March 2, 1878. ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE QARDBNER. 



171 



now fuller of promise than I have yet Been them, and if the 

 Beaeon ehoold prove favourable I believe I shall have most 

 eatisfaotory results to report later on. 



The trees I purchased first of all came from a small local 

 nursery. They were badly-grown pyramids ; they had appa- 

 rently been transplanted only once or twice, although they 

 were several years old (1 paid 5s. a-pieoo for them), and con- 

 sequently boro evidence of being in a state of vigorous growth 

 at the time I bought them. My garden was very poor, and the 

 check to the Apple trees did them harm as I believe ; the Pears, 

 however, seemed benefited by the change, as in two years they 

 began to bear and have gone on increasing in fruitfulness 

 year by year. 



My practice from the first was to summer-prnne with finger 

 and thumb all the side shoots, but not the leader or the end 

 shoot of the branches. These were stopped in August, and in 

 October or November they were also considerably ehorteued. 

 In the autumn of the second year I lifted the whole of the 

 trees and replanted them carefully, giving to each some fresh 

 soil. I shortened some of the long straggling roots with a 

 sharp knife, but very little root-pruning was utceesary, as the 

 bn'k of the roots were nice fibres close at home. The growth 

 the following year was not excessive, and the wood produced 

 was well ripened ; while the fruit buds increased in number 

 and a fair crop of fruit was borne, more Pears, however, than 

 Apples, and very few Plums. In the fourth year I removed to 

 another house, and as my tenancy expired in September I was 

 compelled to lift my trees a little too soon (viz., about Septem- 

 ber 2Cth), but they were done carefully, promptly replanted in 

 better soil and well mulched. Only one of them suffered ; that 

 gave no signs of bearirg leaves the following spring, so I 

 wound haybands round the stem, and frequently syringed the 

 head and stem with clean water. It bore no leaves at all the 

 year after removal, but from its appearance I was satitfied it 

 was not dead, and the syringing was continued at intervals till 

 autumn. The following spring it rewarded my exertions by 

 bursting into leaf, apparently none the worse for its leafless- 

 ness for the whole of a year. At my new garden, in addition to 

 ths tree* I have referred to, I planted thirteen more Pears, 

 purchased from Mr. W. Pan!, Waltham Cross. These were 

 nice well-trained pyramids when they came into my hands, 

 and as I bad gained some experience ly my four years' 

 practice I have been enabled to retain them in betler form 

 than my first lot. They soon came into bearing ; they are 

 now fine bandsfme trees, studded with blosiotu Luds from 

 top to bottom, and yearly produce me crops of handsome 

 fruit. 



My practice has been to lift the trees every two or three 

 years according to the vigour of growth in the preceding 

 summer. Whenever so vigorous as to necessitate the free use 

 of the knife I have lifted them, and always with the result of 

 contracting the growth and causing it to be short-jointtd 

 and well ripened, and also always with the result of encou- 

 raging the development of fruit spurs. The roots 1 bnt 

 rarely cut, except when I find long stragglers. I have also 

 regularly followed the plan of summer-pinching. My trees are 

 all in perfect health, are handsome, and fruitful to such an 

 extent that although my garden is a small one (such as is 

 usual in the neighbourhood of large towns where the freehold 

 is worth £1000 per acre), I have plenty of fruit for the use of 

 my family of eight persons and have some left to give away to 

 my friends. Let me mention that on Sunday last (Feb. 20th) 

 I was able to place on my table seven kinds of Apples and two 

 kinds of Pears all home-grown. My stock of home-grown fruit 

 will last for more than a month to come. As the result of my 

 own experience I can strongly recommend amateurs to dis- 

 regard Mr. Hibberd's strictures on the system of dwarfing 

 trees, and would recommend a more general adoption of the 

 system properly carried out. — Philanthes. 



P.S. — I ought, perhaps, to state that I have now in my gar- 

 den over sixty pyramids, though some of them have been 

 planted only two or three years. 



MANAGEMENT OF PLANTS IN WINTEB. 

 Winter is generally said to be a time of rest for plants, and 

 no don lit in a general way it is true; but do we always go 

 about the right plan to give plants in pots in houses their 

 rest 1 and are there not many plants which would be better 

 if they were always ki>pt in a growing state ? We may in a 

 rough way divide plants into deciduous (tho8« which naturally 

 cast their leaves), and those which retain their foliage, as ever- 



green shrubs and most half-hardy perennials. Nearly all the 

 denizens of our stoves retain their leaves, and are better for 

 doing fo. The question therefore arinee, Whether it is wine 

 to keep the roots ot the plants so dry as is the custom in 

 FO many places, while the temperature of the house even at 

 nights is maintained at from 55° to CO*, and in many oases 

 higher ? 



