i& 



ii»mm%^'''MimM.'iiislk" 'iM''fibfm<^z' gabdeneb. 



ff^e^rtt(.VCi6a 



ft'trdin of 16? Itgfii carts, eabli 'Cirrying only one large pack- 

 Bge. Each had three horses, anil they went with almost rail- 

 way speed. 1 have pointed o«t (Chronicle, page 138), the best 

 and cheapest way to send show plants to Itnssia vui Hamburg, 

 ■with only eix travelling days. I have considerable experience 

 in the»e things, having had the mnnagement of conveying one 

 or two shiploads every year to St. Tetersburg, containing plants 

 pveviously Ordered or sent on speculation.— FniTz Gebhaed, 

 Continental Traveller for Me/.'^rs. E. C. Jlenderfn,, ,r Son. 



I'Ui ta'iiiiittl. 



'"■^hi'i^ .Mr'n^ilq Jo bmu odj J,. 

 iCaui^kil moil JieJioqtai'jlj09O9i nsstj had iBili aioBlq Jeanomi 

 Mqaoiq b^bwJsHjj ^PQRTARL'E OUCftAIfD. ' ''^Ww ^^^ 

 adJ a! V ... .n ,po»lmued from rage 123.) •, " X ,f 



oiArvi.E, Pear, CUerry, and Thun trees will take np harm from 

 iMiposure to tho open air, always provided tho wood U ripe ; and 

 proper pruning secures that. The; trees should remaia piled as 

 long as there is no dautjer of the fruit buds withering, and that 

 is not till the Ee\'6rity of the winter is over ; April is usually 

 saon enough here, but the climate of each plate must determine 

 this point. In ini>st places and sfasona the end of February 

 will, be, a good time, and we may safely assert that the limits 

 ■ffUl he the beginning of February and tho middle of April. 

 ;, When the pots are phinged in the ground tbey should be sunk 

 *pto the rima, and a good mulching of rotten manure given, 

 extending beyond the pot for a font or so all round, and if the 

 weather has left the ground \'ery dry it will be well to water 

 -^hC'lrecB thoroughly a few days ^iftcr they are plupgtd, but 

 aifter that, unless the weather is vory dry, they need no more 

 watering. At the same timo a good soaking once a- week 

 throughout July, with weak liiiuid manure, will givp increased 

 vigour; but I fmd the trees vigorous enough in. my soil without 

 this e.'stra food,, for, the roots gut fresh si<il cveiy season, and if 

 t^e bed in whifh the pots are plunged is afforded n dressing of 

 Uroo and manure at the lifting timo in autumn, andthes'U is left 

 -ia-good ri^igci during the winter, the trees have plenty to feed 

 ~l(pon even when placed very cKsely together. This is, no doubt, 

 one of the causes of the success of tlie system. Pyramids do 

 not get the benefit of the fresh soil in this way, even if they 

 become used to annual removal without feeling the check, far 

 the soil could not bo exposed to the action of the air during the 

 (entire winter ; and trees potted in the ordinary way have not 

 iSuch a large space for tlieir roots to nm in during the siunmor. 

 ; - Having now given a sketoli of the general method of culti- 

 vsiting trees that are the property of the cultivator, I shall pro- 

 ceed to dosoribe in. detail the method of training thom ; and 

 ■whali I have to say about training and pruning applies to all 

 foraas oxt-opting those for -walls. As the ninnber of trees to be 

 ■cnltivatod in a portable orchard will in most, cases be small, 

 ■ and tho trees themselves will become pets, no irregular training 

 should be permitted. A hundred trees efliild be vory easily kept 

 in perfect form by bestowing upon them the time too often 

 'Spent in the public-house; for what is wanted is frequently 

 • going oyer them branch by branch, though very little is to be 

 .done tt) each at any one time. However, a hundred is a far 

 greater number than I should recommend most men to attempt 

 tlntil, at any rate, they had gained some experience in the 

 Tjyst^mt-a.Boore .or a, dozen, or feyrcTj^^ill be, enough_^to begin 

 a#itiljd ; oJaefis edJ trwo, on ladmasoU lo moold eiiJ 



dJP Off! fi»wo(ti!» iE'M xi\- GKAFTING^j,..,, ii-cAVw ^oiwo s,c,! 

 '.Everyone ought toknow how to graft, and,:a3 I said oetore, 

 an educated man starta with a,.great advantage over a, labourer, 

 and perhaps in no part of fruit eiiltlire is tho advantage so great 

 as in this, for a certain amount of tuiiekness of thought and 

 'band, as -well ns delicacy,- arc needed, to graft well. Besides, 

 every now and then a case occurs where a variety can. be pre- 

 - served in this way, when, if the opportunity is missed, it may 

 , ie yi'tir.H before that variety can be mot with again. It is an 

 1 art that all boys ahoidd learn, though, judging by my own. ex- 

 •pericnce, thoy may at times practise it to anything but the 

 loenefit of their friends. More than forty yeai'S ago I w:is taken 

 . hy a gentleman, whom I was visiting, to sea a lady who had an 

 ©special breed of shorthorns, and as her firm was to bo explored, 

 ilthe disposal of my small person during the absence of the two be- 

 •ncamo a difficulty, and I overheard some part of their discussion in 

 » "which terms by no means compUmentary , to myself occurred, 

 «jl!. Where <-an the mischievous iu:chin be put, so that he can do 

 .'nO-harm i" being typical. At last they agreed to put me into a 

 f garden with a wall round it till their return ; now I was not a 

 .'.particularly. miachievous urchin, and resenting very keenly my 

 wtreatjBBtit, ,1 eoasidejiei ,it, %i»ir. ,cl>.aUoi}ge,to. do my, worst. 

