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JODKNAL OF HOETICuLTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 5, 1868. 



it is almost impossible to lift them without a ball ; but they 

 never do so well as in September and October. Spring is not 

 so good a period as autumn for removing evergreens, and for 

 this reason the evaporation by the leaves cannot be so well 

 compensated for by artificial watering as by the autumn rains, 

 and the night dews so refreshing to the foliage, and which are 

 inuch more copious in autumn than in spring ; besides, the 

 ground is much warmer, therefore early autumn planting gives 

 a chance of fresh rootlets being formed before winter, and the 

 plants are prepared for, and generally make, a good start in 

 spring. Those planted in spring, on the contrary, are hurried 

 onto growth by the increased temperature before they have 

 made great progress in rooting, and the loss by evaporation 

 BQUst be made up by artiiicifll watering. 



Winter is not a good season for planting evergreens ; they 

 cannot root, and failing to do that, any loss by evaporation 

 must be injurious to the vitality of the shrubs, and the effects 

 •will in time be perceptible. Having planted evergreen shrubs 

 at almost all seasons — indeed, in every month in the year, I 

 am convinced that they ought not to be planted from the 

 middle of April to the end of August, and in midwinter from 

 the setting-in of severe frost until it becomes but slight in 

 spring. From planting at those periods the maximum of 

 failures may be anticipated, whilst from plantings in September, 

 Ootober, and November (if mild) the failures are reduced to a 

 minimum. Early in spring is also a good time, but planting 

 should be done before the shubs have commenced growth, and 

 antumn planting ought not to be practised until the growths 

 are completed and the wood matured. — G. Abbey. 

 (To be continaed.) 



VERTICAL CORDON APPLE TREES ^•EKsus 

 LATERAL CORDONS. 



I HAVE recently been much interested in two rows of Apple 

 trees, planted within a few yards of each other. The piece of 

 ground allotted to them is a parallelogram, 30 yards in length. 

 On its northern side is a brick wall, in front of which is a row 

 of lateral cordon Apple trees on the English Paradise stock, 

 trained to a wire, and planted G feet apart, which now, with 

 the exception of two gaps, arising from trees which died of 

 canker, overlap each other, and form a continuous cordon. 

 They have been planted some five or six years, but have not 

 liitherto been productive. They bore more freely the first and 

 second years than since, owing to red spider having most per- 

 sistently attacked them, and for which ou Apple trees in the 

 open air I have as yet found no remedy. 



These lateral cordons, G feet apart, are of course fifteen in 

 number, thus occupying the front of the border 30 yards in 

 length, or 90 feet. It is strange to find the mind so often un- 

 observant when a picture is made familiar by its being con- 

 stantly before one's eyes ! I had almost daily seen my vertical 

 cordon Apple trees, and yet it never occurred to me till two or 

 three days since to compare them with my lateral cordons as 

 to their diilerence in productiveness. I confess to having 

 been astonished, as it is probable some of your readers will be, 

 when I state that on the same space of ground a very large 

 increase of fruit-bearing space on the stems of trees may be 

 had by cultivating vertical cordons. It is proved thus : — Fif- 

 teen lateral cordon trees, each G feet in length, give an aggre- 

 gate of 90 feet of fruit-bearing space on their stems, while the 

 same number of feet in length will allow of forty-five vertical 

 cordons to be planted 2 feet apart — the proper distance. My 

 cordons are now on an average from C to 8 feet in height. I 

 intend them to be kept at a regular height ; each tree to be 

 8 feet high. This will give a bearing space ou the stems of 

 the forty-five trees of SCO feet, yet no more ground space will 

 he required. By adding 2 feet to their stature, which may 

 safely be done, you add 90 feet additional, making 450 feet of 

 cordons on a space of ground only admitting of 90 feet by the 

 lateral method. 



These upright single cordons require the same culture as the 

 lateral cordons when trained to iron wires, and the same rigid 

 attention must be paid to summer-pinching. There is one 

 great comfort in seeing to them ; no stooping is required, and 

 that horrible back ache, so familiar to all who work in their 

 gardens, is avoids d. 



It must not be thought that no support is required for these 

 very pretty trees. After two or three years they commence to 

 bear profusely, and they will then require support from a neat 

 stake, if wood kyanised or creosoted, or of iron, of the same 



height the tree is intended to attain. The iron rod should be 

 the size of an ordinary curtain rod ; but it would be as well if 

 the tree were supported with a wooden stake till it had attained 

 some G or 7 feet in height. 