All deciduous hardy plants in their natural state have their 

 roots more moist in winter time when in a state of rest than 

 at any other time, and I do not believe that the circulation of 

 sap is ever perfectly checked except in the severest weather. 

 If fruit trees are pruned early, and the shoots left on the 

 ground nnder the trees, there will soon be a marked difference 

 between the plumpness of the buds and bark of those left on 

 the trees and those that are cut off. No doubt some evapora- 

 tion may take place through the cut, but the greatest part 

 would take place through the bark. Now, in nature the buds 

 and bark of deciduous hardy trees, such as Apples and Pears, 

 rinme, Ac, must be ktpt plump by the action of the circu- 

 lation of tap. There is not warmth enough or light enough 

 perhaps to cause growth, but there must be a certain supply of 

 sap to compensate evaporation. In fact, if we watch the buds 

 of some of our earlier shrubs, such as Lilacs and Eibea and 

 some of the Honeysuckles, we shall find that there is a con- 

 stant, though it may be a slow change, taking place in the 

 terminal buds all through the winter. Just as moisture, and 

 beat, and light are the three requisites for the germination 

 and growth of seed, so it is tiuo with regard to all growth, 

 unless we except some of the lower types of fuegus, which can 

 grow without light, or plants unnaturally forced in heat, like 

 Rhubarb, Seakale, &c. So long as the roots of deciduous 

 plants are kept moist there will always be a sufiioiency of heat 

 and light even in winter to maintain a certain amount of 

 circulation. 



I cannot think we act wisely, then, in stoves, where more 

 beat is kept up, to keep the soil in pots dutt-dry. Of course 

 many persons will say. Plants must have their rest, and we 

 produce artificial rest by withholding water. I do not want to 

 dogmatise or to lay down any definite rules, because there are 

 such diversities of plants grown in our stoves that they must 

 necessarily require different treatment, but 1 cannot help 

 thinking that this system of rcstirjg plants is overdone. For 

 instance, I have had Allamanda Hendersonii constantly grow- 

 ing, blooming from May to December, and the young growth 

 for next year forming before the blooms were off. Stephauotis 

 floribunda again, and many other plants, may be constantly 

 kept growing. 



No doubt large plants that are overpotted will not require 

 so much water as plants in smaller pots. Still more, too, 

 depends upon the night temperature. If the temperature is 

 low (and it is very wise as a rule during winter to keep the 

 night temperature as low aa plants will bear), then less water 

 will be required. Many ornumental-foliaged plants however, 

 as Crotons and Dracsenas, are permanently injured and the 

 foliage lost by not giving moisture enough. 



What few deciduous plants there are in stoves may be kept 

 much drier, and, of course, all bulbs that are accustomed to 

 lose all their foliage; but a mistake is often made with many 

 greenhouse bulbs, such as Agapanthus, Vallota purpurea, 

 Liliums, &a., of withholding all moisture during winter. Then, 

 again, to turn from stove plants to greenhouse and bedding 

 plants, here my experience every year more and more confirms 

 my first impressions. If yon want to keep healthy Verbenas 

 or Ageratums, Calceolarias or Geraniums, you must keep them 

 growing. Of course they do not all require the same dtgree 

 of heat or moisture. Calceolarias, for instance, so long as they 

 have moisture enough require but little heat, bnt nothing is 

 BO fatal as to keep Calceolarias dust-dry at the root. I remem- 

 ber seeing an inexperienced gardener at a country parsonage 

 very much astonished, when he told me his Calctolarias would 

 damp-off however dry be kept them, at my callicg for a tub 

 of water and patting all his plants ovtrhead in it. Ver- 

 benas, again, aa a rule are kept far too dry, and Ageratums 

 too cold. And that much-enduring plant, our old friend the 

 zonal Geranium, what a variety of treatment and suffering he 

 has to go through— either with roots dnst-dry in small pots 

 on dusty shelves near thereof, or delegated to cold (umes with 

 all the leaves picked off, and nothing larger than a shilling 

 allowed to remain on the plant. Sometimes, no doubt, the 

 cold-frame treatment may be a case of necessiiy ; but bow 

 often I am told they must not be kept growing during the 

 winter for fear of the growth being premature, or of their 



