216 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. : September 12, 1865. 



operated on. It is ueces.sary to aUow every .shoot to make the 

 growth indicated— that is, at least or 8 inches, before arrest- 

 ing Its progress. By this means the ojieration is not done all 

 at one time, which might otherwise produce too abrupt a check 

 111 the circulation of the tree, and cause it to lose too much 

 sap, thereby inducing subsequent gumming. 



By the time these shoots are thus stopped they will have 

 attained a certain woody firmness, and we may expect that 

 some of the eyes situ.ated at the base of the shoots will become 

 weU formed. By suspending the vegetation, and concentratin<» 

 the action of the summer sap on these eyes, " either the rudi"- 

 ments of flower-buds or Hay clusters may be constituted but 

 no premature laterals be thrown out." 



Soon after this stopping, a second growth is made from the 

 extreme bud of the shoot. This new growth is allowed to make 

 8 inches of gi-owth {this takes us to about the end of .June) 

 then, if at this time the eyes at the base are well constituted! 

 the second or new growth is cut back to about half way. 



At the winter pruning the shoot is cut down to the second 

 group of triple buds from the base. The next season these 

 groups wiU bear, and the effect of this winter close-pruning is 

 that the latent buds at the insertion of the shoot develope 

 themselves, and thus form succession shoots. That which has 



A^f '? ""'^ ''"* °"'' ""'^ ^ ^'■''^^ ^^"^ ^'^0°' t'^1"^'* its I'lace. 



All these operations presuppose, of course, that the buds at 

 the base of the original shoot were sufficiently developed bv the 

 effec_t of the first operations described ; but, should they appear 

 neither well formed nor prominent, the shoot should be cut 

 back below the point where it was first pinched several successive 

 times during July, so as to concentrate the sap upon the lowest 

 bud.s, and form them. This is the part of the method which 

 requires the greatest amount of experience and attention, 

 l-ossibly one single cutting-back may suffice, but with trees of 

 strong growth, or badly balanced, some portions mif'ht need 

 frequent operations. In short, the object bemg to form and 

 strengthen the eyes at the base of the shoot, aU the attention 

 of the pruner should be directed to attain this end. 



All these operations were carefully tried this season on my 

 own Peach trees in the open air, and no mention having beeii 

 made of the necessity of tying-in the shoots (which in England 

 at least would seem to be necessary), it was foimd that the two 

 or three extreme buds of the shoots generaUy sent forth short 

 laterals (owing, m a great measure, to their vertical position, 

 they bemg untied), but that the eves of the lower portions of 

 the shoot were well formed. Cutting back bevond the first 

 stopping (which stopping was done at inches as soon as 

 J inches of growth were made) is a valuable plan, and very 

 useful m regulating the growth of the whole side of the tree. 



This modification of close pruning has been introduced here 

 for the sake of completing our description of the subject, and 

 to show that there exists more than one form of the system. 

 It also proves the interest excited in the matter, and is sugges- 

 tive m itself of further improvements. Being the very latest 

 continental experience it is also of value. — T. C. Beehact. 



YORKSHIRE HERO TEA. 



The correspondent who made inquiry in your .Journal re- 

 Bpecting the merits of the above-named" Pea, will not require 

 to grow it if he grows Veitch's Perfection, which is, on the 

 whole, by far the better Pea of the two. 



I grew the Yorkshire Hero this season alongside of Veiteh's 

 Perfection. The Hero grew considerably dwarfer, shorter in 

 the pod, and its bearing season was much shorter than that of 

 Perfection. The size of the peas was about equal, and as re- 

 gards flavour there was not much difference. 



Veiteh's Perfection, Champion of England, and Dickson's 

 Favourite, are three varieties of Pea difficult to beat for general 

 purposes.— John Edlikgton, Wrotham Park. 



LILIUM LANCIFOLIUIM .^nd LILIUM AURATUM 

 AS HARDY BORDER BULBS. 

 Will you inform me whether the Lilium am-atum would 

 be likely to succeed in the open air ? I planted three bulbs 

 of Lilium lancifolium in an open border in the autumn of 

 1863, protecting them in the winter with coal ashes. Last 

 year they sent up six shoots, and had more than sixty flowers on 

 them altogether, and this year there are nine shoots, with about 

 seventy flowers. I get about four weeks' bloom, and the flowers 



are quite as fine as those usually seen in a greenhouse. I 

 imagine that Lilium auratum would succeed with similar treat- 

 ment. If no one has at present tried it I woiUd let you know 

 the result.— J.\iiES Snow Whall, Worksop. 



