338 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



( Octolier 14, 1876. 



visible growth dnring the spring suddenly shot-up one long 

 stem, which bore one very fine blossom quite at the end, and a 

 small imperfect one on a lower branch. The new branch is at 

 least 4 feet long, and looks straggling and awkward. Should 

 I cut it down ? And sTiould Rosea generally in such a locality 

 be cut short at this time of year ? I have tried in vain to find 

 a good crimson climber. Before I close let me recommend, as 

 one of the very best yellow bedding annuals I know, Tagetes 

 signata pumila. It is at this time a perfect mass of colour, 

 and grows compact and very bushy, making a moat ahowybed. 

 — A Lady Gakdenee. 



[This ia the letter of a true gardener — one who clearly loves 

 her garden and will not willingly succumb to adverse circum- 

 stances. It is Bueh earnest workers whom we are especially 

 desirous of aiding. In a smoke-polluted atmosphere the only 

 antidote is the water engine; by its aid and a judicious selec- 

 tion of plants a smoky garden may be made fairly enjoyable. 

 Sparrows may be dealt with in two ways ; one is to destroy 

 them, and the other is to feed them. If they are fed regularly 

 in a place distant from the garden a great deal may be done 

 in preserving the crops. Peas should be protected. In the 

 absence of regular " protectors " (which are cheap and efficient) 

 lengths of closely-woven hexagon wire netting bent over the 

 rows will answer the purpose admirably, and will completely 

 baffle the birds. Caterpillars (in this instance the sparrows 

 have not eaten them) can only be kept down by hand-picking. 

 This may be done, and should be in young plantations of 

 Cabbages. A mixture of soot and lime to be dusted over the 

 young plants occasionally is also recommended. Black Car- 

 ranta and Raspberries are alike in requiring a moist soil, and 

 both will endure some shade, but the latter do not flourish so 

 well in a town garden as the former. Closer planting will not 

 induce fruitfulness (the canes are worn out), but a fresh plan- 

 tation from a vigorous stock might produce fruit for a few 

 years. Carter's Prolific is a good and robust-growing sort. 

 Raspberry canes are short-lived in town gardens, and need fre- 

 quent renewing. Filberts are not adapted for town gardens, 

 and are never profitable. The American blight on the Apple 

 trees may be destroyed by dressing the parts affected with 

 paraffin. This must be done in the winter. The unnamed 

 Pear is Louise Bonne of Jersey. Fill the vacancy with a dupli- 

 cate tree of the sort which has been found to flourish the best. 

 Are the trees too fall of wood ? The one " which makes but 

 little growth bears." If the branchea are thick the growth is 

 gross by each shoot struggling to obtain air. The branches 

 must be thin, so that the sun can shine quite through each 

 tree, and if after that they continue to grow too luxuriantly 

 cut some of the main roots. Prune the Rose to one-third its 

 length of young wood, and all the Roses should be encouraged 

 to grow strongly by liberal supplies of liquid manure to the 

 roots, and frequently syringing the foliage, and they should be 

 pruned short-in in the winter. Amadis ia a good crimson 

 climber. Is not the surface soil of the garden light and poor, 

 and the subsoil strong and wet ? Rich surface dressings and 

 Uquid manure at any season should be given to the Raspberry 

 canea and Roses. Mulch also to induce surface-rooting of the 

 fruit trees, for surface roots produce fruitful wood, but subsoil 

 roots create an excess of robust shoots and foliage, which is 

 not conducive to fruitfulness.] 



PEACHES INDOOBS AND OUT. 



Enclosed ia a Peach grown on a atandard out of doors ; the 

 tree has had no protection, and was removed out of my orchard 

 house, after the wood was ripened, in October, 1874, where it 

 had ripened a crop of fruit very much larger but not so high- 

 flavoured as they are this year. The tree has ripened all its 

 fruits this season ; all exactly the size of the enclosed speci- 

 men. It is planted in a bed having a westerly aspect and 

 gravelly soil two miles south of Birmingham, and nearly 

 500 feet above the sea level. 



I have found that anything which checks luxuriance ia con- 

 ducive to fruitfulness : the replanting would do so. Some of my 

 labels were tightly tied with fine whipcord, and cut deeply into 

 the branches ; these branches alone bore fruit on several of 

 the trees when young. My practice is not to water Peaches, 

 Nectarines, &c. , from October (when they have several hundred 

 gallons) until the fruit is set ; the young fruit then adheres 

 very firmly, and shows no tendency to drop o2. 



There are twenty-five trees in my orchard house, each from 

 8 to 14 feet in diameter, and all with only one exception bore 

 a good crop. This season the glass is butted instead of being 



lapped, which admits the dew as well as more air than the old 

 plan, hence I think my succeas. — Thos. A. Bickley. 



[The fruit seat was perfectly ripe, but we could not test ita 

 flavour, as it was smashed. — Eds.] 



THE POMEGRANATE. 



The Pomegranate (Punica granatum), although it does not 

 produce ita fruit in England, is exceedingly attractive by ita 

 beautiful scarlet flowers, which it produces freely on warm 

 Bonth walls in the southern counties. It is generally, how- 

 ever, sparse in flowering, a consequence in most instances of 

 over-luxuriant growth by rich soil and extreme moisture at the 

 root. Where the site is warm, and the soil dry and rather 

 poor, this plant will generally flower freely under careful cul- 



Fig. 72.— Punica granatum. 



tnre and a correct system of pruning. The branches should 

 be thinly disposed, so that the foliage of one does not overlap 

 that of the next, and the lateral growth should be weak and 

 stubby. If the lateral growth is robust no amount of pruning 

 will result in blossom, for each cutting only causes stronger 

 growth and more unlikely blooming-wood being produced. In 

 most cases where bloom does not appear the remedy is to be 

 found in root-pruning. This in connection with a free thin- 

 ning of the branches ia almost invariably the meana of in- 

 ducing the formation of blossom buds and a profusion of the 

 coveted scarlet flowers. 



In pruning much the same treatment as that given to the 

 Apricot will be correct — that is, by pinching the young growth 

 in summer, and admitting the eun to every part to mature the 

 wood. But still this pinching must not be excessive, for if 

 the shoots are so strong as to require continual pinching it is 

 plain that root action is too vigorous, and it is at the root that 

 the check must be given. If the breast wood of the Pome- 

 granate grows more than 6 inches in length it ia seldom that 



