Ddcomber 8, 1868. ] 



JOOBNAL OF HORTlCOIiTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



417 



left for three years without any interference with their rootB, 

 this plantation cannot be coneidered as fairly repretenting the 

 resnlta of biennial lifting. 



" In another plantation of 3-12 mixed fruit trees, nearly all 

 were lifted last winter, having stood two years. They bloomed 

 finely, and, book in hand, 1 daily noted their peculiarities— 

 continuance in bloom, appearing of leaf ; size, position of bloom, 

 &c., and, in fact, counted the chickens which were never 

 hatched. Frosts came and destroyed some sorts. That did 

 not matter, there were others to bloom, and eventually there 

 was every appearance of an abundant crop after the frost had 

 departed ; and as long as my water supply lasted the engine 

 worked and defied the drought on the half of the plantation 

 which it commanded ; but when water failed us the trees had 

 no strength to continue their efforts, and the crop dropped off, 

 leaving only a few odd fruits here and there — for example, 

 eight trees of Kivers's Early Prolific i'lum ripened twenty- 

 seven fruit, and twelve of Jiiamond forty-two fruit. These 

 were by far the most prolific of any ; two medium-sized school- 

 boys ate the whole produce of more than fifty trees without 

 any apparent effort or inconvenience. Benrtf giis d'Amboise, 

 a Pear whose leaves precede, and so protect its blossoms, bore 

 a fair crop, whilst all the trees not lifted, seven BeurrO de Ca- 

 pfaumont and forty-five Apples, had good fruit for their 

 diminutive size. 



" And now we pass to another mixed plantation of seventy- 

 one trees, mostly on Pear and Crab stocks, two years old, and 

 mostly lifted a la Jiiiers last winter. These are in a worse 

 plight than those on the Quince and Paradise ; many have 

 been in cj-trcmis, fome are not sale now. No tree that was 

 lifted matured a fruit, but of the sixteen not lifted two did 

 well. A Beurre Clairgeau produced sixteen fruit, weighing I 

 ItJ lbs. This tree is 4 feet 1 incli high (measuring to the last 

 jiruuing), and ou the Quince stock ; the other, a Beurre de ! 

 Capiaumont, 4 feet 3 inches high, on the Crab, produced sixty j 

 very handsome fruit, and is, in fact, the most perfect pyramid 

 that I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. 



" My garden of fruit trees is about two acres iu extent, and 

 faces south. If ' CoKNUiuA ' desires more particulars of my 

 arrangements for watering than are to be fo\md in page 'Jill, to 

 which he refers, I will gladly give him any information privately 

 through Ihe Editors. I lefrain from saying more on that 

 subject, because my method, though suited to my particular 

 location, is not capable of general application. 



" My ' additional experience ' has fully confirmed my previous 

 conclusiuD, that it is a mistake to dwarf trees so much as to 

 confine them to one square yard. I regard it as an interesting 

 horticultural teat, and if they were to prove productive even 

 proportionately to their size, taking one year with another, I 

 would ttrm it a triumph ; but when once the idea of sub- 

 stantial produce is contemplated, my expeiience teaches me 

 that such dwarfing is an absurdity. 



" And now may I be pardoned a few more general remaiks. 

 Since last my initials appeared in these pages I have had the 

 great pleasure of making the personal acpiaintance and re- 

 ceiving the known hospitality of Mr. Eivers, who, with the 

 most friendly courtesy, showed me over his extensive gardens 

 and nurseries. I confess my first ' point ' was his planta- 

 tion of eight year-old Cox's Orauge Pippins, which I viewed 

 with curiosity and a satisfaction free from envy ; but I could 

 not help remembering the remark of a rustic, when a few 

 weeks previously we witnessed in a circus the extraordinary 

 performances of a child fome eight or ten years old, ' Zur,' he 

 said, ' that's a strange bairn, that be, for a young un, but he 

 weant never grow up worth nowt.' Next, having read of Mr. 

 Rivera's recent triumph, I went with much interest to his 

 Cherry orchard house, and had I travelled from Lincolnshire 

 for that express purpose, I should have felt amply repaid by 

 the sight ; nor did my satisfaction end here, for having fully 

 Batisfied the most capacious fruit appetite, I could perceive no 

 sensible diminution in the crop. 1 shall not attempt to describe 

 the mar.y things of interest to be seen at Sawbridgeworth, but 

 cannot help noticing the endless acres of beautiful clean-grown 

 young fruit trees, enough to provoke any one to embark in their 

 cultivation, but will conclude with a remark or two which this 

 last season's experience suggests. 



