62 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 25, 1878. 
judged under number the very numbers would afford them 
valuable shelter. Let the judges be trusted, as they ought to 
be, and the same satisfaction will be given at the large country 
shows that is such a striking and pleasant feature of the 
London exhibitions. 
ROSE SHOWING. 
As Mr. Hinton says, ever since the Rose election, articles 
have been appearing in the Journal discussing the various 
points of an exhibition Rose ; and the one point upon which 
nearly all the writers seem to agree is that a medium-sized 
Rose having good form, colour, freshness, &c., should rank 
above a larger Rose lacking either of these points. An in- 
stance is mentioned by one writer of a gentleman setting up 
a stand of undersized Roses in a small box, so that they were 
brought close together, and were consequently awarded the 
prize, being referred to as a nice even lot; while another stand 
containing some larger blooms was compared to a lot of 
Cochins’ and bantams’ eges mixed up together. But it would 
seem as if the Judges at Hereford (I have not the least idea 
who they were) were of a different opinion. This makes it 
more desirable that the suggestion of printing the names of 
the judges on the schedules should be carried out. 
In “WyYLpD SAVAGE’S” glowing word-picture of the above 
Show (and what a masterly hand he is at this work !) there 
are four points of excellence mentioned about Mr. Jowitt’s 
‘stand of thirty-six, and three faults about Mr. Baker’s—viz., 
<‘Mr. Jowitt’s was more even, had more Teas, were more 
varied in colour, and the arrangement was a little better; 
Mr. Baker spoilt his box by inserting in the back row a large 
coarse bloom; his Capitaine Christy was a little past, and 
three Roses were alittle undersized ;’ and yet he was awarded 
the first place! This seems like the reverse of the case referred 
to above. : ae 
In closing. let me say Iam not an acquaintance of Mr. Jowitt’s 
disappointed at his defeat. Inever to my knowledge saw him, 
neither do I know Mr. Baker. I simply write in the hope 
that the cognoscenti will write further upon the subject of Rose 
showing and judging, and so the smaller fry will gain in- 
formation, and perhaps some may fall to the lot of -A LOVER 
OF ROSE SHOWS. . 
P.S.—What about the rules for judging decided upon by 
the National Rose Society? [They are published in another 
column.—EDs. ] 
SEASONABLE NOTES ON FRUIT TREES. 
SHOULD the present fine weather which we have experienced 
for the last two or three weeks last much longer, we shall 
hear no complaints next year of fruit trees bearing badly 
through the wood not haying been well ripened. No doubt 
this is often one of the causes of a deficient fruit crop, 
-and it is also very often the cause of fruit trees losing their 
branches and fine healthy-looking limbs dying-off at all times 
-of the year without any apparent cause. But allow me to 
state that when this takes place I think it is frequently as 
much the fault of the cultivator as the absence of sun or any 
other cause. If we may judge other people’s trees from our 
own they will have made a great quantity of wood during the 
early wet part of this season, and to allow early spring and 
summer growths of this kind to “hang as they grow ” until 
the end of the season, or until they are pruned and nailed 
‘again, as is very often the case, no amount of sun will have 
fruitfully matured the wood, simply because in masses of 
young wood the sun only scorches a few of the leaves on the 
face and never penetrates to the base of the shoots, which is 
the chief fruit repository of another year. 
It is some weeks since we went over all our trees, and they 
are now being gone over again. On the wall trees all the 
shoots which haye grown straight out were cut-in to 2 or 
3 inches from where they started, and where there was room 
+o extend the branches the points were left untouched. The 
standards were treated in much the same way, only some of 
the leading shoots were cut at 8 or 10 inches from the base, 
and the others from 2 to 3 inches. Before doing this it was 
quite impossible to see the main stems of many of the trees, 
and to leave such a quantity of wood with the intention of its 
ripening was quite out of the question; but after the shoots 
had been shortened the sun and air penetrated freely to every 
part of the wood, and whatever our crops fail for next year, it 
will not be for the absence of hard wood and plump eyes or 
buds. The work at the second pruning is light, as it is only a 
twig of a second growth here and there that has to be taken off, 
and the leading points which were left last time tied-in. Many 
will say they have no time to go over their trees in this manner, 
and I know it is the case in many gardens where there is only 
one man to do the work of three ; but even in cases where this 
false economy is carried out, I strongly advise that whatever 
else is neglected try to find time just now to cut-in the wood 
of your fruit trees. Do not leave it until winter when there 
is more time, as then all the good influences of the summer, 
and especially of the sun, will be lost. 
