February 10, 1876. J 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



109 



Stockbridge, Hiinta, it may be Been ia abundance. Huge 

 bushes they are, or rather were. I have cut some myself 3 feet 

 in diameter. Two rows of large old Lime trees each side of 

 the carriage drive in front of the mansion were indeed grand 

 to behold during the winter months, being literally covered 

 from top to bottom with huge bushes bearing such an abun- 

 dance of their white berries that they were plainly visible from 

 the windows. 



Adjacent to the Limea was a Laburnum tree; this stood in 

 a shrubbery in the pleasure grounds, and on this the Jlistletoo 

 might be seen growing. Also in the orchard adjoining, on the 

 fruit trees before mentioned, good-sized bushes might be seen, 

 but nowhere was it bo luxuriant as on the Limes. All the 

 trees in my list were growing on the same estate. 



I can vouch for the above facts, having lived in the gardens 

 with my late father, who was at that time gardener there. 



I have never seen the Jlistletoe growing in such abundance 

 anywhere that I have lived since, with the exception of on a 

 very old Willow tree adjoining the park of Lockerby Hall in 

 the same county. This tree is very much decayed and broken, 

 more from extreme age than from the parasitic growth upon 

 it.— F. II. Fboud. 



GRAFTING OLD PEAR TREES. 

 We have five large Pear trees in our garden, called about 

 here " the Pine Pear." The fruit is not fit to eat, and only 

 makes very rough perry. They are just in their prime, and 

 bear heavy crops of fruit ; but being of so little use I would 

 sooner cut them down than leave them as they are. The fruit 

 ripens in October and November. Would it not be worth while 

 to try grafting ? The stems are perfectly sound, and the trees 

 show no signs of decay. Pears and Plums do very well here 

 (Gloucester), better I think than Apples, and everything off 

 our ground has a very good flavour. Our soil is a stiff clayey 

 marl. What sorts would be best to graft on the trees? — 

 G. Newjian. 



[By all means graft your trees, and you will have abundant 

 crops of excellent fruit in much less time than if you wore to 

 replace them with young trees. Do not confine the grafts to 

 one or two main branches close to the stem, but secure as 

 many lateral limbs as you can, even if you have to retain 

 lengths of 6 feet or more for that purpose. The importance 

 of this operation will be fully explained in the next paper on 

 " Pears and their Culture." To have early and successive 

 fruit take Citron des Carmes, ripening in August ; WilUams's 

 Bon Chretien, September; Comte de Lamy, October; Doyenuu 

 du Cornice, November ; and Knight's Monarch from December 

 to March. — Eds.] 



MISTLETOE CULTURE AT ANTWERP. 



Mb. Van Geert has obliged us by a letter from which the 

 following is extracted :^ 



" The way I proceeded to form my miniature ' Mistletoe 

 trees,' as they are rightly called, which were referred to on 

 page 49, was simply this : I selected some well-developed berries 

 at the end of April, and after having bruised them between 

 the finger and thumb clefted them on the stems of some 

 young healthy Thorns (Cratsegus oxyacantha), placing each 

 berry under a small twig. A month afterwards the radicle 

 made its appearance ; first straight, as if to look out where to 

 fix, then bending itself in order to reach the bark of the Thorn. 

 As soon as the bark was touched the point of the radicle be- 

 came flat and attached to the bark of the Thorn in the same 

 way as a leech on the skin of a patient. In this position and 

 without any other move the seed remained till the following 

 spring, when it lifted itself from its first position ; the radicle 

 remained cleft to the bark by its apex, became straight again, 

 when two cotyledons formed and two small green leaves were 

 produced. In this position the plant remained again till the 

 following spring, when it made two Uttle twigs each of two 

 leaves ; and as every leaf produces, the following year, a little 

 twig of two leaves, the development of the leaves follows a 

 geometrical progression, as— 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, &B. 



"As is seen by this, the development of the Mistletoe goes 

 on very slowly at first, and that it requires at least six years 

 before the plant makes some appearance, and this is the prin- 

 cipal reason why I did not continue its cultivation. Another 

 inconvenience is that in very dry weather the seeds after 

 having germinated do not always keep alive, or after having 

 produced their radicles and having kept well the first year. 



do not the following spring produce their cotyledons, and 

 die off." 



MELOCAGTUS. 

 TnE family of Indian Figs is an extensive one, and includes 

 some of the most curious examples of the vegetable kingdom. 

 The genus is divided into sections— Cactus (Melon Thistle), 

 Echiuocactus (Hedgehog Thistle), Epiphyllum (Loaf-flower- 

 ing), Mammillaria (Nipple-bearersJ, and Melocactus (Turk's- 

 oap Cactus. The flowers of the first and third section are, if 

 not long-lasting, yet singularly beautiful. Species of the other 

 sections are cultivated for their striking forms. 



Fig. 29. — Melocactus. 



These plants are now rising in popularity, and those who 

 possess good specimens do not part with them so readily as 

 they did a few years ago. Melocactus maybe known as having 

 the flowers produced on a head or "cap" surmounting the 

 plant ; those on Echinocactus issuing from the ribs or angles ; 

 the species of Mammillaria being composed of an assemblage 

 of small tubercules, and between them the flowers appear. 



Their cultivation is simple. The plants requiring it should 

 be potted in April or May in a rough compost of loam, old 

 dried cow dung, and limy rubbish. They should then be 

 afforded a high temperature and moist atmosphere, watering 

 them sparingly until estabUshed, when water may be more 

 freely applied. In the autumn they require to be gradually 

 dried-off and be kept in a winter temperature of 4.3'. They 

 require full hght at all times, and are readily increased by off- 

 sets and protuberances. 



COLOUR OF GARDEN WALLS. 



" H. W. W." asks about the best colouring for garden walls. 



They are usually left of the native colour of the material of 



which the walls are built, and there is no better material than 



bricks. If there is any advantage to be derived from colour 



