!S THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



earliest writers on gardening says, " If you wish an apple-tree to bear much fruit, apiece 

 of pipe should be bound tight round the stem." Another old author recommends the same, 

 also to sever some of the largest roots when the tree is too luxuriant ; or arresting the 

 flow of sap from the roots in one case, and its return through the stern in the other. The 

 force of the sap in trees is very considerable, varying, however, with different kinds, also 

 with the relative vigour of growth and the power of the foliage in drawing up the fluid 

 through the stems. In more than one instance the sap force has been measured and 

 authentic records show that its upward pressure through a cut vine-stem was equal in 

 one experiment to 38 inches of mercury, or five times greater than the force of the blood 

 in the crural artery of a horse. There is no wonder, then, that gardeners, and especially 

 amateur cultivators, should experience so much difficulty in stopping the " bleeding " of 

 vines, which often causes much trouble and anxiety in spring. It is most difficult to 

 arrest the escape of sap, but fortunately the exudation is easily prevented, as will be 

 explained in the notes that will follow on the management of vines ; and it may be added 

 that advice of a practical nature on the cultivation of this and all other fruits will be 

 the better comprehended if what may be termed the science of vegetation is fairly under- 

 stood, because the reason for certain operations will then be appreciated, and they will be 

 carried out the more effectively. 



FLOWERS. 



We now pass to examine the flowers of fruit trees, a most interesting study. When 

 trees are laden with blossom in spring they command admiration by their chaste beauty J 

 but few who thus delight in the silvery scene afforded by plums, pears, and 

 cherries, and the warmer glow of the rosy -tinted apple- blossom, pause to examine the 

 flowers individually, and so become acquainted with their component parts, and their 

 functions in the production of fruit. The majority of persons have no clear con- 

 ception of the nature and working of the floral organs ; but no person who 

 engages in fruit culture ought to be content to remain in ignorance on the subject. 

 The term "flower" does not refer to the attractive or coloured portion only, the 

 petals, but embraces all the organs, obscure as some may be, that share in the 

 production of seed. The flowers of some plants or trees that bear edible fruit are 

 remarkable for their beauty, the passiflora, or passion-flower, for instance, while apple- 

 blossom, if it were as rare as stephanotis, would not be considered less attractive. On the 

 other hand, the flowers of the vine are relatively inconspicuous, and those of the ng still 



