

 9 inches to a foot in length are always the most fruitful. One 

 of the main objects to be aimed at is the equalisation of the 

 vigour of the trees. It is better to cut away an over-vigorous 

 shoot or restrain it by close pinching than permit it to mono- 

 polise nutriment needed by other parts of the tree. 



Pkuning. — When the fruit is gathered we cut away the 

 shoots which have produced the fruit, others being provided to 

 furnish the crop of the coming year. Exception must be made 

 of shoots that are required for extension, forming as they do 

 part of the principal branches ; and if the trees have any long 

 bare branches no time is so fitting for their removal as when 

 the crop is gathered, for we thereby admit the maximum of 

 light and air to the foliage of the parts left, and enhance the 

 ripening of the wood. When the leaves have fallen the trees 

 are untied, and the pruning completed by cutting the shoots 

 back to » or 9 inches of their length, and to a triple bud, or at 

 least a wood bud, and if these are only produced at their base 

 and extremity the shoots are not shortened, but are left their 

 full length. Shoots required for extension are shortened so as 

 to maiutaiu the tree's equilibrium, and any unripe growths are 

 out back to firm ripe wood. — G. Abbey. 



FORCING LILT OF THE VALLEY. 

 We have received from the Hon. and Bev. J. T. Boscawen 

 some highly superior flowers of this popular plant, and 

 fully equal to the best examples of continental growth. Ac- 

 companying the flowers was a letter from Mr. Boscawen, 

 which is worthy of attention on account of the special stress 

 which is laid on the carefully maturing the foliage after the 

 flowers have been gathered. As a rule much injury is done to 

 forced plants of various kinds by subjecting them to an un- 

 natural system of treatment immediately after they have 

 ceased flowering. It is only by fostering a perfect growth of 



foliage that perfect flowers can follow, and there are no plants 

 to which this applies more forcibly than to Lilies of the Valley. 

 By adopting this principle Mr. Boscawen has produced flowers 

 from plants which have been in the same pots for ten years, 

 and if others will follow the plan of this skilled horticulturist 

 they will have equally satisfactory results, and we doubt not 

 will arrive at the same conclusion, that there is "no difference 

 between continental and English-grown plants." The follow- 

 ing is an extract from Mr. Boscawen's letter : — 



"I send you some Lilies of the Valley that you may see 

 that it is possible to grow them in England as good as those 

 flowered from imported plants. Much nonsense has been 

 written of late years about French and Dutch versus English 

 plants. I believe there is no difference. The blossoms I send 

 are from a pot of roots taken up four years ago from a bed at 

 least one hundred years old. I had some much finer (but out 

 of flower now) that have been in the same pots ten years. I 

 find it the best plan to force every other year, but to place all 

 the pots in March under glass, in order that the leaves may 

 grow early, being protected. By this means I obtain leaves as 

 well as flowers at Christmas." 



SELECT HAEDY WALL PLANTS. 



Some two or three months ago a correspondent asked for the 

 names of some climbing plants suitable for covering a fence. 

 More pressing matters caused this to be set aside for the 

 moment, and I now hasten to give the requisite information 

 while there is yet time for the planting to be well done. 



Climbers for fences should coueist m the main of those 

 which partake of the evergreen type, in order to secure an agree- 

 able and lively effect throughout the year ; several distinct 

 sorts should be mingled together for the sake of variety and 

 for flowers at different seasons of the year. At the present 

 moment we have Jasminum nudiflorum laden with its bright 

 yellow flowers, and, although bare of foliage, yet the green- 

 baiked spray always presents a fresh and lively appearance. 

 The winter-flowering Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrautissima) 

 is abundantly clothed with handsome foliage, and with a pair 

 of its pretty white and fragrant flowers springing from tho 

 axil of every leaf. Garrya ellipiica, an evergreen of very 

 stout robust growth, is now highly attractive from the striking 

 effect of its tufts of long catkins of flowers pendant from the 

 tip of every shoot. A little later on we shall have the bright 

 yellow flowers of Premontia californioa, with the pink, blue, 

 and white of the Ceanothus and Escallonias. Very few 

 shrubs are so striking as is Ceanothus rigidus when seen in 

 the full spring beauty of its dense clusters of pale lavender- 

 coloured flowers. C. divaricatus is also a spring-flowering 

 variety. It is an evergreen of much more vigorous growth 

 than rigidus, and has such handsome foliage that a prominent 

 position ought always to be given it. I have two plants of it, 

 both about 10 feet high, one on the south side of a building 

 and the other facing the west ; they are in perfect health, but 

 neither of them bear many flowers, and I shall be glad to know 

 if it proves more floriferous in other hands. Ceanothus 

 azureus, a good old autumn-flowering sort, is a general 

 favourite, its handsome blue flower spikes always attracting' 

 attention and being most useful for cutting. I have had more 

 applicants for its name than for any other of an extensive 

 collection of climbing plants. With mild weather it continues 

 flowering very late, and its flowers have continued opening 

 throughout the present winter. 



Of the Escallonias, maorantha deservedly ranks first, tlM- 

 elegant dark-hued, evergreen, glossy foliage forming a charming 

 foil to its bold flower spikes of a deep rich pink, which open 

 into full beauty in spring and early summer. E. Ingram!, 

 while closely resembling macrantha, is certainly inferior to it 

 in the size and colour of both foliage and blossom ; but I would 

 not entirely discard Ingrami, for it continues much longer in 

 flower than macrantha, and its light pink flowers are very 

 pretty. The white-flowered variety, E. pterocladon, bears a 

 profusion of charming white Heath-like flower spikes early io 

 the year. It is wonderfully robust, and climbs almost as fast 

 as macrantha. 



The Honeysuckles (Lonicera) comprise much too important 

 a section of this charming class of plants to be left out. The 

 winter-flowering L. fragrautissima has already been noticed; 

 next to it comes L. flexuosa and L. brachypoda, the first having 

 dark-coloured foliage and flowers, and the other being of a- 

 lighter hue in both respects, otherwise they bear a close re- 

 semblance in freedom of growth, perfume, and abundance of 



