January 13, 187G. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



33 



tree, what is the direct ooneeqnenoe of the thinning? It is 

 this — From each "cut" three, but more likely half-a-dozen, 

 buds will push young shoots, and, if left alone, will form fresh 

 branches, and in two or three years the tree is more over- 

 crowded than ever. Thousands of trees, paradoxical as it may 

 sound, have been made thicker by thinning; in fact, that is a 

 result that must inevitably follow if the winter thinning is not 

 followed by spring and summer " rubbing." Most essential is 

 it this should follow the pruning of old trees, but seldom is it 

 done. It simply consists of rubbing off the young growths 

 that clothe the branches when such growths are about an inch 

 long ; it can be done by the finger and thumb, and a man will 

 do more in half an hour to preserve the openness of the tree 

 than we could accomplish in half a day with the saw and 

 pruning knife. Winter pruning, if not followed by this simple 

 summer dressing, is work only half done, or wor^e. When I 

 see a tree unusually dense — its interior choked with a network 

 of branches, useless and fruitless— I have always a suspicion 

 that it is the result of "thinning;" rub off the after-growth 

 and such a result never follows. 



Something may be said on assisting the roots of " old trees ; " 

 also on the renovation of wall trees, for in these, too, I have 

 made mistakes and seen mistakes made by others, which I will 

 quote on a future occasion. 



Mr. Luokhurst, the young-tree champion, is also an old tree- 

 preserver. I happen to have seen Mr. Luckhurst's young trees, 

 and I am not conscious of ever having looked at such trees at 

 five years old. He, at any rate, does not defend the old because 

 the young trees have failed him, and his testimony is, conse- 

 quently, the more valuable. 



One part of Mr. Luckhurst's letter is especially suggestive^ 

 that in reference to moss on the bark. He asserts that lichens 

 do no harm on the "old bark," but urges their destruction on 

 the " smaller branches." Do not we dress trees at the wrong 

 end ? How often do we find their stems limewashed, while the 

 "smaller branches" are moss-covered? That is palpably 

 wrong. I believe I have never expended my labour more 

 profitably to my employer, and with greater benefit to his 

 trees, than when, mounted on a tall ladder on a still, foggy 

 morning, I have poured the lime dust among the fruit-bearing 

 twiglets, making them and myself as white as a miller. It is 

 the tops of old trees that require dressing — those fruit-bear- 

 ing parts which are so systematically left to the lichens, and 

 the lower portions of the trees may take oare of themselves. — 

 Ratucal Conservative. 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUIT. 



Cucnsiis SATiviJS var. Sikkihensis. Nat. ord. Cucnrbitaceie. 

 Linn., Moncooia Monadelphia. — The fruit is yellow, densely 

 spotted with brownish red. Dr. Hooker says, " This singular 

 form of the common Cucumber, though very commonly culti- 

 vated in the Eastern Himalayan Mountains, appears never to 

 have been noticed horticulturally or botanically till I found it 

 in Sikkim in 1848, and whence I brought drawings and speci- 

 mens to England. These were described by N. Naudin in 

 1859, in his essay on the species and varieties of Ciicumis in 

 the ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' under the name of 

 Concombre de Sikkim ; and he says of it that it is the most 

 remarkable variety of the common Cucumber known to him, 

 whether for the length or for the bulk of its fruit, which I 

 have found to attain 1 J toot in length and a girth of 15 inches. 

 It is grown in all parts of the Sikkim and in the Nepal Hima- 

 Isiya, up to 5000 feet elevation, in prodigious quantities. It 

 ripens in July and August, or earlier at lower elevations, when 

 the fruits are sold in the markets and eaten raw by the natives 

 of all ages, as well as cooked. So abundant were they in the 

 year 1848 that for days together I saw gnawed fruits lying by 

 the natives' paths by thousands, and every man, woman, and 

 child seemed engaged throughout the day in devouring them. 



" The Sikkim Cucumber was first fruited in England by 

 Major Trevor Clarke, who believed that he had fertihsed it 

 with the pollen of the Telegraph Cucumber. By some blunder, 

 perhaps owing to the Melon-like appearance of Major Trevor 

 Clarke's fruit, which was sent to Kew, and from which plants 

 were raised, it is described in the Gardener's Chrojiicle as a 

 hybrid between the Melon and the Cucumber — a cross which 

 has never been effected. On its fruiting at Kew shortly after- 

 wards I recognised it as my Sikkim plant, and the statement 

 as to its hybrid origin was corrected in a succeeding number 

 of the Chronicle (1875, vol. iv., p. 303). It flowered in the 

 Tropical Economic House in ■July, and the fruit ripened in 



August, when it attracted great attention from its size, singu- 

 lar form, and colour. 



