264 



JOTJKNAL OP HOKTICULTTJKE AND COTIAGB GAEDENER 



[ April 4, 1866. 



pleted tlie more trouble the eap lias to circulate, and the 

 more time it has t-o become fully elaborated in the leaves 

 by the action of the light and air. The sap, converted into 

 cambium, must also descend more slowly by each separate 

 channel. This is a valuable aid towards the production of 

 firuit-buds, these, probably, being produced by the descending 

 fluid alone. Be this as it may, and the question is not as 

 yet satisfactorily decided, all seem agreed that to a dimi- 

 nished circulation is owing the formation of the genuine 

 fruit-bud. Lilting the tree, without injuring the roots, is a 

 powerful remeily when it is too vigorous, and making rank 

 growths. In many forms, however, which \'.-ill be hereafter' 

 more fully entered into, this lifting is never necessary in 

 Peach trees, because by summer stopping the shoots are 

 rendered fruitful, while the roots from the close planting of 

 the trees cannot acquire any xmdue development. In the 

 orchard-house I have never lifted any Peach trees, because 

 fertility was obtainable by the other means described. 

 Diagonal cordon Peach trees having only short fruitful 

 shoots on the main branches or leaders are easily restrained 

 in rigour. The fruit are produced close to the main leaders 

 by which they receive the direct action of the sap, and so 

 become largest. 



4. It is an axiom in Peach-culture thus to obtain the fruit 

 close to the base of the shoots. When, on the contrary, 

 these shoots are allowed to produce spray as well as the 

 spurs, a number of useless tlower-buds are formed which 

 the tree has no strength to mature. The sap is exhausted 

 by following so many needless channels, and the fruits 

 either fall at the period of stoning, or remain small and 

 hard. This defect is apparent chiefly in trees pruned on 

 the " long system." On the other hand, by close and 

 judicious summer stopping, in ordinary summers the flower- 

 buds wdl be developed near- the very base of each shoot. 



5. During severe weather no pruning whatever should be 

 undertaken, either of trees in the open air or in the or- 

 chard-house. The danger lies in exposing by the cut the 

 orifices of the sap-vessels ; these burst and are liable to 

 decay. Such trees as are exhausted by their crop should be 

 cut early in the autumn. This operation relieves the tree 

 and aids in promoting the next year's crop. After a sunny 

 and dry summer the wood is ripe, and should also be pruned 

 early, for the reason mentioned above. 



6. Xever prune the Peach-tree much at one time. If 

 pruned during the period of growth much sap is lost from the 

 wounded shoots before they can cicatrise. If this occurs in 

 the winter, that being the time for any more important 

 change, the tree always feels it. Bending down branches 

 even at that time is not always a safe operation, unless 

 gradually done, because at the lower portion where the bend 

 occurs the bark is compressed, and the sap cannot ascend 

 nor descend there so well as it did previously. On the other 

 hand, the upper portion of the bark is distended extremely, 

 and there ia much risk of a very strong wood shoot pushing 

 vertically. A portion of the winter pruning should, thei-e- 

 fore, be left ibr February; many shoots about which the 

 pruner had not made up his mind may then be regulated, 

 not to mention the numerous unavoidable accidents which 

 occur during a whole season, and disorder all our cal- 

 colations. 



7. Above all. let the amateur avoid considerable amputa- 

 tions of hia Peach trees. When he has to perform one let 

 him cut cleanly and as close as he can to the base of the 

 ramification. — T. C. Bbehaut. 



reflected the utmost credit upon the Association, is but a small 

 tribute to a society which has done more to elevate the 

 gardening community of this town and neighbourhood than 

 i almost any other means. It is computed that about 1800 

 visited the exhibition, and the pecuniary results must conse- 

 quently have justified the expectations of the members and 

 covered the expenses attending the show. The upper 

 decorations were principally designed by the President of. 

 the society (Mr. Robson), to whom many thanks are due 

 They were left till the following evening and contributed 

 largely to the enjoyment of the visitors to the temperance 

 soiree. — {Maidstone Journal.) 



