December 23, 18C9. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



499 



known to require description. It requires a rich light soil. 

 One-half loam, one-fourth leaf soil, and one-fourth old eow 

 dung, will grow it well. It is increased by division of the 

 crown early in spring, and by cntliags of the shoots in summer, 

 which strike freely iu sandy soil in a gentle heat. 



For forcing good strong roots should be taken up in October, 

 and potted, and though thsy miy be forced at once, I prefer 

 growing them in pots a year previous to forcing, putting them 

 in good-sized pots or such as they will go into without cramp- 

 ing, and I plunge the pots to the rim in aihes in a sheltered 

 Bnnny situation. Cover the crowns with any kind of loose ma- 

 terial, as leaf soil, and they will be safe from frost. The follow- 

 ing summer they are well supplied with water whilst in active 

 growth. When the leavss turn yellow lift the pots, and trans- 

 fer the plants to larger pots, loosening the sides of the balls 

 with a pointed piece of wood, removing as much of the old soil 

 as far as is practicable without injury to the fleshy roots. The 

 shift should be liberal. Set the pots on ashes, and cover them 

 as well with ashes to the depth of about 3 laches. They may 

 then be taken into the forcing house as required. 



When placed in the forcing house they should have a tem- 

 perature of 40' at night for a fortnight, then raise it to 45°, 

 and progressively with growth to 50', which is a sufficient tem- 

 perature from tire heat. They should have a light and airy 

 position. Forcing for blooming at Christmas should be com- 

 menced the second week in November, and plants introduced 

 at fortnightly intervals to March will keep up a succession of 

 bloom till April. Water should be sparingly given until the 

 plants are in free growth, then water copiously. 



After fioweriog continue 'the plants under glass, hardening 

 them well off, and then plunge the pots out of doors in a warm 

 situation. The plants should be potted when the foliage 

 decays, and to prevent second growth they should be kept 

 dry, otherwise early-forced plants not unfrequeutly start into 

 growth in summer in moist weather and flower again in 

 autumn. They may be forced the second year, and succes- 

 sively. Plants not started before February will be as good for 

 forcing in the second year a3 in the tirst ; indeed, I have had 

 them increasing annually in size and beauty for many yenrs, 

 when merely brought forward in a cool house. Plants 3 feet 

 high and 6 feet in diameter, may be grown in pots. I have 

 found growth encouraged by weak liquid manure given alter- 

 nately with pure water when the plants were growing freely. 



Diehjtra spectahilis florc-alho with white flowers, makes a 

 charming companion to the pink-flowered form. — G. Aubey. 



DOYENNE DU COMICE PE.\R— CORDON 

 TRAINING. 



The very attractive description given in a recent number of 

 " onr Journal " of that most delicious Pear Doyenne du Comice 

 will, no doubt, incline some of your readers to become pur- 

 chasers of such an excellent variety. I have cultivated this 

 fruit in my garden, situated amongst the hills of Yorkshire, for 

 eight years, and some account of my failures and successes 

 may be useful to others. 



In the autumn of 1861 I asUed Mr. Rivers to send me, 

 amongst other things, a dwarf-tr.uned plant of Doyenne du 

 Comice on the Quince stock. When it arrived it proved to be 

 . grafted on the Pear, and Mr. Rivers accounted for this by 

 saying that he had not been able to persuade this Pear to 

 succeed well on the Quince. This plant was placed against a 

 south etone wall, and received every attention. It was from 

 time to time lifted and root-pruned, yet not so severely as 

 unduly to chock its vigour. At last, in 1867, its one fruit bud 

 flowered, and set one fruit. This precious specimen grew to 

 be about 5 ozs. in weight, and ripened off well. 



The summer and autumn of 1867 were cold, wet, and cloudy, 

 and most unfavourable to the ripening of fruit, nevertheless 

 Doyenne du Comice did not seem to be injuriously afforited, 

 but ripened well its fruit and its wood, and sustained the 

 following winter a temperature of 10° below zero. So I think 

 this variety may be considered to be not only very hardy, but 

 also suitable for cool climates. In 1868 this tree bore six fruit, 

 the largest of which barely reached 6 ozs. ; it proved to be 

 melting, juicy, watery, flavourless. 



