November 14, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
361 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day | Day Average s », Ciock Day 
TA" G is Sun Sun Moon | Moon | Moon’s 
Rah airs NOVEMBER 14—20, 1878. pou neLacnre Dead Rises. Sets Rises. | Sets Age. pelore oe 
Day. ;Night. Mean| h. m.} h. m.j h. m./ h. m] Days. | m. s 
14 | TH Torbay and Walton Chrysanthemum Shows. 48.5 | 33.8 | 41.2 Cf py |) eh) alt 7 22 | 11 40 20 15 26 | 318 
15 | F Tunbridge Wells and Croydon Shows. 49.0 | 34.8 | 41.9 Tie 200 | ae Oh ee Sicson eran l2) 21 15 16 | 319 
16 |S | Bulb Sales at Stevens’s Rooms. | 48.9 | 33.2 | 41.0 7 (22 A Sal LON On Ores6 22 15 5 | 320 
17 SUN | 22 SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. | 48.1 | 33.9 | 41.0 7 24 4 6/11 22 0 55 ¢ 14 53 | 321 
18 M { mittees at 11 A.M. | 47.9 | 32.9 | 40.4 7 25 4 5] morn. Lay 24 14 41 | 322 
19 TU Royal Horticultural Society—Fruit and Floral Com- | 48.9 | 33.5 | 41.2 oy 4 4 O 44 nl EAS 25 14 27 | 323 
20 | W Liverpool, Ealing, Chelmsford, and Saffron Walden | 48.7 | 34.6 | 41.7 Cf EY) abe 3B} 2 9 1 42 26 14 13 | 324 
{ Shows. ! 
a sagas observations taken near London during forty-three years, thelaverage day temperature of the week is 48.8°; and its night temperature 
vo. . 
PRUNING SHRUBS. 
HE proper time to prune or cut-back trees 
and shrubs is a question often asked in the 
Journal. If experience warrants anyone 
giving an opinion on the matter I do not 
think that I need be afraid to state mine, as 
we annually do much of this kind of work. 
Our pleasure grounds extend to between 
thirty and forty acres ; nearly the half of this area 
Yi is covered with trees and shrubs, and many cart- 
C J) loads of stuff are cut from them every year. We cut 
: them with two objects in view—the first to keep them 
in shape, the second to keep them within due bounds. 
In cutting the shrubs into shape great care should be 
taken that this is not overdone, as nothing detracts so much 
from the beauty of a choice tree or shrub as cutting it into 
a formal cone. Our rule of cutting into shape simply con- 
sists of removing one of the leaders when two are forming, 
or cutting a few more points of one side than the other as 
the growth demands. In doing this we endeavour to cut 
without leaving any signs that pruning has been done. 
This applies particularly to single specimens on lawns, and 
isolated shrubs which stand apart from or above others in 
groups. 
Cutting to keep shrubs within bounds is generally prac- 
tised on Yew and other hedges, and on shrubs growing close 
to walks and flower borders and.also in clusters together. 
Hedges may be clipped smooth like the face of a wall, but 
Rhododendrons and similar evergreens should be cut with 
the knife only and that just to remove the intruding pomts, 
leaving no stumps in a prominent position where only a 
surface of leaves or leaf-bearing shoots should be seen. 
Apart from this, however, the form and style into which 
trees and shrubs are cut will follow the owner’s taste in 
many instances. 
The time of cutting is of very great importance. In 
situations where the winters are mild and cutting winds do 
not usually prevail in the spring every kind of tree and 
shrub that will grow unprotected in the open air may be 
sately cut, clipped, or pruned from the beginning of Novem- 
ber until the end of March. Cutting before November 
when the shoots may not be matured often causes them to 
die-back more or less from the wound, and to cut them 
when growth begins in April or during the growing season 
injnres many of the more tender sorts. In districts where 
the winters are generally frosty and severe only shrubs of 
the very hardiest description should be pruned until the 
latter end of March, and by that time it is, as a rule, always 
safe to prune any kind of shrub as freely as is required. 
The prunings of all kinds of shrubs cannot be more pro- 
fitably disposed of than burning them ; the ashes make an 
excellent manure for the kitchen garden. They suit all kinds 
of vegetables, and when mixed with a little soil they are ex- 
cellent for covering Onion and other seeds —PRACTICALIST. 
ORCHIDS IN COLD FRAMES. 
Srvce Mr. Gower found out by accident—the failure of a 
heating apparatus—that many Orchids would not only endure 
NO. 920.—VOL. XXXV., NEW SERIES. 
a much lower temperature than was at that time supposed, 
but would thrive with but little artificial heat, the culture of 
these beautiful plants has considerably increased. A few 
years ago collections of Orchids were more rare than collec- 
tions of Pine Apples are now. Orchids, however, are no 
longer limited to aristocratic gardens, but are now regarded 
as popular decorative plants, and are grown by hundreds 
where formerly dozens only were cultivated, and are seen in 
gardens large and small. They are grown in vineries, cool 
stoves, pits, and warm greenhouses associated with other 
plants, and in such mixed collections satisfactory results 
have been achieved. It is found that during the summer 
months many of the most free-flowering, useful, and beau- 
tiful Orchids in cultivation, such as Odontoglossums and 
Masdevallias, flourish admirably in houses having north 
aspects and where artificial heat is not afforded. This 
being so, it follows that there is nothing to prevent the 
plants succeeding equally well in unheated frames for four 
or five months in the year, or from the end of May until the 
middle of October. That many Orchids will succeed under 
this simple mode of culture, at least in the neighbourhood 
of London, Mr. Fisher, gardener to F. Williams, Esq., 
The Woodlands, Balham, has clearly demonstrated during 
the present season. On May 23rd Mr. Fisher placed a 
considerable number of small plants in 5 and 6-inch pots 
in a cold frame, and there they remained until the first 
week in October. I saw the plants shortly after they were 
placed in the frame, and again took occasion to inspect 
them just after they had been removed to the house after 
their summer sojourn in their humble quarters. The growth 
the plants made in the frame is of the most satisfactory 
character—fully equal if not superior to that made by plants 
grown wholly in houses. When removed from the frame 
the plants were remarkable for their healthy appearance, 
their sturdy growth, and fine brown pseudo-bulbs and robust 
spikes of bloom were showing freely on some of the 
Odontoglots. 
The frame was arranged with the lights sloping to the 
north. A portion of the soil was dug out to afford head 
room for the plants and to permit of a free circulation of 
air about them. Common flower-pot saucers were first 
placed quite level in the frame ; in each saucer a flower pot 
was inverted, and on these pots the plants were placed. 
The saucers were filled with water, and were constantly 
kept so, the water answering two important purposes— 
namely, producing an atmosphere exactly suited to the 
welfare of the plants, and effectually preserving them 
against injury by slugs. A light framework was impro- 
vised 3 feet or more above the frame, and on this a canvas 
blind was spread to break the fierce rays of the sun during 
the height of summer. The canvas of course might have 
been laid on the glass, a mode of shading adopted by nine 
out of ten who shade plants in frames, but it would have 
been far less effectual: the plants require all the light 
possible, short of direct sunlight, and all the air they can 
have, and both are afforded by having the canvas supported 
some distance above the glass, where it acts more as a cloud 
than a direct cover. It is surprising how much better plants 
thrive when shaded in the manner above noted than they 
No. 1572.—VOL. LX., OLD SERIES. 
ry 
