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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUEB AND OOTTAQB GABDENER. 



[ AprU 29, 1875. 



dne attention afterwards. I am not certain but waiting awhile 

 wonid be qnite as well, only tbe usual abundance of work that 

 crowds upon us at this season necessitates planting to be done 

 when it can, and the cold winds have to bear the blame for the 

 want of sncoflss which might have been different if sufficient 

 time had been allowed for them to have done their beneficial 

 dutv towards our tillaee lands. 



There are other useful objects attained by these mnch-abnsed 

 east and north-east winds; if they do chap our lips and hands, 

 and cause many other discomforts, they benefit the general 

 atmosphere in a sanitary point of view by removing or mitigat- 

 ing smells or other impurities, and thereby doing much to 

 compensate for the bad name we have unthinkingly attached 

 to them. And notwithstanding the delay they cause to vege- 

 tation and being blamed for late springs, we are not sure bu* 

 these very delays are beneficial ; and when a change does take 

 place after the cold period everything seems to revel in it, and 

 most likely the more so from its being withheld longer than 

 expected. 



Let us, therefore, not too hastily condemn the winds from 

 the quarter ailnded to, but justly reflect that, like many other 

 so-mistaken evils, they all tend to a good purpose. — J. Eoeson. 



THE SETTING OF FRUIT BLOSSOMS. 



" DEw^KG the blossoms over with clear water from a syringe 

 on the morning of a fine day is a good way to scatter the 

 pollen and to promote fertilisation." Thus has Mr. Douglas 

 written in his useful " Doings " on page 299. That is advice 

 which is diametrically opposed to the settled notions of the 

 great majority of gardeners, whose principal aim in tbe fruit- 

 setting period is to have the atmosphere of their houses as 

 dry as possible, and who would regard the wetting of the 

 blossoms as an unpardonable blunder on the part of any 

 assistant who should unfortunately commit such a great 

 mistake. Tet for all that I am one who fully believes that 

 Mr. Douglas never penned more sound advice or detailed any 

 " doing " more likely to effect its purpose. The work, how- 

 ever, should be done exactly at tbe time and preci-ely in the 

 manner stated. It should be dewing, not washing, and on the 

 morning of a bright day, not of a dull one. In a word, the 

 work must be intelligently performed, and it will prove a 

 valuable auxiliary in the setting of fruit blossoms under glass, 

 and also on south walls. The practice, however much one 

 may be convinced of its efficacy, is of a nature to demand 

 some moral courage to recommend. First, because it is anta- 

 gonistic to generally recognised theories ; and secondly, lest it 

 should be overdone, or be done at the wrong time, and the 

 blame be cast on the advice itself instead of on the bungling 

 way in which it has been carried out. 



Now, it may be taken as a fact that shoals of fruit blossom 

 fall to the ground to the no small anxiety of the cultivator, 

 and for which he can assign no satisfactory reason. Very 

 frequently the blossom-shedding is a benefit to the trees, but 

 often the fall is so extreme as to leave but little fruit behind 

 for a crop. That happens both on the trellis under glass and 

 on walls in the open air. When under glass the cause is 

 generally sought for in overdryness of the soil, and in fact 

 that is, despite all the advice given on the point, a great 

 source of the premature dropping of fruit blossoms. But it 

 can hardly be from overdryness of the soil when the blossoms 

 drop from trees in the open air. There may have been no 

 frost to account for it, or if there had the trees have been 

 covered. It is, in fact, often from trees which have been 

 covered during the night that the blossom falls the most ex- 

 tensively. This fact has led many people to lose faith in 

 coverings, and instances have been by no means rare where 

 an uncovered tree has carried a more satisfactory crop of fruit 

 than has the one by its side which had been covered. It is 

 because of that — covered trees failing to carry crops of fruit 

 — that some people never protect their trees at all. Occasion- 

 ally they pay the penalty of their temerity by having their 

 blossoms frozen, but frequently they can point triumphantly 

 to their crops when their neighbours who had protected their 

 trees are grieving under a scarcity of fruit. 



