Jann(U7 W, 1668. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOaLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



C9 



1)0 correct, M. Da Breuil woiild use tlie term cordon to express 

 tho spurreJ-in branches of any frnit tree. He does nothinf! 

 of the kind, bnt uses the term branch just as we do, as I could 

 prove to you from many passages in his works. Can you point 

 out any proof in his book that he invented tho terra to express 

 what we called " spurring-iu ? " The definition that you have 

 given of the term is most certainly an exceptional one, as may 

 bo seen from the highest as well as lowest French authorities. 

 In the instance which you give is it not stated that tho tree is 

 a,pal""'tleft« regards the /'mm .' In that case the term is used 

 in its exceptional sense ; and in the new and excellent edition 

 of Du Breuil which I now leave with you the name cordon 

 does not occur in connection with the large and compound 

 fonns. The simple truth is, that the French would no more 

 think of calling a tree rn cordon because it had spurred-iu 

 branches than wo should think of calling a revenue cutter a 

 frigate because both vessels happened to bo built of the same 

 Idnd of wood! The term was used long before Du Breuil's 

 day, and especially in connection with tho Vino trained after a 

 horizontal fashion, as expressed by JI. CarriC're, of the value 

 of whose definition in connection with tho present use of tho 

 term your readers may judge by his defining it as " every part 

 o{ a plant trained a little horizontally," whereas many of 

 M. Du Breuil's cordons are perfectly vertical, and perhaps tho 

 most popular form of all for walls is the oblique cordon. 



With regard to the gratuitous footnote in your last, in which 

 you offer me the meaning of the word conrsoii, I have merely 

 to remark that our correspondence has afforded me several 

 opportunities of forcibly indulging in that kind of " reasoning" 

 if I admired it, and to add that the cordon Peach trees in 

 Uvmdreds of French gardens have their side branches long and 

 eveiy one laid in ! Does not this alone prove the value of your 

 definition ? As accuracy is desirable in speaking of such 

 matters, I may add that this may be seen under glass in a long 

 Peach bouse in M. Hose Charmcaux's garden at Thomery, and 

 in the open air in Baron Rothschild's fruit garden at Ferriures. 

 — One of the Disputants. 



[We take the earliest opportunity of withdrawing the charge 

 we made in our last against our correspondent ot having un- 

 fairly quoted from M. Du Breuil's book just as much as suited 

 hia purpose. Our correspondent has sent us the last edition 

 of the book, dated 18G8, and there we find his quotation com- 

 plete and perfectly correct. Our quotation, equally correct, 

 was taken from the edition of 18(i0, and the edition of 1868 

 we had not then seen. The application, then, of the term 

 cordon, so far as M. Du Breuil is concerned, resolves itself 

 into an appeal "from Philip drunk to Philip sober." What 

 M. Du Breuil considered a cordon in 1844, 1850, and 18G0, he 

 considers something else in 1868; for there is no shadow of 

 doubt that, in this last edition of his book, he confines the 

 application of it entirely to those simplest forms of trees con- 

 sisting of a mere stem with spurs or coursons, and no ramifi- 

 cations on them, and the various kinds of which our correspon- 

 dent so accurately describes in his present communication. 

 Whatthenisto be done? Are we to abandon the idea we have 

 held for the last quarter of a century, and which was obtained 

 from LepOre and Du Breuil, and follov/ the latter in his new 

 nomenclature, or are we to hold fast by the old V For ourselves 

 we shall adhere to the old until we see M. Du Breuil himself 

 more decided in his application of the term than he even now is ; 

 forin this very edition he represents a tree, on page 346, with two 

 parallel diagonal cordons, which on page 345 he caUs an oblique 

 doxMc cordon tree. Then at page 480 {jig. 33G), in the illustra- 

 tion of his cordon uhliquc siiiqdc, he introduces a tree witli a 

 perpendicular stem and./'o«;- cordons upon it. If, then, M. Du 

 Breuil can so accommodate his meaning of the word as to make 

 it applicable to a tree of a single, a double, or even a greater 

 number of cordons, then we decline to accept his last definition 

 of a cordon, and fall back upon that much more rational and 

 comprehensible one of JI. Lepure and Jl. Carriere, which is 

 that cordons are the secondary branches pruned close, and of 

 which there may be as many on a tree as suits the convenience 

 or taste of the cultivator. 



In admitting tho douhlr cordon figured on page 34G as a cordon 

 tree, we are at a loss to conceive by what process of reasoning 

 can M. Du Breuil or his disciples refuse to admit a triple cordon 

 also in that class. And if he cannot reject the triple cordon, 

 how can he Umit the number of cordons a tree shall bear to 

 exclude it from being classed as a 'cordon tree ? 



But there is no reason why we should confine ourselves to 

 the French idea of what should constitute a cordon tree. The 

 word itself is good EngUsh, from a Welsh root, cordcn being 



the term in that aboriginal language having tho signification of 

 a rope or string ; and as there seems so indefinite an idea as 

 to what coiptitutes a French cordon tree, lot us have a nomen- 

 clature of our own, based on tho rational principle that a 

 cordon being a continuous simple branch issuing directly from 

 the stem, and close-pruned, trees trained on that principle can 

 be distinguished in specific terms by which each form may be 

 known. In our present number Mr. T. F. llivers has made a 

 very successful essay on the subject, and one which may be 

 accepted as sufficient for the purpose of fixing a cordon nomen- 

 clature.] 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Januaby 21. 



