53 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jnlr 24, 1866. 



possessing only the natural tints. The varieties from which the 

 pollen was taken were all planted out in the trial-ground at 

 Chiswick last summer, and received the highest awards of the 

 Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. Their 

 names are Circlet, Gaiety, President Lincoln, and Beauty of 

 Oulton. The last-named is certainly the finest bedding Pelar- 

 gonium which I have ever raised before the present season, 

 and I predict for it a long and brilliant future. It is in the 

 present season in this cold, wet, and smoky climate even more 

 beautiful than it was at Oulton Park or at Chiswick last year. 

 Its habit is everything that can be desired ; it is remarkably 

 free in growth, is very easily kept through the winter months, 

 and can be propagated very rapidly. As an instance of this I 

 may state that I only sent six small plants of it to Chiswick 

 last year, and that there, under the able superintendance of 

 Mr. Barron, upwards of two hundred fine plants have been 

 obtained from them.* It can be propagated all through the 

 winter months if the cuttings are placed in a nice airy tempe- 

 rature. The ease with which varieties of this section can be 

 propagated and kept through the winter months gives them 

 a great advantage over the Tricolor section, of which Mrs. 

 Pollock is the type. A large bed of Mrs. Pollock in the flower 

 garden here bears no comparison in point of beauty with 

 Beauty of Oulton, although both varieties are so distinct in 

 character that they may be planted side by side with good 

 effect. I should not venture to say so much in praise of one 

 of my own production, but that I feel sure that what I have 

 stated will be borne out by others when they shall have seen 

 the effect which Beauty of Oulton will produce in this and 

 future seasons. 



There is also another section which will prove an important 

 addition for the decoration of the flower garden. One of the 

 best of these varieties — namely, General Longstreet, is of fine 

 habit, and has bright golden leaves and large compact trusses 

 of deep scarlet flowers. This is a great improvement on the 

 well-known Golden Fleece and Cloth of Gold. By crossing 

 Stella with pollen taken from General Longstreet I have ob- 

 tained a beautiful golden Stella, with a habit more compact 

 than Stella, and the truss rather closer to the foliage, which 

 I consider is an advantage. The only fault I find with Stella 

 is that the fine trusses of bloom are too high above the 

 foliage, too much of the flower-stalk being seen between the 

 flowers and the leaves. The next variety operated on was 

 Christine ; pollen taken from General Longstreet was used 

 in this instance, by which means I have obtained a golden 

 Christine. _ The plant is of exactly the same habit as the 

 old Christine, but has beautiful yellow foliage, and rosy 

 pink flowers, the latter forming a nice contrast with the yellow 

 leaves. 



Pollen from General Longstreet was also used for fertilising 

 some blooms of the very dwarf and compact bedding Geranium 

 known as Little David, and the result in the first season was a 

 plant the very counterpart of that variety in habit and profusion 

 of bloom. In the following year this was crossed with pollen 

 taken from Christine, and a beautiful dwarf plant was obtained, 

 having nice golden foliage and pink flowers the exact colour of 

 Christine, and borne in great profusion well above the foliage. 

 The plant does not grow more than from 4 to 6 inches high. Two 

 great novelties in this section have just unfolded their beauti- 

 ful petals to my admiring gaze — they are a golden Cybister 

 and a golden Spread Eagle ; in the former the flowers are of 

 wonderful substance, and the truss promises to be very large 

 and compact, whilst the foliage is also very beautiful, having a 

 dark zone on a yellow ground. 



I must here thank Mr. Robson for the valuable suggestions 

 which he has made, and I shall use every endeavour to supply 

 the wants which he points out. He is quite right ; there is 

 ■certainly a very wide field yet left for the hybridiser, although 

 Ave appear to have brought the Pelargonium to the highest 

 state of perfection. I had already contemplated the possibility 

 of an advance in the Ivy-leaf section, and I cannot perceive 

 why gold, silver, and tricolor-leaved varieties should not be 

 -produced in this as well as the Zonale class. With that object 

 in view I shall at once procure the materials for a start, and 

 •hope to report a favourable progress next season. 



Whilst writing on bedding plants I would direct Mr. Robson's 

 attention to Viola cornuta. Each season with me its beauty 

 and usefulness increase, and it is at present magnificent. No 



* I have heard from a reliable source that the finest lot of bedding 

 Geraniums for health and beauty ever seen, have been grown at Chiswick 

 Ihis spring. 



amount of rain or sunshine appears to impair its beauty. If 

 Mr. Robson does not already possess it he must lose no time 

 in procuring it. — J. Wills. 