The preferable kinds of Apples for vertical cordons are 

 sorts that are not too vigorous in their growth, and that are 

 fertile. The following varieties are very eligible : — For dessert 

 — Ashmead's Kernel, Cox's Orange, Duke of Devonshire, 

 Golden Drop (Coe's), Golden Harvey, Margil, Kerry Pippin, 

 Lodgemore Nonpareil, Lord Burghley, Early Nonpareil, Old 

 Nonpareil, White Nonpareil, Mannington's Pearmain, Beinette 

 Van Mons, Pitmaston Pine Apple, Stamford Pippin, Pear- 

 son's Plate, Keddleston Pippin, and many others of the same 

 habit. For the kitchen the following sorts are not too gross in 

 their habit for vertical cordons, and are for the most part very 

 fertile : — Baldwin, Baron Ward, Cos's Pomona, Dumelow's 

 Seedling, Duchess of Oldenburg, Betty Geeson, Winter Haw- 

 thornden, Lord Suffield, Bymer, Small's Admirable, Keswick 

 Codlin, Tower of Glammis, Hawthornden, Jolly Beggar, Fearn's 

 Pippin, Winter Pearmain, and some others. These should all 

 be grafted or budded on the English Paradise stock, as the 

 French Paradise is too feeble in its habit to form vertical 

 cordons. 



I have only to add that t' ope who wish to plant vertical 

 cordon trees on the proper kind of stock, should at once select 

 trees only one year old from the bud or graft, budded trees to 

 be preferred. They may be bought at a reasonable price, say 

 at 50s. per hundred wholesale, so that neighbours should club 

 together. No preparation is required in planting them ; no 

 posts and wires ; the planter has merely to plant his young 

 vertical cordons in rows 2 feet apart, and wait tiU the summer 

 brings on the pleasant pastime of watching the young shoots 

 and pinching them in to two or three leaves — an operation 

 which should be performed once a-week from early in June till 

 the end of August. 



I ought also to mention one operation often necessary, if the 

 trees are inclined to grow too vigorously, so as not to form 

 blossom buds — two strong spades, one on each side, should be 

 thrust under their roots and the trees gently heaved, so as to 

 loosen them, and then replaced and the earth trodden firmly 

 down. In writing as above, I have no wish to repudiate 

 lateral cordons, which may often be employed for edgings to 

 borders with advantage ; but I wish to point out how a small 

 space appropriated to fruit culture may be economically used. 

 In a crowded city, where ground space is confined, tall houses 

 are built ; there is always room upwards, and so it is with ver- 

 tical cordons. — T. E. 



LLANDUDNO CHILDREN'S FLORAL SOCIETY. 



On the 13th October, an important ceremony took place at Tebed 

 Bryn Maenol, small in its begiuning, but we hope pregnant with great 

 results. 



"VV. r. Chapman, Esq., of Tebed Bryn Maenol, distributed gra- 

 tuitously to those children who felt a pleasure in flowers nearly fifty 

 cuttings of the Tom Thumb Pelargonium as a beginning. The re- 

 cipients consisted of boys and girls from nine to fourteen years of age, 

 A nice potfnl of mould with the plant in it was given also to each, 

 accompanied with a Lag in which was enclosed a bun and fruit. These 

 plants were taken away by the children to be nurtured and trained. 

 They are to be brought back in twelve months time or earlier, as may be 

 decided, when they will all be exhibited, and prizes will be awarded to 

 the best. Such care as will be necessai-y to train the plants cannot 

 be unproductive of good. It will teach the little gardeners to know 

 that their humble plants have wants, and require watching as well as 

 they do themselves, and through these children perhaps, we may hope, 

 a lesson will be taught to many an indifferent parent. If it do no 

 other good it will perhaps tempt the ckildren to read some of the 

 cbeap handbooks on horticulture, and so lead them afterwards to 

 bigher tastes and efforts. 



Mr. Chapman addressed the children, but we can find space for 

 only a short extract from his address: — "None but the lovers of 

 flowers can form an idea of the interest which is created and grows 

 upon those who begin in their childhood to be gardeners, and who arq 

 fortunate enough to have parents who possess a gardener (if ever so 

 small a garden) that understands its cultivation. My parents, also 

 Mrs. Chapman's, were all fond of their gardens, and consequently 

 when we were very little children we were induced to take as much 

 interest in flowers as our parents did, and I am happy to say Mrs. 

 Chapman may truly be calltd. as the old song says ' The Horticultural 

 Wife,' for she works, and takes as much interest in our garden as I 

 do, and I am pleased to say she is not the only lady in Llandudno 

 who is a great gardener, and a working gardener too, for my two good 

 neighbours, now present, take great interest in their gardens, aiid the 

 establishment of this Society, to which they have promised their sup- 



