UG 



journaij op hobticultuee and cottage gabdeneb. 



[ Aogast 27, 1868. 



magnificerit specimen of colour, and very good of its kind. The 

 same holds good as regards Nectarines, as is well known. 



Bat here let me protest against too many sorts whose merit 

 consists entirely in their extreme juiciness. This juiciness, 

 though a necessary good qualify, is not by any means the chief 

 eioelleuce in Peaches or Nectarines. Indeed, to find little but 

 the stone remaining between our fingers, with, perhaps, a 

 spoonful of juice in the mouth, wlule the rest has slipped to 

 the ground, is an unsatisfactory ending to a year's expectations. 

 Why should this meltiug flesh be so valuable in these Peaches ? 

 Some of our most highly prized table fruits— the Pine Apple, 

 for instance, are firm in texture and highly aromatic in flavour. 

 What Nectarine surpasses the Bed F.oman, which is a fiim- 

 fleshed clingstone, not always, however, easy to ripen well ? 

 In certain soils clingstones are preferred by the best judges. 

 The Stanwick is a Nectarine of well-known excellence. The 

 flesh of this sort has a certain delicious fibrousnesa, which 

 holds the rich juice well, and allows its flavour to be realised 

 slowly. This is a model Nectarine, and well deserves the use 

 made of it by that most judicious raiser of new sorts, Mr. 

 Bivers. 



Among early Peaches the Early York is still a standard. 

 One like this, not more melting, as well coloured, but of full 

 size, and even earlier, we may yet obtain by crossing. Early 

 Bivers is much praised. My own tree here was accidentally 

 prevented from ripening its fruit this year. 



It is to n race of these very early fruits that we must look 

 for the best future orchard-house culture. They are for many 

 reasons by far the most remunerative when no fire heat is 

 nsed. Whenever, however, pipes are employed to hasten the 

 ripening, slow-growing and large varieties generally afford us 

 better results. The absence of the sun's rays at an early season 

 requires that the growth should not be unduly promuted, or 

 flavour must suiier. There are well-known sorts which force 

 well, and which in consequence are generally depended on for 

 early exhibitions. — T. C. Beehaut, liichmojul Ilouse, Guenisct;. 



next season, at the same time encouraging plenty of foliage, 

 and taking care that the young growth is well ripened. A well- 

 ripened Peach tree will bear fruit, at any rate blossoms. Keep 

 its shoots thin enough, stop those inchued to be too vigorous, 

 and keep the soil in which it grows firm and solid, and it will 

 require all its roots to provide for the crop it will carry. 



The border in which my best Peach trees are growing has 

 neither been dug nor forked for ten or twelve years, and is as 

 hard as a garden path. To prepare a rich border for Vines, 

 and then cut their roots to prevent them occupying it, would 

 be very stupid practice. Is it not equally stupid to manure 

 highly a piece of land, plant it with Baspberries, Strawberries, 

 &c., and then every year destroy as mauy roots as possible by 

 digging amongst them ? — J. E. Peai;son, Chilwell. 



CONVOL^TJLUS JNLiURITANICUS. 

 I HAVE great pleasure in seconding the recommendation of 

 this plant which the Eev. H. Harpur Crewe has given in 

 page 97. With me Convolvulus mauritanicus has done well all 

 through the dry weather, and promises to continue in good 

 condition for some time. It is quite hardy, having withstood 

 the winter of 1856-07, as well as that of 1807-68, and by its 

 habit I should think it an excellent basket or vase plant, but it 

 appears to be also good for covering a bed, being compact, of a 

 uniform height of about 8 inches, and the flowers all appearing 

 at the top, and when expanded being of a pretty pale blue 

 colour. Even when closed they have a less crumpled appear- 

 ance than those of the annual Convolvuluses. As a plant for 

 decorative purposes it certainly deserves more attention than 

 it has yet received. — J. Bobson. 



ROOT-PRUNING TINES. 



In answer to your correspondent " C. B. E.," who asks for 

 my opinion, I may say I do very little root-pruning. 



If a fruit tree grows so vigorously that it makes no fruit- 

 bearing wood, as is often the case with a Pear tree on the Pear 

 stock, it mny be advisable to cut its roots. If a tree is planted 

 over a bad fubsoil, and is likely to suffer when its roots have 

 descended into such soil, it is quite necessary either to prevent 

 their descending or to cut them off. 



