General Notices. 327 



in breadth of bark from the bottom to the top of the trunk. I shall have 

 some interesting observations on this subject to make in the course of a few 

 months, when I have more leisure. — J. M. Feb. 6. 1842. 



Fences. — In the notices on planting and training quick hedges, your corre- 

 spondents repeatedly direct the shoots to be cut back every year, with a view 

 to thickening the hedge. My experience has shown that such a practice 

 will effectually mar the object that it is wished to advance. It is right to 

 cut the thorn within an inch of the root at planting, for the purpose of making 

 it throw out a number of shoots at that point ; and if the plant is pruned after- 

 wards at 2 or 3 feet from the ground, the same result follows, i. e. a number 

 of shoots spring from just below the cut : but these shoots soon steal the 

 sap, and nothing but a bare stem will, in a few years, remain below that point ; 

 thus making the hedge hollow at the bottom. My rule is this, and experience 

 has proved it to be a good one : never top a hedge till it has attained the 

 required height ; when it has been planted three years, the sides should be 

 trimmed up with the shears or hook, to encourage the laterals to multiply 

 shoots, taking care not to injure the leading shoots. This will make a single 

 row of thorns, originally planted at 4 in. apart, so thick that a bird will not 

 build in it. When the hedge has reached its full height, trim it level at the 

 top, and keep the sides cut, so as to allow no part to overhang another. The 

 practice of " laying" hedges, formerly so much in vogue, is now giving way to 

 an improved plan, viz. : after five or six years, cut out single plants at 

 intervals where the bottom may be thinnest, at 6, 9, or 12 inches from the 

 ground. The hedge will thus be kept full at bottom ; whereas, after twenty 

 years, a " laid " hedge is good for little. {Gard. Ckron., 1842, p. 142.) 



Grapes in Pots. — The only utility of growing grapes in pots, where there 

 are plenty of hot-houses, is to have a few to ripen in March and April. West's 

 St. Peter's, if properly managed, will hang in good condition till the end of 

 February, or, in some seasons, till March; and, where there is an early 

 vinerj', good grapes may be ripened in the beginning of May, where the border 

 is protected from frost and snow, so that a regular succession can be had all 

 the year round. I have put a dozen pots in on the 10th of October, and cut 

 on the 2d of March ; another dozen in the beginning of November, and cut 

 in April. Where grapes can be grown on the rafters, and proper attention 

 paid to the borders, it is so much time thrown away to attempt growing them 

 in pots. To the amateur and gardener with, perhaps, only a hothouse or 

 two, the case is different, for they are worthy of all his care and attention, as 

 I know of no plant to be compared with a vine well managed in a pot. ( W 

 Tillery, in Gard. Ckron., 1841, p. 830. 



Gooseberry Cuttings, which have a little wet moss tied on the bottom of the 

 cutting, are said to develope roots more abundantly than when this is not the 

 case. {Gard. Ckron., 1841, p. 781.) 



Filberts and Cosford Nuts, grafted on stocks of the Spanish nut, grow fast, 

 never throw up any side suckers, come immediately into bearing, and are very 

 prolific. {Gard. Ckron. 1841, p. 781.) 



A simple Method of producing early Cauliflowers. — Every one knows that 

 hand-glasses are useful for this purpose when they can be had; but as all are 

 not so wealthy as you in the South are, and therefore cannot afford so many 

 hand-glasses, it may be of some use to notice a method by which, without 

 these aids, I have produced cauliflowers fit for table somewhat earlier than 

 others which were sown at the usual time and protected in that way. The 

 seed was sown in the month of January under a hand-glass ; and, as 

 soon as the plants were of sufficient size, they were pricked out into a piece 

 of ground, with which a large proportion of sand had been incorporated, for 

 the purpose of inducing them to root well. When fit for final transplanting, 

 they were carefully lifted with good balls, which is easily done when the 

 ground is not too wet, in consequence of the numerous rootlets which they 

 form in the sand, and they were planted in the usual way. By this treatment 



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