12 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULXUBE AND COTTAGE GAfiDENEB. 



[ Juljr 4, 186§. 



synonymous continental word, and it certainly is produced 

 by manipulation. Both shoots will be allowed to extend to 

 15 inches, and be stopped back to about 12 inches. At Mon- 

 treuil about 14 inches is the general rule. 



Many prmiers abjure summer stopping altogether, which is 

 a great error, and the cause of overgi-owth and weakness iu the 

 tree. The winter shortening is immense and needless, because 

 it is well known that the buds of the lower portion of each 

 shoot can be reaililj distinguished in .June, and a good guess 

 then made as to their (juality. If the lower buds be then pro- 

 minent, and well established, what need can there be for any 

 superfluous length of shoot beyond them? But, let us sup- 

 pose A and I) to make a good summer growth, and to have been 

 stopped at 12 inches, as seen in Jiji. 11, and then to have made 

 an additional second growth, which is only of use so far as it 

 occupies the supernbundixut sap. During the season they will 

 have been secured to the wall, avoiding enclosing any leaves, at 

 the proper angle, and if weak it is proper to raise them some- 

 what more. At the winter pruning, when the leaves have 

 dropped, they will look much like //;/. 11. e Eepresents the 

 original shoot, now called a spur. 



It will now be proper to consider which shoot should be pre- 

 served long for fniit, and which cut back for a replacing-shoot. 

 In Jiff. 12 it is supposed that b has been found, by reason of its 

 groups of triple buds, to be the best, and therefore it is cut 

 down to above the second group of triple buds. Many primers, 

 however, would have left it half as long again. Some retain 

 thereby space for a couple of fruit. This may be done when 

 there is generally little fruit on the tree, or if the tree have few- 

 shoots. A Is cut down to two good wood-buds for a succession ; 

 the long shoot n is attached closely to the waD at rather an 

 acute angle w ith the branch. The spur e continues to preserve 

 its original form. These simple operations complete the year's 

 work ; great care having been taken, by syiinging copiously, 

 &c., the leaves during the summer, so as to keep down insects 

 and favour growth. Practical Peaeh-pruners, such as Mr. Kad- 

 clyffe, continually tell us this. 



At the fourth summer, in firj. 13 we see that the original 

 shoots A and ii are still the basis of the work in hand, a From 

 its two wood-bnds puts forth two summer shoots c and d, 

 which are likewise stopped at 12 inches, and make a second 

 growth. B Now- bears a fruit at v, and the wood-bud accom- 

 panying the fniit extends a little, and is pinched in at three or 

 four leaves. The terminal group sends forth another shoot 

 from its central bud, and this is also pinched to three leaves. 

 These two small shoots are amply sufficient to attract sap to 

 the fruit below them, and this is their use. It will be observed 

 that the fruit grow-s in this case on the lowest triple group, 

 which is always the best to select. Should the shoot b have 

 been laid in at much greater length than here shown, and dis- 

 budding the intervening buds be practised (as so many do, 

 some leaving only the bud accompanying the fruit, and another 

 at the base to succeed), then it can only be considered an un- 

 natural and useless custom. Moreover, some of the very best 

 practical pruners agi-ee that it is not proper to depend on the 

 same shoot to bear fruit and to produce a replacing-shoot for 

 the next season. It cannot be depended on, and requires far 

 more attention iu bending the shoot at just the proper time 

 than the present plan. If this bending down of the shoot is 

 omitted it will be blind the following year. The new shoots 

 c and D are treated as before described, and if neatly secured 

 to the wall will not present any confused or crowded appear- 

 ance. 



At the fourth winter pnining either of the shoots c and n are 

 selected according to their character. Supposing d, the lower 

 shoot, to be selected as the fruit-bearer, it is cut above the 

 second or thh-d group of buds as before ; c, the npper shoot, 

 then becomes that destined to produce the two new succession- 

 shoots, and is accordingly cut back to two wood-buds. The 

 upper portion of the original spur E, together with the whole 

 of the shoot B, are now- cut away as smoothly as pos.sible, 

 leaving the whole as it appears in ft'f/. 14. By this time one or 

 more buds will have appeared at the base of original spur e, 

 and these it developed will form the basis of future work. 

 Should several appear, one at least should be closely pinched 

 iu, so as to form a cluster-spur, and thereby increase the chance 

 of fruit. 



There arc several other ways of managing the shoots, but 

 none better than this one, nor in reality more simple. Some 

 manage to work with altei-nate shoots. Others dispense even 

 with this, and are content mth single ones. Much overlying 

 of ahoot and branch and considerable winter amputations are 



the consequences. Long pruning on the whole wastes the 

 vitality of the tree by producing much needless wood. All 

 recent experience points to a modification of this system, which 

 shall form my next subject. — T. Brehaut, Richmond House, 

 Guenuiey. 



