230 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE, 



[ September 14, 1876. 



ground, bnt in shallow soils in dry districts I regard it as one 

 of the most profitable Potatoes that can be grown. So satis- 

 fied am I of its excellence that I should not hesitate to place 

 properly cooked tubers in competition with those of any other 

 variety, either of American or English origin. When the 

 quality of Early Bose has been denounced I cannot but think 

 that it has been grown in over- wet or over-rich soils, or the 

 tubers have been imperfectly cooked. — A Maeket Groweb. 



AUTUMN PRUNING OF FRUIT TEEES. 



A shoet time ago a suggestive letter appeared in your 

 columns from Mr. W. Taylor on the desirability of the early 

 winter pruning of fruit trees. It is no doubt wise to complete 

 the pruning of fruit trees before Christmas, and in order that 

 this may be done, and as further benefiting the trees, I would 

 advise that the work be commenced in September. 



One can scarcely visit a garden this year without being 

 struck by two things — a scarcity of fruit and a superabundance 

 of wood, especially on young trees — I allude now to orchard 

 and pyramid trees of Apples, Pears, Plume, and Cherries. 

 These trees having little or no fruit to exhaust or modify their 

 strength have grown freely ; their shoots are not only long but 

 numerous", and ma it be considerably shortened and thinned 

 during the winter months. But in the matter of thinning 

 particularly, if it is necessary to remove the superfluous 

 shoots in December, January, or February, it is, I urge, still 

 more necessary to remove them now. If these shoots are not 

 required for the permanent furnishing of the trees, why defer 

 their removal to the dark days? It is a period of "dark 

 days " now in the centres of many fruit trees, and surely by 

 admitting light at a time when the foliage can benefit by it is 

 preferable to admitting it when there is no foliage. 



Further, by deferring the thinning of fruit trees to a time 

 when they are denuded of their leaves it too often happens 

 that the work is imperfectly done, and that after the thinning 

 lias been accomplished the branches yet remain too close and 

 too numerous. It is all very well to say that gardeners can 

 judge correctly in the winter season as to which shoots to cut 

 out and which to leave in, and no doubt many can; but it is 

 equally the fact that others err in leaving too much wood 

 when they have not the foliage to aid them in forming a 

 judgment of distances. 



The real essence of pruning does not so much rest in a 

 periodical shortening of the terminal branches of trees as in 

 having those branches judiciously placed as to their distance 

 from each other. If the branch of a fruit tree has sufficient 

 space for tie dtv lopmett of its foliage — that is, if its leaves 

 can expand without touching the leaves on other branches — it 

 matters little whether that branch grows to a length of 6 inches 

 or 3 feet, it is almost sure to be in its nature and character a 

 fruitful branch. Young branches of fruit trees which have 

 full exposure to light and air are almost sure to form natural 

 spurs, whereas if they are crowded they cannot do so ; and no 

 amount of shortening the branches in winter can render them 

 fruitful, and even the thinning of them when long deferred 

 is done too late to be effectual. The thinning of the branches 

 of all kinds of fruit trees is a matter of prime importance, and 

 if this work is properly done the question df shortening the 

 ■extremities resolves itself into a simple matter of appearances 

 — " putting the trees into shape." 



If a practised man will now examine a vigorous-growing and 

 crowded tree he will see at once that the branches are too 

 numerous to remain as permanent fruit-bearers, and it is 

 mentally resolved that the tree shall have " a good thinning " 

 in the winter. But why not do the thinning now ? Will the 

 wounds heal less readily now thin in winter? No. Can a 

 better estimate be formed when there are no leaves to guide 

 than when the folisge t^lls to a nicety when a tree is over- 

 crowded? No. When overcrowding is visible, the evil being 

 seer, can it be beneficial to suffer that evil to remain and 

 increase? Surely no. B-lieve, therefore, the overcrowded trees 

 and relieve th9m at once. Let the foliage which is struggling 

 for light, and by its efforts causing the darkness to be more 

 dense, have light — life-giving, health-promoting, fruit-pro- 

 ducing light. Light in winter when there are no leaves to 

 absorb it i3 of little mora benefit to a tree than are spectacles 

 to a blind man. Afford aid, therefore, when aid can benefit. 



