60 Memoirs of' the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 



Another variety of the Montreuil mode of pruning is de- 

 nominated Sieulle's (a la Sieidle), from the name of its inventor. 

 It is described in Mr. Neil's very interesting Horticultural 

 Tour, and in the Encyclopaedia of Gardening, § 4505. The 

 characteristic of this mode is, that the mother branches are 

 never shortened, and that the wall is filled by the side branches 

 proceeding from these. Much of the excellence of this mode 

 depends on the exactness of disbudding, by which the force 

 of the tree is economised ; but, after a certain age, the two 

 mother shoots are apt to become sterile in the production of 

 branches. 



It is remarked by Mr. Smith, that we must not expect to 

 find the pruning in French gardens, such as it appears in 

 French books on gardening : " but it is well to have an 

 elevated beau ideal" He concludes by noticing some of the 

 defects of our own system. " The adaptation of stocks to 

 soils has not been sufficiently studied in this country. In 

 France the peach is budded on almonds in dry situations, 

 while such as are destined for heavy loams are inserted on 

 plums. The French seldom venture peach trees on such 

 clayey soils as we not unfrequently do." (See Gard. Mag, 

 vol.ii. p. 167. 169.) 



" Instead of budding the tree on the spot on which it is to 

 grow, or transplanting it when, in technical phrase, it is a 

 maiden, that is one year old, we, in our impatience, have re- 

 course to trees which have been trained in the nurseries. 

 Such plants, by a vigorous application of the knife, are made 

 to produce an abundance of showy wood, and at the same time 

 ai'e so circumscribed, that they do not cover half so much 

 wall as the French trees of the same age. The vegetable 

 energy, thus confined w T ithin a narrow space is ready to burst 

 forth, in whatever irregular manner chance may determine. 



" The principal members, which form the skeleton of the 

 tree, are seldom sufficiently distinguished from the other 

 branches. Taking their origin chiefly from the centre of the 

 tree, they become too crowded, and they are further allowed 

 to separate into an indefinite number of subdivisions. This 

 defective arrangement, in general, and especially when com- 

 bined with the foregoing circumstances, fails not to overthrow 

 the equilibrium of the sap. 



" Again, there is a want of distinction between the subor- 

 dinate members and the bearing shoots. The latter, too fre- 

 quently pass into the former, and then, in the confusion which 

 follows, amputation either of larger or smaller branches be- 

 becomes necessary. In consequence of these irregularities, the 