That blossoms are injured by frost is certain, and not much 

 less certain is it that thty are injured by a lack of moisture, 

 as, for instance, the absence of dew. No doubt extreme wet 

 is pernicious to the blossoms, and so also, but not so generally 

 recognised, is extrfme dryness to the embryo fruit. Under 

 what conditions do blossoms on wall and orchard trees set the 

 best ? Is it during a period of brilliant days and dewless 



nights ? No ; blossom generally falls then. It is during mild 

 weather with sun, yet with light spring showers occasionally 

 falling, that blossoms are followed by fruit, and the trees be- 

 come laden with produce. Why is this so ? Note the blossom 

 of a fruit tree at a period when dewless nights are followed by 

 brilliant days. The petals lack substance, and are flimsy and 

 crumpled ; touch them and they fall. Examine them in more 

 genial weather, when the sun is sufficient to dry them and the 

 night dews and occasional showers are provided to refresh them. 

 The petals are then much stouter in texture, and the blossom 

 is more lasting ; touch it and it is fast. That is the condition 

 by which you may expect fruit. 



Has it not been noticed that Apricot trees have in some 

 years set their blossoms on a west better than they have on a 

 south aspect? When such is the case the setting season has 

 been remarkable for an arid air and unclouded sun. The 

 blossoms and the embryo fruit could not sustain the transpira- 

 tion they were called on to bear, and collapsed by sheer inani- 

 tion. Their vitality was fairly extracted from them under the 

 influence of the moisture-absorbing sun. That is especially 

 the case with trees that are deficient in vigour, and which, as 

 a consequence, are often excessively laden with blossom. 

 These blossoms, weak to begin with, are almost certain to suc- 

 cumb if the air is exceptionally dry and the weather excessively 

 bright during the time the trees are in bloom ; whereas if they 

 have the assistance of moisture to sustain them, and the 

 young fruit have no check in being robbed of support during 

 the process of setting, a pleasant sprinkling of fruit will follow. 

 Under an extremely bright and dry-setting season the shady 

 side of a tree will often set the fruit, while on the sunny side 

 the blossoms fall to the ground. Under those circumstances 

 we generally attribute it to frosts which have come from the 

 south. But it is the sun and not the frosts that have levelled 

 the blossoms to the ground. I have in hot weather, and with 

 weakly Apricot trees, had one tree laden with fruit, and the 

 next barren, by simply dewing the blossoms of one with a 

 syringe, and affording support to the embryo fruit at a critical 

 juncture. I have had even, for the purposes of experiment, 

 one side of a tree fruitful and the other side fruitless by the 

 same means. I have seen a trellis completely wreathed with 

 Peach blossom, which by a sharp shake during a brilliant 

 setting period has fallen off by thousands, except a portion 

 which has been dewed or even shaded for an hour or two, and 

 this covered with fruit. I have seen Vines in blossom treated 

 to a highly dry temperature, and the set of fruit of a most un- 

 satisfactory kind, but have never had or seen any difficulty in 

 setting Grapes when a healthy degree of moisture has been 

 intelligently imparted to tbe atmosphere. 



But there must be no mistake ; extreme moisture is also 

 inimical to the setting of fruit blossom. The pollen must be 

 sufficiently dry for distribution, and must be distributed. 

 That is what is required, and all that is required; and then a 

 measure of moisture becomes as much a necessity to support 

 the fruit as is, or was, the requisite degree of dryness to move 

 the pollen. There are times when the blossoms of fruit trees 

 are kept too dry — when the sun is powerful and the night dews 

 prevented doing their restorative work. That 13 seen when 

 covered trees are less fruitful than those which have been 

 exposed. 



The same law applies under glass. We may keep the air too 

 dry, and permit the blossom to be played on by a burning sun, 

 when the embryo fruit are gasping for want of a little moisture. 

 But, as said before, this must be given carefully and at the 

 right time. In preventing the roasting of the blossom let there 

 be no drowning; but yet it is well to recognise that, however 

 little the matter is thought about, that the blossoms of fruit 

 trees can be shrivelled by drought and heat, and the embryo 

 fruit be literally roasted on the trees, and then we wonder why 

 the blossoms fall. 



I conclude by asking that tbe quotation from Mr. Douglas 

 be read again and thought about, feeling sure that it is sound 

 and full of truth. — A Surkey Gardeneb. 



BOSE FELIX GENEEO. 



In reply to "Corncbia" of March 25th, page 230, Rose 

 Felix Genero I consider a good one for exhibition. I placed 

 it with last year's election of fifty, and have shown it remark- 

 ably fine at South Kensington, Birmingham, and elsewhere 

 last year, and also in 1873. Oa halt-standards it does well. 

 Prince Camille de Rohan, as Mr. Radclyffe states on page 292, 

 was omitted by me in last year's election. I find it useless 