If a tree is required to bear fruit in a small space, or earlier 

 than it would naturally bear, it may be advisable to cut its 

 roots. In nature, to grow first and bear afterwards is the rule. 

 If we wish to check growth and hasten fruit-beariug we must 

 bring a tree into the state it would naturally attain when the 

 powers of growth are weakened by age. Such a result may be 

 attained by root-pruning. 



Like mauy other fashionable customs, root-pruning seems 

 now to be carried to a ridiculous extent. Trees which do not 

 grow too fast — which are, in fact, not vigorous enough to bear 

 well-developed fruit, are root-pruned without mercy, as if roots 

 were unnecessary appendages. Tines growing above good dry 

 subsoils are prevented, at great expense, from making roots 

 where they would naturally form them. Trees which have 

 borne a good crop of fruit are removed or root-pruned for fear 

 they should not bear again. To grow strongly and yet be 

 fruitful is perfection. Why not let well alone ? If a Vine 

 makes a great deal of wood, let it carry a heavier crop of fruit ' 



POTATO CULTURE. 



Would " Upwabds and Onwaeds " give us his experience on 

 the following points ? — 



Will Potatoes that have speared in the ground be fit for seed, 

 and will they keep ? What would be the best way to treat 

 them ? 



What is the best method of preparing seed in ordinary cases 

 when spearing has not taken place ? 



As we have been so far wrong about the lifting, perhaps we 

 may be also wrong in exposing to the sun Potatoes intended 

 for seed, or in greening them in the shade. 

 What is the influence of the size of the sets ? 

 Which is the best system of planting as to depth, distance, 

 earthing or not eai thing, taking different kinds of ground into 

 consideration ? 



What is the best time of planting ? How should manure be 

 applied ? These points have already been discussed in the 

 Journal, but I should like to have the opinion of such an 

 experienced grower as " Upwaeds and Onwakds." — H. C, 

 liijiley. 



[With regard to the first question, I know a man who a few 

 years ago made a large sum of money by keeping for seed 

 Potatoes which had supertuberated. He left them in the 

 ground to take their chance, they ripened, were separated at 

 the lifting, and all that required it were " spurted." They 

 answered well for seed in the following season. This year his 

 Potatoes are supertuberating, and he intended to adopt the 

 same practice. Not so the Potatoes ; they are throwing up 

 green tops by way of a change, and the grower will lose £30 in 

 consequence, unless he immediately disbud and unspear them, 

 and then they would keep perfectly, and answer for seed next 

 year by being spread out very thinly in a dry, rather dark 

 place, having a temperature of about -10° during the winter, 

 and never allowed there to sprout and exhaust themselves. In 

 the end of March they would have to be deprived of their buds, 

 or eyes, by scooping these out to their very foundations with a 

 penknife, with the exception of one, or two at the most on the 

 strongest tubers. Never cut these tubers into sets. The im- 

 mature tubers that I dug up on the 11th of July, 1867, to 

 exhibit as young Potatoes in my collection at the Bojal Horti- 

 cultural Society's Show at Bury St. Edmunds, had their skins 

 so tender when taken from the ground that they would scarcely 

 bear handling without disfigurement. I brought them back 

 with me, and gave them the treatment just described, and 

 noted particularly when I planted them amongst the sets dug 

 at a more matured stage, and they are bearing quite as good 

 crops as these, if not, in fact, a little better. 



Experimentally I am led to conclude that Potatoes reared 

 from whole sets produce a greater bulk of crop, and are more 

 able to contend against all evils than those raised from cut 

 sets. I always procure my seed Potatoes from light land of a 

 diilcrent nature from my own soil, which may be termed an 

 artificially-made, dark-coloured loam, and I take care that they 

 are selected from healthy crops. I choose middling-sized sets 

 at taking-up time, and since I have been thus particular I find 

 my permanent sorts considerably improved in constitution. 

 A medium-sized Potato when taken from the soil may be 

 termed scarcely ripe, which is a great recommendation to it as a 

 set for planting. Aga.'n, my seed may be spoken of as under- 

 going a perpetual preparation, although causing comparatively 

 little trouble, for as soon as it is taken out of the ground it 

 is laid in the sun for a day or two at most, and turned. Never 

 allow seed Potatoes to lie exposed to the sun longer, otherwise 

 they will become blackened, blistered, and affected with a sort 

 of dry rot, which will completely destroy them. This 1 have 