" In connection with this subject I may mention here that 

 the origin of the common Cucumber, which is supposed to be 

 unknown, is in all probability the C. Hardwickii, Royle, of the 

 Himalaya Mountains, which inhabits the sub-tropical region 

 of the range from Kumaon to Sikkim. This opinion, founded 

 on specimens gathered by myself in the latter country, is also 

 adopted by M. Naudin, upon the same materials (Ann. So. Nat., 

 I.e., p. 30). The flowers and leaves of the two plants are 

 almost identical, but the fruit of C. Hardwickii is small, 

 smooth, and very bitter; it is, however, striped with white 

 and gi-een, a very usual character with the Sikkim cultivated 

 Cucumbers." — (Bot. Mag., t. (5200.) 



NicoTiANA TABACOM var. FRDTicosA. Nat. ord., Solanaceae. 

 Linn., Pentandria Monogynia. Flowers pink. — " A very little 

 known plant, though introduced into Ens^land in the middle 

 of last century, and admirably figured by Philip Miller, F.B.S., 

 gardener to the Apothecaries Company's Botanic Garden at 

 Chelsea, in his fine folio work illustrative of ' the most beauti- 

 ful, useful, and uncommon plants published in his Gardener's 

 Dictionary.' Miller describes it as growing naturally in 

 Guinea, whence he received the seeds, and as being cultivated 

 in the Brazils and sent to Europe under the name of ' Sweet- 

 scented Tobacco.' Dunal, in De CandoUe's ' Prodromus,' 

 gives the Cape of Good Hope as its native country on the 

 authority of Linnieus, where, however, no species of the genus 

 has been found in a wild state." — {Ibid., t. 6207.) 



Masdevallia ephippium. Nat. ord., Orchidacete. Linn., 

 Gynandria Monandria. — " Dr. Reichenbach observes of it that 

 it is a highly curious one ; and it is indeed very different from 

 any hitherto figured in this work, especially in the lateral 

 sepals, that form a deeply concave bowl-shaped body, of a 

 remarkable rufous-brown colour, and are thoroughly united 

 even to the base of their long yellow tail-like tips, which curve 

 away from one another in a singular manner. The inside of 

 the united sepals is, moreover, traversed by five corrugated 

 ribs or keels, that meet at the apex of the body, leaving deep 

 concavities between them. 



" I am indebted to Mr. J. T. Barber, of the Old Hall, Spon- 

 don, Derby, for this fine species, which he sent to Kew in 

 March last, with the information that it was grown in a house 

 with a day temperature of 65' Fahr., and a night one of 52° to 

 GO', and was watered but sparingly, a flower having been 

 spoiled previously by over-watering. Dr. Reichenbach states 

 that it was first discovered at Loxa by the late Dr. Krause, 

 who sent it to Messrs. Backhouse, and that it has subsequently 

 been obtained from Antioquia and Medellin by Mr. Wallis and 

 otherB."— {Ibid., t. 6208.) 



Blandfobdia FLAiiMEA var. PRiNCEPS. Nat. ord., Liliaoese. 

 Linn., Hexandria Monogynia. — A variety of B. flammea, but 

 " for horticultural purposes it is a much finer plant. The bright 

 crimson of the tube and pedicel form a very eft'ective contrast 

 with the bright yellow of the segments; so that, size of flower 

 and colouring both taken into account, it may safely be said 

 to be for decorative purposes the finest of the known Bland- 

 fordias. It was introduced by Mr. 'William Bull from New 

 South Wales about 1873, and was exhibited by him at South 

 Kensington in the summer of 1875." — [Ibid., t. 6209.) 



Androsace sarhentosa. Nat. ord., Primulaceoe. Linn., 

 Pentandria Monogynia. Flowers pink. — "An interesting addi- 

 tion to the collection of rockwork plants, hardy and a very 

 free grower. It is a native of the loftier regions of the Western 

 Himalaya, and was first found in Central Nepal, whence it was 

 sent to Dr. Wallich, then in Calcutta, about the year 1820, by 

 the resident at the Nepaleso Court, the Hon. E. Gardner. 

 Since that period it has been found further west by Mr. Edge- 

 worth, in Kumaon, at an elevation of 11-12,000 feet, and on 

 the Zoji La Pass, north of Kashmir, by Dr. Thomson, at about 

 the same height above the sea. Our plant was raised from 

 seed collected by Dr. Bellew (who accompanied Forsyth's 

 mission to Yarkaud), at the same locality as Dr. Thomson's 

 came from, and it was flowered first and beautifully by Mr. 

 Isaac Anderson-Henry, at Hay Lodge, Trinity, Edinburgh, and 

 subsequently at Kew, but in far less perfection than in the 

 northern clime. As a spring bloomer, flowering in April, it 

 will prove a most welcome accession to the hardy herbaceous 

 border, and it is propagated with great ease by its runners, 

 which spread all round the plant and hang over the sides of 

 the pot in profusion." — (Ibid., t. 6210.) 



Apple — Paul's Imperial Crab. — "Specimens of this very 

 ornamental fruit were exhibited at South Kensington in 