" I consider that every bush or pyramid requires lifting in the 

 second year after planting, that its roots may be set in order 

 once for all ; the long straggling roots without rootlets save at 

 the extremities, which I find are produced in all soils, no 

 matter how rich, being cut back quite home. After this I 

 liouli never lift again, but check over-luxuriant growth by root- 



pruning, first on one side, and then on the other. This does 

 not give the tree so great a check as to endanger the succeeding 

 crop. The earlier this is done in the autumn after the leaves 

 begin to drop the better. My present method of planting is 

 to place the trees (i feet apart each way in quincunx order, to 

 dig a trench between the rows from left to right one year, and 

 from right to left the next ; thus two sides of each tree are 

 accessible, and the roots cut if necessary every season ; and the 

 trench being filled in and well manured a good crop of Lettuces 

 or other vegetable is obtained, aud no ground wasted. Mean- 

 while the trees are encouraged to grow as much as they will, 

 consistently with the production of short- jointed wood, and fruit 

 spurs. In time they will entirely occupy the ground, leaving, of 

 course, no room for rows of vegetables, and thus I have every 

 confidence in the success of bush fruit-tree culture. I now 

 again remind my readers that lam a learnerand not a teacher ; 

 I simply state the results of my experience and tha conclusions 

 they have led mo to, and until I have learnt something very 

 different from what I now believe, there will bo no more 

 biennial removals perpetrated by— C. C. E."] 



BARBAUEA VULGARIS VAUIEGATA. 



Some of the readers of the .Journal who are in the habit of 

 furnishing their flower beds in winter with evergreen plants 

 and other odds and ends, may not be aware of the highly 

 ornamental appearance of this old herbaceous plant during 

 that season. 



It is the single yellow Eocket in a variegated form, the 

 leaves being beautifully blotched and marbled with white. It 

 presents one of the most notable instances with which I am 

 acquainted of the unvarying reproduction of variegation by 

 seed. In a large bed of it, which I sowed last spring, not a 

 single green-leaved plant could be found. 



To have it fit for planting in October, seed should be sown 

 about the end of March, somewhat thinly, as every one will 

 vegetate, and, if necessary, the plants sliould afterwards be 

 thinned out to 6 inches apart. When transferred to the flower 

 garden good balls should be taken with them, otherwipe the 

 leaves are apt to assume for some time a rather brownish hue. 

 Two-year-old plants are, however, better than these. After 

 they have flowered and the stems have been cut away, they 

 throw up a profusion of nearly white leaves in autumn, which, 

 under any circumstances, except looking up among the snow, 

 have a very attractive appearance. 



It seeds as freely as any other Cress, so freely, indeed, that 

 if not cut over in time it becomes rather a nuisance, the little 

 piebtld seedlings coming up everywhere, even ou the hard 

 gravel walks. When and where it originated I have never 

 learned, but it is an old plant, and common enough in many 

 cottage gardens, although very seldom met with elsewhere; 

 nor do 1 ever recollect seeing it mentioned iu any seedsman's 

 catalogue. — Aykshike Gardener. 



TRENTHAM BI-ACK GEAPE, 



Seeikg your remarks in page 389 with regard to the keeping 

 qualities of this Grape not being equal to those of the Black 

 Hamburgh, and as my experience is somewhat different, I will 

 state it. I have four'rods ot it full of fruit at the present time. 

 Four years ago I found this Vine, as well as others, not in a very 

 flourishing state, the roots being confined to the inside of the 

 house, owing to the arches having been built up. As soon as 

 I could I had the arches cleared out, and commenced making a 

 new border, so as to encourage the Vine root< outside. The 

 result is, at the present time tlie Vines are in splendid health, 

 and bearing fine crops of Mu.-cat of Alexandria, Muscat Ham- 

 burgh, and Trentham Black Grapes. 



Now to return to the Vmes four years ago, when confined 

 to the inside of the houte. In the following summer, being 

 desirous of housing as good Grapes as possible under the cir- 

 cumstances, the inside border received copious supplies of 

 liquid manure from the cow yard, and the Vines improved very 

 much, the Grapes swelling as well as could be desired, the 

 Trentham Black being fine. To make sure of a good " finish," 

 more strong water was given just as the Grapes began to colour ; 

 the result was that the Treutham Black went as you have de- 

 scribed. Bought experience, however, is generally useful ; 

 therefore in the following season the Vines were tieated the 

 same as in the previous year up to the time of stor ing, when 

 water was completely withheld from the Trentham Black, and 