In 1864 I succeeded in obtaining this Pear bndded on the 

 Quince, and I planted it against a south brick wall, and it 

 made stout, satisfactory growth year by year. In 1H(>7 I pur- 

 chased a single cordon on the Quince, and placed it by the 

 Bide of the tree purchased in 1864. Both these trees on the 



Quince bore fruit in 1868. The 1864 tree gave me nine large 

 Pears of nearly equal siz3, the weight of the largest being 

 llj ozs. The single cordon, though it had only been planted 

 during the previous autumn, carried two large fruit, each 

 weighing 104 ozs. How good these Pears were ! — better than 

 Conseiller de la Cour, better than Marie Louise, better than 

 Winter Nelis, better and more Peach-like than any Pear I have 

 ever tasted. Strange that while the fruit from the Quince 

 stocks should be so good, those from the Pear stack should be 

 so inferior. As these two trees on the Quince did not in the 

 autumn form any fruit buds, they were both forked most care- 

 fully out of the ground, slightly root-pruned, and then re- 

 planted with fresh soil and a liberal supply of manure. The 

 result is that last summer they made a robust healthy growth 

 about 18 inches in length, and have covered themselves with 

 fruit spurs. 



This year Doyennfi du Comice on the Pear set six fruit ; 

 three of these fell off in August and September, though the 

 tree was well mulched, and never suffered from dryness, was 

 in perfect health, and had not been disturbed for two years. 

 The three remaining fruit barely attained the weight of 7 ozs., 

 and were watery and flavourless. As this tree has a few fruit 

 spurs on it, I shall give it one more trial. In a neighbouring 

 garden a tree of ]?oyenne du Comice on the Pear stock has 

 grown there for nine years, and the gardener has not seen on 

 it so much as a single flower. From this I conclude that the 

 Doyennfi du Comice is a very shy hearer on the Pear stock, 

 and will not give fruit of large size and true to character until 

 it has reached a mature age. Who would think of waiting 

 all these years, when, by buying a single cordon on the Quince, 

 fine fruit may be gathered within the space of twelve months? 

 On the Quince stock it is evidently quite sufficiently fruitful 

 for its health. 



If anyone has recently procured this tree on the Pear stock, 

 I recommend him to throw it away at once — this course will 

 save endles3 trouble and annoyance — and buy it budded on the 

 Quince, dwarf, and trained upright exactly like a five-pronged 

 digging fork. Such a tree as this will occupy scarcely a yard of 

 wall iu length, and will never require any more room. In 

 throe years it will bear a nice crop. Iu eight years it should 

 reach the top of a 12-feet wall, and produce annually from fifty 

 to sixty fruit. This is quite a moderate estimate, as several of 

 my trees so trained yield annually eighty Pears, or even more. 

 This is the most profitable, and therefore the best mode of 

 training all fruit trees. They can all be trained upright, and 

 are more healthy, and more fruitful, than when trained hori- 

 zontally. A fruit wall should be covered from one end to 

 the other, and from the bottom to the top, with fruit-bearing 

 branches 9 inches apart. Each Pear cordon should bear twenty 

 fruit annually. Four hundred and fitly fruit on 6 yards of 

 wall — what an enormous produce ! and th:it obtained here year 

 by year, without exhausting the trees. In 1867, my Pear trseg 

 gave me 1003 fruit ; in 1838, 1200 ; in 1800, 1300, all fine, free 

 from cracks, thus showing a progressive increase, and no ex- 

 haustion. 



Here Pears, Plums, Apples, Cherries, and Peaches, are 

 trained upright, as 1 have described. 'All now have reached 

 the top of a 12-feet wall, and all bear profusely. So successful 

 has this upright mode of training proved to be, that several 

 of the gardeners around me have heartily adopted it. 



Then, again, no other plan of training is so economical of 

 space. The entire wall is covered ; no vacant places, so com- 

 monly to be seen where trees are trained on the fan or horizon- 

 tal method. Then, how soon the wall is covered ! It requires 

 fifteen years for a tree trained after Seymour's fan-syslem to 

 reach the top of a 12-feet wall. Eight or nine years wUl 

 suffiee to cover the same wall with upright-trained trees. Who 

 would wait for fifteen years for that which can be done better 

 iu nine years ? — C. J. M. 



NOTES ON ROSES. 

 The experience of Rose-growers varies remarkably, and, con- 

 sequently, each may mention facts new and, therefore, interest- 

 ing to the brotherhood. Now, my ground, like Mr. Kent's, as 

 stated by him October 7tb, is light, and yet many little items 

 that he mentions I have to say the reverse to. Charles 

 Lefebvre and Marie Baumann, which he instances as models 

 of constancy, I find very uncertain ; on the other hand, Alfred 

 Colomb, John Hopper, and Pierre Notting, which he mentions 

 as behaving badly with him this year, have been about my 

 best. Maurice Bernardin has with me a dull streaked blossom. 