THE I^TE DUKI': OF DEVONSHIPiE AND SLR 

 JOSEl'H PAXTON. 



Asorr twenty years ago, by the direction of the late Duke of 

 Devonshire, I copied the following fi-om the original in his 

 Grace's handwriting : — 



" Joseph Paxton was boi-n the 3rd of August, 1803. I made 

 his acquaintance at the Horticultural Society's Garden at Chis- 

 wick, where he was placed in 1823. He was chiefly employed 

 then in training the creepers and newly introduced plants on 

 the walls there, which first excited my attention ; and being in 

 want of a gardener at Chatsworth, I .'isked Mr. Sabine, who 

 was then at the head of the establishment, whether he thought 

 that yoimg man would do ? He said, ' Young and untried,' but 

 spoke so favourably that I had no doubt. 



" The yoimg man had made a large lake in 1822 at Sir 

 Gregory Page Turner's place near Woburu. He came to Chats- 

 w-orth in 1826. You shall have it in liis own words : ' I left 

 Loudon by the Comet coach for Chesterfield, and arrived at 

 Chatsworth at half-past four o'clock in the morning of the 9th 

 of May, 1820. As no person was to be seen at that early hour 

 I got over the greenhouse gate by the old covered way, explored 

 the pleasiu'e-grounds, and looked round the outside of the 

 house. I then went down to the kitchen gai-don, scaled the 

 outside wall, and saw the whole of the place, set the men to 

 work there at six o'clock ; then returned to Chatsworth, and got 

 Thomas Weldon to play me the waterworks, and afterwards 

 went to breakfast with poor dear Mrs. Gregory and her niece : 

 the latter fell in love with me, and I w-ith her, and thu.s com- 

 pleted my first morning's work, at Chatsworth, before nine 

 o'clock.' 



" He man-ied Miss Sarah Bow-n in 1827. In a very short 

 time a great change appeared in pleasure-ground and garden : 

 vegetables of which there had been none, fruit in perfection, 

 and flowers. Twelve men with brooms in their hands on the 

 lawn began to sweep, the labourers to work with activity. The 

 kitchen garden was so low and exposed to floods from the river, 

 that I supposed the first wish of the new gardener would be to 

 remove it to some other place, but he made it answ-er. In 1829 

 the management of the woods w-as entrusted to him, and 

 gradually they were rescued from a prospect of destruction. 

 Not till 1832 did I take to caring for my plants in earnest. 

 The old greenhouse was converted into a stove, the greenhouse 

 at the garden.s was built, the Arboretum was invented and 

 formed. Then started up Orchidace», and three successive 

 houses were built to receive the increasing niunbers. 



" In 183.5 the intelligent gardener John Gibson was despatched 

 to India to obtain the Amherstia nobihs and other treasures of 

 the East. The colossal new Conser\'atory was invented and 

 begim in 1836 ; the following year Baron Ludwig was so 

 charmed with its conception, that he stripped his garden at the 

 Cape of the rarest produce of Afi-ica. Paxton had now been 

 employed in the superintendence and foi-mation of my roads : 

 he made one tour with me to the West of England, and in 1838 

 contrived to accompany me for an enth-e year abroad, iu which 

 time, having gone through Switzerland and Italy, he trod iu 

 Greece, Turkey. Asia Minor, Malta, Spain, and Portugal. In 

 absence he managed that no progress should be checked at 

 home. A great calamity ruined the expedition he had set on 

 foot to California ; the unfortunate Wallace and Banks, young 

 gardeners from Chatsw-oi-th, having been drowned in Columbia 

 river. He went with me in 1840 to Lismore, and in that year 

 the Conservatory w-as finished. The vUlage of Edousor was 

 new-modelled and rebuilt between 1839 and 1841, and the 

 crowning works have been the fountains and the rock-garden." 



After I had copied what precedes. I inquired of the Duke if 

 he knew the amount of wages Paxton was receiv-ing from the 

 Hoi-ticultiu-al Society in 1823 ? the answer was, " Only 18.<;. 

 a-week, as I was informed by Mr. Sabine." As I knew that 

 the Duke of Devonshire (by whom I had been most kindly 

 aided for the last eighteen years) would not be offended by the 

 question, I asked what wages he had liimself given the "young 

 and untried " gardener in the first instance ? and his reply was, 

 " I think 25.S. a-week, and a cottage." Of com-se, his Grace 

 afterwards rapidly advanced Paxton's wages ; and eight or ten 