Anntjal Exhibition of the Maidstone Gakdeners' 

 Society. — The second annual exhibition of the Maidstone 

 Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Association took place on 

 Tuesday at the Corn Exchange. Considering the adverse 

 character of the winter, and the frost which set in on Sunday 

 evening, the plants, both as regarded their number and 

 quality, far exceeded the expectations of the members, and 

 the arrangements were so admirably carried out as to meet 

 ■with the unqualified approbation of every one, though great 

 things were expected this year, in consequence of the 

 universal aatisfaction which attended the last exhibition. 

 The room presented the appearance of a winter garden, 

 upon which bad been bestowed the concentrated energies of 

 fifty ardent horticulturists. To say that the achievement 



POSITION OF BED.S -\:N'D BOEDEES— 

 MUSHEOOII-BEDS COLD. 



I rather differ from the editorial remarks about the border 

 in front of the house in the garden plan of " A. E. L.," in 

 your Number of March 14th. 



The border, b, which was nanrow, was made wider, and 

 last year it was by far the best thing in the garden. It is 

 in front of a house which stands in a very airy and exposed 

 situation, and it is a great advantage to the plants to have 

 the protection from the north winds. Where old creepers — 

 such as climbing Roses, Wistaria, Jasmine, itc, are grow- 

 ing against the house, they wiU not do well without a border, 

 and I do not think any old house looks well without these 

 flowering creepers against it. Is it not better in such a 

 case to have borders and to make them broad enough to hold 

 bedding-out plants as well as the roots of the creepers ? I 

 have always recommended this plan, and have already laid 

 out eight or nine gardens for different friends, besides giving 

 plans and designs for others where I have not been able to 

 go myself, so that your adverse criticism was entirely con- 

 trary to all my preconceived ideas. 



I have two or three leading theories about garden plans, 

 one is — that each bed ought to make a perfect and uniform 

 shape of itself; secondly, that in a set of beds the walks 

 ought to form patterns as well as the beds ; thirdly, all 

 points and unequal-shaped beds ought to be avoided as mudi 

 as possible ; fourthly, if on gi'ass all walks should be made 

 of a nearly uniform width, and so that a mowing-machine 

 can be worked in and out without much trouble and without 

 trampling on the borders, so as to avoid the necessity of 

 clipping afterwards. Thus the design in page 214 answers in 

 my opinion all these rules ; but in that at page 232, the large 

 scroll beds are quite out of proportion, so that in order to 

 plant it properly you are obliged to divide it into thi-ee or 

 four members with different colours, breaking the line of con- 

 tinuity, and practically making it into three or four unequal- 

 shaped beds. The bed. No. 1, and the borders on each side 

 are good because uniform ; but the scroll-beds do not answer 

 one law — i. e., they cannot by any line be divided into two 

 equal halves, and all beautiful shapes in nature for the most 

 part are capable of this division, as aU animals down the 

 vertebrfe ; leaves down the midrib ; flowers by a line di-a^vn 

 at right angles to the corolla, &a. 



Excuse this long letter ! I am puzzled what to do with a 

 Mushroom-bed. It is in a cellar, inside what was a large 

 bin, about 5 feet by 3, the sides are brick, and it is covered 

 with a wooden lid which fits quite tight. I put about 15 inches 

 of droppings gathered in tlie usual way and never exposed 

 to any weather. The heat rose well, and I spawned in 

 about five days, and covered with IJ inch of soil tolerably 

 dry. All was as well as could be for a fortnight, but now the 

 bed has lost its heat, and I am afraid has become too cold to 

 produce Mushrooms. As it was inside a cellar and a wooden 

 air-tight covering over it, I did not put any litter or any- 

 thing over the bed, thinking it would keep its own heat. 

 Can that be the cause ? — X. Y. Z. 



[It is always well t-o agree to differ, and differ yet agree. 

 The longer we live the more tolerant we become to the 

 opinions of others, and the less dogmatic we become as to 

 our own. As a general principle we still hold to the opinion 

 expressed at page 214, in relation to the border B. " That 

 such borders conjure up ideas of damp and mouldiness in 

 the walls. Such borders, and pota, and boxes there, also 

 remind one of a town garden." Circumstances, however, 

 alter cases. If the house is so old and its appearance 



I 