DWARF FRUIT TREES and ORCHARD-HOUSES 

 IN AMERICA. 



Dwarf or quince-rooted Pear trees have been propagated 

 and sold to an immense extent in the United States, but until 

 we received the instructions of Mr. Rivers's " Miniature Fruit 

 Garden " the results obtained from such trees were generally 

 very unsatisfactory. Large pyramids, grown on Quince roots, 

 in rich soil, without summer pruning, were either barren for 

 many years, or, if fruitful, soon became sickly. It was literally 

 growing standard trees, in point of size, on Quince roots. We 

 now understand that a dwarf tree should be kept in size a 

 dwarf tree by summer pruning, and should be maintained in 

 vigour by high culture. 



The effect of the Quince root upon a Pear tree is evidently 

 something like the process of "ringing" upon a branch. It 

 checks the return flow of sap to the roots by the difference in 

 the texture of the Quince and Pear wood ; and hence, while it 

 makes the tops of the trees grow luxuriantly, and produces 

 larger and finer fruit, it in reality checks root-growth, and 

 enfeebles the tree. I feel assured that the roots of a dwarf 

 Pear tree on Quince roots do not grow so freely as the roots of 

 a Quince tree on its own stock. Hence it is evident that dwarf 

 bush culture for dwarf Pear trees is far preferable to large 

 pyramids on Quince roots. Millions upon millions of Quince- 

 rooted Pear trees have been planted in the United States 

 within the last fifteen or twenty years ; but very few, so far as 

 I know, have produced any profitable results, except such as 

 have subsequently rooted from the Pear stock. Large numbers 

 of dwarf trees are still in existence, however, which are sup- 

 posed to be still on Quince roots — trees of very large size, pro- 

 lific and healthy, and upwards of thirty years old ; but these 

 are mostly in small private gardens, in rich soil, and well pro- 

 tected from cold winds and other adverse influences. 



The chief points in dwarf Pear culture seem to be to ascer- 

 tain what Pears will thrive best and produce fruit of the 

 highest quality on Quince roots in a given soil and locality, 

 and then to plant closely, and keep the trees down to the 

 " miniature " bush form and size, cultivate well, thin the fruit, 

 and seek to obtain fine specimens only. This I understand to 

 be the Rivers method of dwarf Tear culture, a system which 

 is very rapidly making its way in America. English editions 

 of the " Miniature Fruit Garden " have been imported here 

 for many years, and may be found in the hands of all our 

 most intelligent cultivators ; and quite recently an American 

 edition has been published. 



I have an orchard containing upwards of 20,000 dwarf Pear 

 trees, which were formerly pruned on the old ] lyramidal system, 

 but which I have now brought under the system of bush cul- 

 ture, by summer pinching and pruning, with the most grati- 

 fying results. My trees are planted in rows 5 feet apart, and 

 from 2 J to 5 feet apart in the rows. We cultivate the spaces 

 in one direction with the plough and horse-hoe, or horse-culti- 

 vator, and keep the other spaces clean with the hand-hoe. 

 No grass is permitted to grow in the entire orchard. The 

 plantation was commenced about eight years ago, and the 

 larger portion of the trees is just now coming into bearing. 



We have but little difficulty in ripening wood or fruit in the 

 climate of Philadelphia, which is quite as warm in summer as 

 the south of France. Indeed, we have intensely hot, bright, 

 dry summers, and suffer more from excess of sunlight than 

 from want of it. Our atmosphere is also too dry to grow cer- 

 tain Pears in perfection. Many Pears are attacked with black 

 spots (fungus), and crack so as to become worthless. Trans- 

 planting and root-pruning are here hazardous operations, while 

 mulching is exceedingly useful. We are much troubled with 

 the quince-borer (Saperda bivittata), with the bark louse or 

 scale (Coccus), and with the cureulio or plum weevil, which last 

 insect punctures and disfigures the Pears very much, but does 

 not cause them to drop. The borer and the cureulio, I believe, 

 you do not have in England. The summer pear blight or fire 

 blight (not the American blight), which prevails to a fearful 

 extent in the more northern parts of the United States, is not 

 so prevalent here, though cases do now and then occur. The 

 root blight in dwarf trees, I think arises from want of proper 

 or healthful root-growth. A great many Pear treeB never make 

 a healthy union with the Quince. 