Too often when thinning is deferred until the winter it is 

 not half done. Thousands of trees tell u? this in a way which 

 cannot be mistaken. In the winter brauches are removed and 

 the tree looks ihir>, but wait until the foliage is expanded, and 



the tree that "looked thin" in reality is thick, sealed alike 

 against light and air — a banishment, as it were, of the elements 

 which alone can promote fruitfulness. 



The overcrowding of trees contributes more than anything 

 else to the production of sappy and luxuriant branches. In 

 desperate struggles for light branch competes with branch and 

 leaf with leaf — both leaves and shoot3 increasing in size and 

 numbers — struggling, as it were, to get out of the wood. Trees 

 must and will have light, and if we do not guide the light to 

 the leaves at one end of the branches they will stretch out and 

 reach it by the other, and thus the elongation goes on which 

 we call unnatural — unnatural growth. Is i?, however, really 

 natural ; nature, as it were, bi-eakicg through the rigid con- 

 fines of art — the art of thick planting and pruning, which has 

 resulted in the undue multiplication of branches. 



It is not everyone who can correctly thin-out the branches 

 of treeB when they are leafless, but any intelligent person may 

 thin them now, for he has the safe unerring aid of the foliage 

 to guide him. Let him remove until the leaves on the re- 

 maining branches have room to expand, untouched by thoBe of 

 other branches', and admit the light to the very bases of the 

 branches and centres of the trees. If this is done now the 

 finishing touches at the winter pruning will be quickly given, 

 and the trees will be in better condition than if their entire 

 pruning were left to the leafless period — the "dark days "of 

 winter. — A Nokthekn Gardener. 



LESSONS OP THE SEASONS.— No. 4. 



SPEING. 

 The evils resulting from the excessive radiation of heat from 

 glass structures have frequently excited my attention, especi- 

 ally at that season of the year when — 



" Winter, lingering on the verge of spring, 

 Bttires reluctant, and from time to time 

 Looks back ; while at his keen and chilly breath 

 Fair Flora sickens." 



We erect buildings of glass and wood or metal, making them 

 as light and airy as is compatible with strength, in order to 

 throw as little shade as possible upon the interior, and to 

 attract and transmit solar heat as readily as may be ; they are, 

 in fact, just so many "traps to catch a sunbeam," but un- 

 fortunately failing to keep it, or rather the heat arising from it, 

 bo long as is desirable, simply because it escapes, not bo much 

 through the crevices of the building as through the glass itself, 

 which radiates heat so freely that a colder outside atmosphere 

 invariably induces a chilling process, which on a clear frosty 

 night acts wiih such rapidity as to render necessary a prompt 

 and abundant supply of artificial heat to replace the waste 

 arising in obedience to those natural laws by which the balance 

 of Nature is maintained. 



High wind is another cause of thi3 loss of heat. The bitter 

 north-east wind that was so violent and lasted so long in the 

 early months of the present year swept with great force round 

 every building, entering every crack and fissure, and playing 

 upon the exterior with its icy breath — bo cold, so cutting, and 

 so keen as to render the maintenance of a steady interior heat 

 a difficult and costly affair. We may suffer the temperature of 

 a stove or vinery at work to fall 10° or 12° below its ordinary 

 point on a stormy night without hurt to the plants or Vines, 

 but when the wind continues to blow strongly and coldly week 

 after week there is nothing for it but to throw in the fuel and 

 stir up the fires — really to combat force with force, not but 

 that such a contest is a thing to deplore, and which we would 

 gladly avoid were it possible to do so, for no growth is equal to 

 that upon which bright skies smile and soft fresh air plays. 

 We cannot, however, reckon upon securing much of these 

 great boons of Nature in early spring — the old dame's smiles 

 are then too treacherous to be trusted ; to-day the Bun may 

 shine and " the wind blow soft and fair," but the morrow's 

 dawn may break upon a hurricane of snow and wind. 

 " The early vinery in almost every garden has one end faoing> 

 the east, the early house being put at the eastern end of a 

 range in order that the Vines may derive as much benefit as 

 possible from the sun ; yet when the building is designed due 

 weight is not often given to the fact that the east end is the 

 most exposed to cold winds in spring — no attempt is made to 

 introduce any special feature there to resist the sweep of the 

 cold air which comes rushing against the buildiDg with great 

 force, often at a critioal psriod.of the Vine's growth ; but we 

 find there the same materials and workmanship — good or bad, 

 and, what is worse still, a door unguarded by screen or porch 



