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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Augusts!, 1376. 



in the former, and Mr. Jackson can only attribute the slight 

 deficiency in the one from the other through having to restrict 

 the two Tines more than the one. 



This is a very strong case in favour of the extension system 

 of Vine-growing. Lord Scarsdale takes a great delight in his 

 Grapes, and well he may, as better crop3 no one need desire 

 to possess or see. Just fancy going into a house 40 feet by 8J, 

 and being able to cut from twenty to thirty bunches of superb 

 Black Hamburgh Grapes, and not one of them under 5 lbs. 

 each. — J. Muik. 



SMALL FKUITS IN TREE FORM. 



Many of our most prominent pomologists have taken the 

 ground that fruit trees of every description succeed best in our 

 hot dry climate when allowed to branch from the ground ; that 

 the action of the sun's rays on the long naked trunk iB highly 

 injurious to its health and productiveness. Some even go so 

 far as to say that the Apple, the most reliable of American 

 orchard trees, will yield a far larger profit and show a higher 

 state of vigour when trained in the shape of a large bush than 

 when trimmed up as a tall standard, and they bring such con- 

 vincing proofs as the growing trees to sustain their arguments. 

 That there is a great deal of truth in this reasoning as well as 

 notable exceptions to the rule we are forced to admit ; but the 

 system, as a system, is correct, and should be more generally 

 carried out by our fruit-growers in training their young trees. 



One of the most curious instances of the standard form 

 yielding better results than the dwarf is exemplified in the new 

 standard Currants and Gooseberries now on exhibition at the 

 Centennial grounds in Philadelphia. These pretty little trees, 

 for they are exceedingly ornamental, were planted in one of the 

 beds the past spring, have received no extra care either in 

 mulching or watering, and yet they have made a fine growth 

 in every instance, and perfected very large crops of superior 

 fruit. An unanswerable argument in their favour so far is, 

 that there has never been the least symptom of mildew either 

 on foliage or fruit, but whether this feature will remain per- 

 manent has to be tested ; it seems really too good to prove 

 true. Seedlings from the Lancashire varieties raised in this 

 country will frequently produce perfect fruit for a few years, 

 and then fall into the evil ways of their parents ; grafted in 

 the manner described, however, this disease may not attack 

 them, and we hope for the best. 



The stock used for the purpose is the common Missouri 

 Currant (Ribes aureum) trained to a single stem, and it is 

 astonishing how the grafts appear to favour this species. The 

 originator claims that the influence of the root is what pre- 

 vents the mildew from appearing, and I see no cause to doubt 

 his arguments, as seeing is certainly believing. These little 

 trees are not entirely new in this country, as they have been 

 tested in New Jersey for several years past, and with the most 

 complete success so far. It is indeed a novel and very orna- 

 mental sight to see these miniature trees with their weight of 

 fruit depending from the branches, and in some instances with 

 both Gooseberries and Currants in tiers one above another of 

 the largest size. Charles Downing, who will not lend his influ- 

 ence to a doubtful fruit, has given them his endorsement, and 

 Dr. Siedhof of New Jersey has been growing them for more 

 than seven years to his entire satisfaction. — (Neic York Tribune.) 



ORNAMENTAL AND USEFUL TREE-PLANTING. 



No. 3. 



The eye is familiar with the Lime in walks, avenues, and 

 squares, where, under favourable conditions, it has a striking 

 and graceful effect, and special attractions in the fragrant 

 scent of its flowers and the summery hum of the bees as they 

 sip their honey. The smoker knows no choicer rendezvous 

 than the Lime walk for the enjoyment of a quiet " weed ;" 

 and a specimen of a very perfect Lime walk with interwoven 

 canopy may be seen in the gardens of Trinity College, Oxford. 

 The drawback to the Lime is a freakiness of growth in even 

 the clays and gravels that are said to suit it best. A consider- 

 able difference will occur between two Limes in the same 

 avenue, and the disparity from the Elms, which were probably 

 planted at the same date, will be found much greater in some 

 than others. A feature, too, which does not enhance the 

 beauty of the Lime, though it has a solid raison d'etre as an 

 asylum for small birds, is the dense thicket of twigs and shoots 

 which often grow out of its very centre or heart. Still the 

 Lime may olaim to be an ornamental tree; whilst its uses, in- 



j dependent of its honey-cups and the " bast " which it furnishes 

 for mat-making and plant-tying, consist in supplying the best 

 of woods for the carver, the smooth-grained, insect-proof, pale- 

 yellow material, which yielded such delicate and enduring 

 handiwork to the touch and under the graving tool oi Grinling 

 Gibbons. Specimens of this are to be seen at Chatsworth, 

 Windsor, and St. Paul's, with the lines still fresh and sharp 

 after a lapse of two hundred years ; and another splendid 

 example of this famous artist's skill is the carving in the 

 saloon and rooms adjoining it at Holme Lacy, Herefordshire. 

