4 Retros'pectwe Vietv of the 



still adheres to his opinion of staminate and pistillate plants, 

 and the last season addressed a letter to the Cincinnati Horti- 

 cultural Society, requesting a committee to be appointed to 

 test the question experimentally. We have not heard, how- 

 ever, of any report of their labors. We are, nevertheless, 

 perfectly satisfied that there is no such thing as staminate and 

 pistillate plants of the same variety. If a variety is origi- 

 nally defective in its fructifying organs it will ahvays remain 

 so. But we are not prepared to say that plants, thus defec- 

 tive, will produce as abundant crops when growing at a great 

 distance from perfect plants as the latter ; or that it is not 

 necessary to have some variety with an abundance of sta- 

 mens near to those which are deficient in them. The idea, 

 however, of male and female Keen's Seedling, Hudson, &c. 

 appears to us quite absurd. We are certain that this error 

 could only arise from two kinds, by negligence, running to- 

 gether, and subsequently supposed to be all of one variety. 

 We shall wait the experiments which are now in course to 

 arrive at some more positive conclusions. 



The summer pruning of trees has been very ably written 

 upon by our correspondent Mr. Carmichael, (pp. 164, 215,) 

 but recently assistant in the London Horticultural Society's 

 garden, under Mr. Thompson. The articles should receive the 

 careful attention of every cultivator of trees : We have seen 

 the principle carried out both in England and France, of 

 which we shall speak hereafter, and of its immense impor- 

 tance there is no doubt. Some discussion has taken place in 

 the Gardeners'' Chronicle^ and the merits of the system have 

 been questioned. To those, however, who have any phys- 

 ological knowledge, there can be no hesitation as to the bene- 

 fits which are to result from its successful practice : Some 

 experience is required to prune with perfect success, but close 

 attention and careful observation will point out the period 

 when the operation should be done. Summer pruning and 

 the use of the Quince stock, for several kinds of pears, will 

 be the means of bringing into bearing many of those varie- 

 ties which ordinarily require many years. 



Root pruning has been further elucidated by the extract of 

 an article from the pamphlet of Mr. Rivers, and an engraving 

 representing a root pruned tree in full bearing. We had the 



