March 26, 1868. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICOLTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



235 



up and replanted, say in March, will the following season be a 

 mass of blossom buds, and destroy itself by overbearing. I 

 have iinder my eye a border some 14 feet wide and upwards 

 of 100 yards long, planted with bush Pear trees, one thousand 

 in number. They are about 18 inches in height, were planted 

 last llarch, and now every tree is a mass of blossom buds. 



I must confess that my love for bush fruit trees increases 

 annually. I admire a fine well-managed pyramid, of which I 

 have a goodly number, but there is here a great evil attending 

 their culture. Our Atlantic gales or westerly winds which blow 

 over the whole surface of our little island of Great Britain with 

 such intensity, and are unknown in the interior of the con- 

 tinent, are terrible disturbers of pyramidal Pears on the Quince 

 stock, as these do not root deeply. I have some, now twenty- 

 five years old, which if they were not supported by a stout prop 

 on the eastern side of the tree would be nearly prostrated. These 

 necessary props are hateful in my sight. A bush tree however 

 old and loaded with fruit is never disturbed. I ought to add 

 for the comfort of those who have planted pyramids, that those 

 I allude to are planted in an exposed place with no sheltering 

 hedge or wall. 



With regard to the distance from each other that bush trees 

 should be planted, the matter is quite worthy of consideration; 

 very fortunately I am able to throw some light on the question, 

 owing to my having some plantations of bush Pear and Apple 

 trees from ten to fifteen years old. In another place I have 

 recommended a sort of nursery fruit garden, the trees, Apple 

 bushes on the Paradise, to be planted 3 feet apart ; or in case 

 the plan were carried out extensively by market gardeners, to 

 plant the required number of stocks, 1810 per acre, and to 

 graft them. 



It is now six years since I carried out the idea by planting 

 one hundred Cox's Orange Pippin Apple trees on the English 

 Paradise, 3 feet apart, row from row, and 3 feet apart in 

 the rows, intending to carry out my suggestion of removing 

 every alternate tree at the end of seven years, and after the 

 lapse of a few more years to remove every alternate row so as 

 to I'eave the trees G feet apart as the permanent distance. I 

 have just looked over this plantation, and find that the trees 

 that have been twice lifted are compact and will soon be perfect 

 nosegays of blossom. They may to a certainty remain two more 

 years before there will be any necessity to remove every alter- 

 nate tree to a fresh plantation. This will make a period of 

 eight years in which they have remained 3 feet apart with- 

 out being crowded, bo that I was quite correct in my sugges- 

 tion that bush trees could be planted at the above distance 

 with a good result. I ought to mention that this close plant- 

 ing is better adapted for very small gardens, and for market 

 gardeners who would wish to have their ground occupied with 

 fruit trees without any intermediate crop. 



I ought to tell everything pertaining to my experimental 

 plantation, and must refer to one row of trees in it. These 

 have been lifted only once, they are full of blossom buds, but 

 are double the size of the others, and must be thinned-out next 

 autumn by removing every alternate tree. In another plan- 

 tation of bush Apple trees, four hundred in number, sixteen 

 years old ; and in a plantation of bush Pear trees, five hundred 

 in number, ten years old, the trees are i feet apart in the 

 rows, and 4 feet apart row from row, and this I believe to be 

 the proper distance to plant bush trees in gardens, unless it is 

 wished to crop between the rows and to allow the trees to grow 

 without being occasionally lifted, aud then d feet will be the 

 most eligible distance. 



The mode I have adopted with the above plantations is to 

 lift any tree that seems inclined to grow vigorously, and not 

 show symptoms of bearing, leaving those that grow more slowly 

 unmoved for three, four, or more years, or till they are inclined 

 to make growth rather than fruit. I have reason to believe, 

 from long observation, that the occasional removal of garden 

 fruit trees tends greatly to their well-doing in this country ; or, 

 as a pomological friend writes from the north of England, it is 

 the " life and soul of fruit culture." With some kinds of trees 

 and in some soils root-pruning without lifting is equally eftica- 

 cions ; but while writing the above I have had in my mind 

 only such fibrous-rooted trees as Pears on Quince stocks, 

 Apples on English Paradise Stocks, and Plums. 



It may give some gleam of comfort to " C. C. E." to be told 

 that in 1866 I had but a scanty crop of Cox's Orange Pippin 

 on my bush trees, aud in 1867 not a single fruit. They were 

 masses of blossom, but the frost of May •2.5th destroyed all. 