 Another use of the Linden wood is for the sounding-boards of 

 pianos, as it is less inclined to warp than other timber. The 

 Tilia alba is a variety of the T. europasa, with a silvery under- 

 leaf ; and there is an American Lime which differs from the 

 European in having its young shoots brown instead of bright 

 red. 



Walk we next into the Beech woods for the charm of dryness 

 under foot, and in autumn the yellow and amber tints over- 

 head, no less than for the grace and nobility of contour which 

 no tree critic except Gilpin has attempted to deny. Prece- 

 dence might be claimed for the Sweet Chestnut, but that is 

 a naturalised alien ; whereas, but for Caesar's statement that 

 there was no Beech in England, we should claim it as a native. 

 As park timber, in clumps, pairs and triplets, it has a fine 

 effect ; and though ill suited to mix too much with other trees 

 will thrive apace amidst its own kind. It makes the best and 

 densest of hedges, except the Yew and Holly, and there is no 

 tree better for a screen fence. In habit it varies with its con- 

 ditions. Drawn up by contiguous trees, its clean straight stem 

 of a smooth olive grey is eminently graceful, as witness the 

 two giants of straight and branchless trunk, named the King 

 and Queen, at Ashridge, Lord Brownlow's seat in Herts, the 

 finest samples of their kind in England. Where, however, it 

 stands alone, its form is that of an expansive round-headed 

 tree, apt to be short of stem, but having its head composed of 

 crowding branches, which bend, curve, and inarch in various 

 fashions. The finest example probably of this type in Europe 

 is a Beech at Newbattle Abbey, near Edinburgh, with a bole 

 of 33 feet at 2 feet from the ground, a height of 100 feet, and 

 an overspread of branches not less than 120 feet in circum- 

 ference. Its lower branches arch over till they reach the 

 ground, when they assume an upright growth, disguised in 

 summer by ample foliage. This tree, planted according to 

 tradition in the sixteenth century, is an exception to the rule 

 that the Beech, which reaches its prime at seventy or eighty 

 years, decays rapidly after a century or a century and a half. 

 An illustration of it is given in the Gardener's Chronicle, 

 October 21, 1874. The Beech grows kindest on chalky soils, 

 as in Kent, Berks, and the midlands ; but it does well on clayey 

 loam and generally where the subsoil is dry. Had we space, 

 it might be shown that mycologists and entomologists have 

 their Epecial interests connected with the Beech ; but it must 

 suffice us to notice a form of disease to which it is subject, and 

 which we have not seen noticed in the books on arboriculture. 

 This is a woolly white mould upon the bark of tall clear- 

 stemmed trees, resembling in appearance the American blight 

 on the Apple's bark. It is .said to be curable by copious 

 dressings of oil ; but the remedy is a laborious one, and in the 

 meanwhile trees thus affected pine and shrivel. A notice of 

 the Beech would be incomplete without a reference to the 

 Purple Beech, and its sub-variety the Copper Beech, which are 

 such effective contrasts to the green leaves of the garden and 

 lawn in all their phases of colour. Our trees of this kind are 

 produced chiefly by in-arch grafting from the stock of the 

 original tree discovered a century ago in a wood of Germany. 

 A weeping Beech and a variety with leaves blotched with yellow 

 or white are worth consideration. 



Linnaeus and his contemporaries regarded the Sweet Chest- 

 nut as a species of Beech, from which, however, it differs 

 generically in having long and cylindrical and not globular 

 catkins. For its well-girthed twisted trunk, broad leaves of, 

 a dark glossy green, and comparatively lightsome head, the 

 Castanea vesca is entitled to rank amongst the trees of the 

 park, though it is no match for the Oak or many other timbers 

 in durability and soundness. On deep sandy loam or a rich 

 gravel it is good timber enough up to thirty-five or forty 

 years, and does well for gates and rails, or at a much earlier 

 date for hop-poles and barrel-staves. But after fifty or sixty 

 years, dialling or decay is apt to detach the annual layers 

 from each other, and the tree becomes shaky. Its economic 

 virtue is, strange to say, its precocity. In France, Spain, 

 and Italy, from which last the Romans probably brought it 