Pears, Plums, Apples, and Apricots may always be “spurred” 
in; but Peaches and Cherries, especially Morellos, should have 
the strongest shoots tied in and all the weakly or superfluous 
growths cutaway. Itis this that insures the thorough ripening 
of the fruit-bearing wood, as well as balancing the growth of 
the tree and doing that justice to it which every tree deserves 
that is expected to produce a fair supply of fruit. The more 
wood there is on the tree the greater is the demand for atten- 
tion, and the more shaded the situation may be the greater 
the necessity of exposing the permanent growth. Apart from 
the advantage the trees derive from work of this sort now it is 
a gain in other ways ; as where cutting off the shoots is done 
carefully now little or no winter pruning is required, and the 
wounds at the points of the spurs are healed over without 
being exposed to severe weather in winter. 
We do not nail-in the shoots of our Peach trees at the 
present time, but the points of the shoots are cut from the 
Currant bushes, the leaves stripped off, and the shoots pressed 
back with them, each end being fixed behind some of the old 
nailed-in branches. This holds them very well until the trees 
are overhauled in winter, and at the same time it opens 
up the Currant bushes by using their young shoots. When 
time will allow, Gooseberries, Raspberries, and all kinds of 
small bushes are benefited by having their wood thinned at 
the present time.—A KITCHEN GARDENER. 
BUILDING A GREENHOUSE. 
Iy the construction of a greenhouse, he who best combines 
strength, lightness, and soundness is most successful, for these 
are the fundamental points of most importance. Add to them 
a good method of ventilation, of staging, of affording artificial 
heat when necessary, use good materials, let the workmanship 
be honest, strong, and true, and you will have all that is essen- 
tial in your building and nothing that is superfluous. Orna- 
mental ridging, porticos, ironwork, may of course be added 
ad libitum according to individual fancy, but they are un- 
necessary, and need not, therefore, be taken into account in 
a paper devoted solely to matters of practical importance. 
A correspondent asks for assistance about the details of a 
span-roofed greenhouse about 20 feet wide, and I have made a 
few sectional drawings calculated to set the matter clearly 
before him and the numerous readers of the Journal to whom 
such hints are likely to prove useful. Fig. A represents a 
transyerse section of a plain serviceable structure, drawn to a 
scale of one-fifth of an inch to a foot. The points of import- 
ance, and to which attention must be given, are :— 
The Roof.—tThis is only 5 feet high at the eaves and 10 feet 
at the apex. It consists simply of fixed rafters morticed into 
a ridge-board at top and an eave-board at bottom. The width 
of the ridge-board (fig. B) depends upon that of the sashbars. 
Two inches will be thick enough for the house we are treating 
of. Fig. c represents a section of the beading fastened by 
screws or nails to the top of the ridge-board, as in fig. D, to 
preserve it from the action of the weather as well as to impart 
finish to the building. Fig. D also shows how the sashbars are 
morticed into the ridge-board, 1, 1, and how a groove, 2, 2, for 
the glass is ploughed in the ridge-board aboye each tenon. In 
glazing especial care must be taken to thrust the glass to the 
top of these grooves, so as to make the ridge weather-proof. 
The size of the sashbars is determined by their length and 
whether it is intended to strengthen the roof with stays or 
pillars with such excellent supports as shown in fig. A. A bar 
of the form shown in fig. E, 2} inches by 7 at its widest part, 
answers very well, with every fifth bar like the section fig. F, 
in size 3} inches by 2. When interior supports are not used 
the bars should be 3 inches by 13, with every eighth bar 
33 inches by 3. I have given all these bars a thorough trial 
and can recommend them. The eaye-board (fig. G) should be 
4 inches by 2, bevelled as shown, and with the small semicircular 
groove 1 to prevent any moisture creeping into the house under 
