7S0 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



4613. Pruning wall-trees and espaliers. " Cut so as to bring in a partial succession of 

 new wood every year, and a complete succession once in two years : taking the old barren 

 wood out, as may be necessary. In the winter pruning, lay in the reserved branches and 

 shoots at six or seven inches' distance." 



4614 Williams observes, that the trained mulberry requires some nicety in pruning, otherwise it will 

 not bear fruit. " The following method has succeeded in my garden for several years past. All the an- 

 nual shoots, except the fore-right, are neatly trained to the wall, and these last must be left to grow till 

 towards midsummer, and then be shortened about one third of their growth to admit light to the leaves 

 beneath. By the end of August the fore-right shoots will have advanced again, so as to obstruct the light, 

 and they must then be shortened nearer to the wall than before. In the month of March, or beginning 

 of April, the ends of the terminal shoots should be pruned away down to the first strong bud that does not 

 stand fore-right, and the front shoots which were pruned in August, must also be shortened down to two 

 or three eyes. If trained after this method, the tree will afford fruit the third year; when the manage- 

 ment of the fore-right shoots must be somewhat different. These should now be shortened at the end of 

 the month of June or beginning of July, so as to leave one leaf only beyond the fruit, the terminal shoots 

 being nailed to the wall as before, and left without any summer pruning ; the fore-rights will not advance 

 any further, as their nutriment will go into the fruit, which, when quite ripe, becomes perfectly black, 

 very large, and highly saccharine." 



4615 Knight remarks (Hort. Tr. iii. 63.), that the mode recommended by Williams may suit the ex- 

 tremely fertile soil and climate of Pitmaston. " But in cold situations (and it is chiefly in such that the 

 mulberry-tree will be found to deserve a place on the south wall,) little fruit will be produced, and that 

 will ripen but ill, unless the bearing wood be brought closely into contact with the wall ; and the great 

 width of the leaves, and vigorous habit of the tree, present some difficulties to the cultivator, when this 

 mode of training and pruning is adopted. It will be found necessary to diminish the luxuriant growth of 

 the tree, and at the same time to increase its disposition to bear fruit. Such effects may, however, be 

 readily produced by several different means ; by destroying a small portion of the bark, in a line extending 

 round the trunk or large branches, or ringing, by tight and long-continued ligatures, or by training the 

 bearing branches almost perpendicularly downwards. I have adopted the last-mentioned method, because 

 it greatly increases the disposition in the tree to bear fruit, without injuring its general health, and be- 

 cause it occasions a proper degree of vigor to be every where almost equally distributed." 



4616. Season for pruning. " As the blossom-buds of the mulberry-tree cannot be readily distinguished 

 from others in the winter, the best period for pruning is when the blossoms first become visible in the 

 spring Pinch off every barren shoot which is not wanted to cover the wall, and stop every bearing 

 shoot under similar circumstances, at the third or fourth leaf. Williams has correctly stated, that the 

 bud immediately below the point, at which a bearing or other branch is pinched off, usually affords fruit in 

 the following year." (Knight, in Hort. Trans, iii. 63.) The mulberry succeeds better than any other tree 

 when trained downwards {Jig. 494.), either horizontally and drooping (a), or in the stellate manner (b). 



494 



4617. Renovating old mulberry-trees. Miller, Forsyth, and Knight, agree that this may be done with 

 trees of almost any age, by removing part of the branches ; or by completely heading down, and renewing 

 the soil by fresh mould enriched by dung. 



4618. Taking the crop. " The most forward berries attain maturity about the end of August ; and 

 there is a succession of ripening fruit on the same tree for about a month or six weeks ; the ripening ber- 

 ries gradually change from a reddish to a black color, and should be gathered accordingly for immediate 

 use • this delicate fruit will not keep good off the tree above a day or two." Coke and Knight have had 

 mulberries from wall and espalier trees in gathering from July to the end of October. (Hort. Trans. 



4619. Forcing the mulberry. Knight observes, that " the mulberry is a much finer fruit when ripened 

 under glass, in the north of Herefordshire, than in the open air ; and in the still colder parts of England 

 it is probably the only means by which it can be ripened at all. The culture of this fruit, by me, under 

 glass, has been confined to plants growing in pots ; but I am not acquainted with any species of fruit-tree 

 which, under such circumstances, produces more abundantly, or which requires less care. Its blossoms 

 set equally well in different degrees of heat, and the same continued temperature which will ripen the 

 earlier varieties of the grape in the end of July, will afford perfectly ripe mulberries early in June ; end a 

 tree of the latter species, when fully loaded with fruit, presents at least as agreeable an object to the eye 

 as many plants which are cultivated as ornaments only. It is not subject, under common care, to any 

 disease or injury, except the attacks of the red spider ; and as the foliage and growing fruit of the mul- 

 berry-tree are not at all injured by being wetted every evening with clear water, the red spider can never 

 prove a very formidable enemy." (Hort. Trans, ii.) 



Subsect. 2. Barberry. — Berberis vulgaris, L. (Eng. Bot. 49.) Hexan. Dig. L. and 

 BerberidecE, J. Epine Vinette, Fr. ; Berberitzen, Ger. ; and Berbero, Ital. 



4620. The barberry is a branchy prickly shrub, rising to the height of eight or ten feet, 

 with ash-colored bark, yellow inside. The flowers appear in pendulous racemes towards 

 the ends of the branches ; the corolla, yellow ; the berries at first green, but of a fine red 

 when ripe. The flowers appear in May with a cowslip odor ; and the fruit, which is of an 

 acid flavor, ripens in September. It is a native of the eastern countries, and also of most 

 parts of Europe, and is found in woods, coppices, and hedges in England, especially in a 

 chalky soil. It is generally supposed that the Puccinia, a fungus which closes up the epi- 

 dermis of the leaves of corn crops, and appears on their surface like rust, is generated by 

 the JEcidium berberides, an insect which inhabits the barberry. (Sir J. Banks on Blight, Sec.) 



4621. Use. The fruit is used for preserving, candying, and pickling, as well as for 

 garnishing dishes ; the plant is also an ornamental shr^ib, both when in flower and in 

 fruit. 