 Looking round the garden -with malice prepense, 1 saw a young 



Vbax tree neatly trained against tho hoiise Andlower than myseli"; 

 I saw also bimdles of withered Crocua leaves neatly tied up in 

 the flower border, and not having been disarmed of my knife, I 

 saw my revenge. In a trice I had made a spatula of wood, and 

 had cut scions from all the Pear trees in the garden. I then set 

 to work and budded the young Pear tree all over, using the 

 Crocus grass to tie with, and cutting out eveiy eye that naturally 

 belonged to tho tree. Scvcial years aftcrwai-ds I visited the place 

 again, and asked the lady if phc had a Pear tree at the end of 

 the house by tho drawing-rocm window. Immediately she told 

 me that it was a most extraordinary tree; it was planted fbr 

 a Jargonelle, or seme such Pear, but instead of Jargoncllea 

 every branch bore a different sort of Pear. Many years agaiii 

 passed over my brad, and this summer an old college friend and 

 my wife and 1 went to see the old tree. Of course all thirigfs, 

 cBpccially the walls, seemed small compared with my recollection, 

 but yet the house and garden were as I remembered them, and 

 there was still the old tree, but more decayed than myself; 

 three branches alone remaining, one being Beurre Diel, another 

 Tlvcdale's St. Germain, and the other a Pear I did not recognise. 

 Pew persons, I snspcct, have seen so large a tree of their own 

 -wc rking as this, and still could hope to see fruit on other trees 

 yet to bo grafted. This anecdote, at any ra'e, will prove that 

 boys may readily be taught to graft well, and that the apparatus 

 for the purpose is simple enough. 



It is always a difficult matter to explain on paper a mechanical 

 operation that takes only a few seconds to perform, but I trust 

 by means of ligures to make the process clear; nevertheless,'! 

 advise novices to see some gardener at vsork, and then try to do 

 the ."iamo with any branches of trees that come readiest to hand, 

 for speed and neatness are nearly everything needed to secure 

 success. There is wanted about as muih nicety of band in the 

 operation as is rcq^uired in making a pen, but greater accuracy 

 of eye. ' . t." 



All grafting is performed by fitting one or more buds of _Bto 

 variety (^tha scion) to another (the stock), which is growing 

 from an established root, and tliis fitting must be managed 60 

 that the living layers (the alburnum) of the wood of both are 

 brought into elose i iLxtapoaition, so that the cambium, or fresh 

 deposit of living eclls and fibre, may unite. Now, at present We 

 know vory little about what takes place in the cells of cither, or 

 how the stock and scion affect each other ; nay, we have so few 

 1 ecorded results of grafting different varieties on different stocra, 

 that the field for experiments is quite open in this direction, 

 and bej'ond Mr. Piivers's published results we have little io 

 guide us. Therefore I would urge all who arc going to graft 

 their own trees to make careful notes of what thoy do, for e-ven 

 failures become valuable when properly recorded, and no Xixit- 

 seryinan can rhn the risk of snch experiments unless ho really 

 cares raoro for Science than profit. — W. ICrKasr.ET. 



(To be coutiunedj . -,„ 



ft?.8f ai Atmit prrf tn ^Ttrt irlt at qn ,y;nfl h ,w6t yie? 

 sm.'-. V3S-ir.T n --id oJ h)triOO br.d d-jid?^ .stnooij 

 FRUIT PACiaNG. 



I consirvKU "J. C. M.'g" mode of packing frnit not a good 

 one, especially for Grapes. I could never persuade myself to 

 employ moss to produce eiasticity for fruits, much less fo ntie 

 baekets to carry them. No packer of frnit to any considerable 

 extent can say otherwise than that the box, and paper shavings 

 . — such shavings may be purchased foV £1 8s. per cwt. — are the 

 cleanest, safest, and best way of sending fruit to any distance — 

 from two to four hundred miles. I recommend thin wooden 

 boxes with a wire binge and fastening ; the boxes to be of dif- 

 ferent sizes— viz., 6 inches deep for Lady Downe'g, West's 8t. 

 Peter's, Muscats, and Hamburghs, and an inch deeper for 

 larger summer fruit ; one layer of bunches to be placed in 

 each box, and two boxes corded together. The paper shavinga 

 are all that is required, for nothing is cleaner or ptirer than 

 these when procured from a first-class source. 



NectarinaB may be sent in the Fame way but in mttcb 

 shallower boxes to suit the diameter of the fruit ; some shavings 

 placed between each frnit will secure the Nectarines for any 

 distance. Peaches, no doubt, require a single compartment 

 for each frnit, and to be enveloped in wadding, but paper is 

 unnecessary. Strawberries, I find, are best packed in shallow 

 boxes to hold two layers, clean-cut Kye grass, or any other 

 gress, provided it is inches long and clean, being laid neatly 

 as it is cut between each layer. Packing in punnets in grass 

 and laying in boxes is also a safe way. No leaves are used to 

 wrap the fruit in. I always prefer shallow boxes to deep ones. 

 Twb ot three may be corded together, and in this way a con- 