Floilil Cousiittee. — Tho exhibition of plauts on this occasion 

 was limiteil, but somo ot those produced wero of considerable interest. 

 Mr. Wiggiais, gardener to W. Beck, Ksq., of Isleworth, received a 

 siiei-ial certificate for a nomerous and most beautifal collection of 

 C'vclamcas, the strong robust plants composing which, though little 

 more than fourteen months old from tho seed, that having been sown 

 on the 14th of November, 186G, were profusely covered with large and 

 fiue tlowers. Mr. Wiggins is well known as a very successful cultivator 

 aud exhibitor of Cyclamens, aud fine as these were, we may expect 

 yet finer from him in the course of the spring. Some particulars as 

 to his system of managing this highly ornamental plant were given in 

 our pages in a notice of one ot the exhibitions in the early pai-t of last 

 year. A special certificate was also awarded to Mr. "Wiggins for a col- 

 lection of Chinese Primulas of a very fine strain. They were in 

 beautiful bloom, and some of tho flowers measured fully 2 inches in 

 diameter. 



From Mr. Salter, Versailles Nursery, Hammersmith, came a col- 

 lection of cut blooms of the new Japanese Chrysanthemums, which 

 have already been more than once noticed as exhibiting a variety of 

 curious forms, and which are likely to prove very useful for con- 

 servatory decoration, especially as they wUl yet continue in bloom for 

 six weeks. In colour the blooms sent were white, yellow, bronze, 

 aud lilac. A special certificate was awarded for the collection. A 

 similar award was made to Messrs. V. & A. Smith for a collection 

 of Tricolored Pelargoniums. Mr. Wills, Huntroyde Park Gardens, 

 also sent a small basket of Ecunty of Calderdale, which though good 

 for (his season, was not iu a condition to show its full beauty. It was 

 accompanied by the following note ; — " My object in sending the plants 

 up at this early season is to show the value of the Bronze and Gold 

 Zonal Pelargoniums for consenatory decoration during the winter 

 months. The plants sent will show bow well they keep their colour 

 during the dull season of tho year. For the last three months they 

 b.ive had scarcely three hours' sunshine on them. Some large plants 

 I have of Beauty of Kibbledale, Beauty of Calderdale, Perilla, Model, 

 Her Majesty, and many others have been fiowering veiT freely all 

 through the winter ; the flowers they produce are of fine shape and 

 substance, and the trusses large and of fine outline. When we take 

 into consideration the beauty of the fohage and the richness of the 

 flower as well, and their adaptabiUty for winter decoration, I think it 

 wdl he admitted by all that they are a most valuable class of plants, 

 suitable aUke for "bedding-out purposes in the summer, and for con- 

 servatory decoration in summer or winter. Fvou the winter store- 

 house may be made to assume a very gay and neat appearance by 

 judiciously intei-mixing the Silver Tricolor aud Ught and dark green 

 Zonal Pelargoniums with these beautiful varieties. I have no donbt 

 the Bronze aud Gold Pelargoniums will be vei7 extensively used for 

 all of the above-named purposes as soon as they become more generally 

 known." 



Mr. Green, gardener to W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., received a special 

 certificate for a small but verj- interesting collection ot rare plants, 

 including Mouacanthus Henchmauui, from Bahia, with yciy singularly- 

 shaped greenish yellow flowers ; Goodyera discolor, with seven very 

 ornamental spikes of flower ; Oncidinm abortivnm, a botanical curi- 

 osity ; Coburgia trichroma, figured and described in the "Botanical 

 M.agazine " of the present month, by no means a new jilaut, however, 

 though rarely seen ; likewise a very ornamental Adiantum from Brazil, 

 aud Authuiiiim species from Bahia, with glossy leaves '.) inches in 

 length by 6 in width at tho broadest part, and of which the foUage 

 is even more ornamental in a younger slate, having then a coppery 

 hue. Messrs. Backhouse, of York, bad a special certificate for a small 

 collection of Orchids, consisting of Odontoglossnm Hallii from the 

 Andes of Ecuador, with richly blotched flowers ; La'lia albida, 

 Odontoglossum nebulosum, very pretty, white spotted with brown ; and 

 the little bright-coloured O. roseum. Mr. Slandish, of the Koyal 

 Nurseries, Ascot, sent two well-bloomcd specimens of Loilia furfuracea ; 

 aud Mr. Sherratt, gardener to J. Bateman, Esq., Knjqiersley, a very 

 fine aud beautifully coloured cut spike of Eeuanthera coccinea ; also 

 Ipsea speciosa, from Ceylon. For these a special certificate was 

 awarded, and one was .also given to Mr. Hodges, gardener to E. Wright, 

 Esq., Gravelly HUl, Bii-mingham, for a small coUectiou of cut Orchids. 

 The same exhibitor also received a first-class certificate for LicUa 

 anceps Dawsoni, a fine variety. 



Mr. F. E. Kingborn. Sheen Nursery, Richmond, again sent the 

 Japanese Juniper and Thuja, from Nagasaki, which had been shown 