 The scourge was so efiectual that, although I have in some, 

 seasons had from two to three hundred bushels of Stnrmer Pip- 



pins, last year not a fruit was gathered ; in fact, I never saw one. 

 It is very charming and hopeful to see the fruit trees this season 

 so crowded with blossom buds ; but alas ! we must bear with 

 our uncertain but healthy climate, the glittering blossoms may 

 and probably the greater portion of them will, be cut oS. One 

 seems almost to envy the climate of the French gardeners, who, 

 towards the south-western districts of France, have but httle 

 anxiety about their fruit crops. 



With respect to diagonal cordon training on wire fences, the 

 height of 4 feet is given as the minimum, to be increased ac- 

 cording to position. Here it seems to be a pleasant height for 

 the cross walks in the interior of a garden, as it does not in- 

 terrupt the view. For a boundary in any convenient place, 

 8, or even 10, feet is not too high. I am a great lover of fruit- 

 tree culture in all its modes. I delight in all the cordons, ex- 

 cept the single lateral, which now always seems to me incom- 

 plete, and I feel a mischievous tendency to paiaphrase Pope, 

 and say, Each branch should have its brother ; but my great 

 and increasing love is for bush Pear trees on the Quince stock, 

 ditto Apples on the Paradise, and Plums, they are all so easily 

 managed, and their blossoms protected. The trees, as is well 

 known, have no leaves while in bloom — give them leaves in the 

 shape of dry hay or branches of evergreens. 



If " C. C. E." would kindly give the nature of his soil and 

 subsoil, aud the site of his plantation, whether high or low, 

 also whether he lives north, east, south, or west from London, 

 he would add much to the value of his communication. — Thos. 

 Rivers. 



WHY ARE AURICULAS NEGLECTED ■;• 



As a lover of the Auricula, and one of that select few who 

 grow the flower, I think I have a just cause of complaint against 

 our two great Societies for the manner in which it has been 

 this year treated. Some few years ago it was becoming almost 

 an unknown flower. About the metropolis there were a few 

 who grew it. The mantle of poor John Dickson, of Acre Lane, 

 had fallen upon Charles Turner, of Slough. Mr. Butcher, o£ 

 Camberwell, and others still retained their love for it, though 

 General Tom Thumb and other vulgarities had so pushed 

 Auriculas on one side, that people were almost ashamed to 

 acknowledge that they grew a collection of them ; but the spring 

 exhibitions of the Royal Horticultural and Royal Botanic So- 

 cieties once more introduced them into notice. The prizes 

 offered were indeed small, but they acted just as a suflicient 

 stimulus to induce growers to come forward. We had our 

 boxes made for bringing the plants up to the exhibition, and we 

 were rewarded by seeing the interest shown by nearly every 

 one who took the trouble to examine them. Then we had the 

 National Exhibition of Auriculas, which brought together 

 growers from north, south, east, and west, and for many years 

 such a sight had not been seen in London. Well do I remem- 

 ber the unfeigned astonishment of the visitors, who asked 

 what could these flowers possibly be. And I do not wonder at 

 it. There is no flower at all like them. There is a refinement, 

 a richness of colouring, and quaintness of appearance about 

 them, that must, I think, strike everyone who has not pre- 

 viously seen them. For myself, I know there is no richer 

 treat in the whole floral year than a good look at acoUectiou of 

 Auriculas, whether in my own garden or elsewhere. 



I was hoping that the Auricula was about to take its place 

 as an exhibition flower ; but I turn to the schedules of the two 

 great Societies, and alas ! all my hopes are disappointed. The 

 Royal Horticultural Society otiers prizes for them on May 9th, 

 it I read the schedule aright, while the Royal Botanic Society's 

 Spring Show is fixed for March 'ilst. It would have been im- 

 possible to have fixed two dates which would more thoroughly 

 exclude the flower than these. Of course there may be reasons, 

 and sufficient ones, for these arrangements, but they are not 

 the less to be deplored ; while in the case of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Societv it seems to be a piece of bad arrangement, 

 for there is a Show to be held on April 18th, which is about 

 the time they are in bloom. When the National Exhibition 

 was held on April 30th, it was then found that for the south- 

 ern growers it was all too late, and yet now they are expected 

 to come forward on May 9th ! What the result will be 

 it will not be difficult to tell. In an immense collection like 

 that of Mr. Turner, of Slough, there will, of course, always be 

 found some in bloom at almost any time from the middle of 

 March to the middle of Mav ; but he, I venture to say, wiU be 

 the only exhibitor. Amateurs will, I fear, bo excluded alto- 

 gether, and thus the encouragement given is now withdrawn. 