[The Lilium auratum we consider as likely to endure the 

 winter imder the same treatment as that you bentowed on 

 L. lancifolium. They are both natives of Japan. We .are not 

 aware that any one has hitherto tried the experiment — Eds.] 



MY PLANTS, 



AND HOW AND WHERE I FOUND THEM.— No. 9. 



As a sort of counterpoise to the inequality of the growth of 

 the Hart's-tongue in the two counties mentioned in my last 

 I may remark that I rarely met with the Hard Fem in Nor- 

 folk, and those few specimens which I did obtain were small 

 and impoverished ; whereas in Staffordshire, about Free Hay, 

 Cheadle Common, &c., and also upon the banks of the Dart 

 and other parts of Devonshire it grows most freely, its lux- 

 uriant and beautiful male and female fronds forming a contrast 

 to the Ferns aroimd it. A very local Fem is found plentifully 

 in North Stafl'ordshii'e — I allude to the Oiihioglossum vulgatum. 

 Its leafy frond and tapering spike is not very easily discerned 

 by the passer-by, particularly as it is often found side by side 

 with the Twayblade, the same loamy soil being necessary to 

 both plants. On a bank at Lower Tean, near Heybridge House, 

 overshadowed by trees, I first saw the Adder's-tongiie. On 

 malcing a second visit to the place a few days afterwards I was 

 some time ere I could again come upon the plants, so much 

 concealed w-ere they by the grass and shrubs with which the 

 bank was covered. In the same spot grew the Herb Paris and 

 the Equisetum sylvaticum. In Mr. Moore's invaluable little 

 book of " British Ferns," Cheadle and Farley are given as 

 localities for the Botrychium lunaria. I have vainly at present 

 sought for it in both these places. In meadows near Cheadle 

 and at Oakamoor the Adder's-tongue is quite common ; and 

 I am told that some few years since children were sent out by 

 their parents to gather the leaves of it to be made into oint- 

 ment for a family medicament. Another small hai-vest for 

 the chil(h-en is the Coltsfoot gathering. In March and April 

 little ones of aU ages are trespassing over ploughed fields in 

 search of the leafless yellow flowers. When collected they are 

 made into beer and wine, the former after the fashion of our 

 ginger-beer. Another plant very common in this coimty, 

 which was uiilaiown to me before my residence in it, is the 

 AlchemiUa vulgaris. Lady's Mantle. I have a specimen more 

 than a foot in height ; but generally it grows much shorter, 

 and with its green flowers is not very easily distinguished by 

 the iminitiated from the grass by which it is surrounded. I 

 recently saw in a friend's garden a ver}' pretty and useful 

 edging formed of this plant. It made a neat and compact 

 border, and, both flower and foliage being green, it does not 

 distract the eye from the brighter groups within its limits. 



I think one of the most glorious days, as far as regarded 

 additions to my femeiy, was that on which we drove from 

 Tean, through Oakamoor, and so on to the Wever Hills. Lime- 

 stone hiUs they are, rising 1150 feet above the sea. Miles and 

 miles away one sees these three conical eminences covered 

 with fine short grass, and in many places almost peiqiendicular. 

 Woe to the too eager botanist who unguardedly commences 

 hurrying after some newly discovered plant. Great caution is 

 necessary in botanising upon their sides. From the summit 

 of one of them a splendid view is obtained of EUastone and 

 other villages in the beautiful valley beneath. The sun was 

 pouring a flood of that purple and golden evening light over 

 the valley as we were quitting the hills, and I never beheld 

 anything which would carry one's thoughts more immediately 

 to the portals of "Jerusalem the golden" than that scene. 

 The mistiness and indistinctness of the sm-rounding objects, 

 the line of light on the river in the valley, the warmth of 

 colouring, the glorious sim itself which seemed the very door 

 of heaven — altogether the scenery was so magnificent that it 

 did not require a verj- \-ivid imagination to feel that these 

 evening scenes are sent to lure our thoughts by such connecting 

 linlcs from earth to heaven. Who has not some child or loved 

 one up there, far, far away beyond the sim, to whom our 

 thoughts fly along this golden simlight, until they seem to 

 reach the distant spirit-home ? 



But I am rambling on with my own thoughts instead of 

 commencing our journey from Tean in proper order. After 

 passing along the heathy roadside which leads from Free Hay 



