July 14, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



21 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



01 



Month 



Day 

 of 



Week. 



JULY 14—20, 1870. 



Average Tempera- 

 ture near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 43 years. 



Sun 

 KiBea. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Kise3. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 



14 

 IB 

 16 

 17 

 18 

 19 

 20 



Th 



F 



S 



Sun 



M 



Tu 



W 



Newcastle (Staffordshire) Horticultural 

 St. Swithin's Day. [Show. 



5 Sunday after Trinity. 



Royal Horticultural Society's Oxford Show 

 [opens. 



Day. 

 74.5 

 76 6 

 76.0 

 74.S 

 74.7 

 73.2 

 73.2 



Night. 

 50.5 

 50.7 

 50.1 

 51.3 

 50.2 

 499 

 60.2 



Mean. 



62.5 



t>8.7 



63.0 



62.8 



62.5 



61.1 



61.7 



Days. 

 15 

 22 

 17 

 16 

 21 

 22 

 23 



m. h. 

 Iaf4 



2 4 



3 4 



4 4 



5 4 



6 4 



7 4 



m. h. 



lOaf 8 

 9 8 

 8 8 

 7 8 

 6 8 

 5 8 

 4 8 



m. h. 

 31 af 9 



10 

 21 10 

 43 10 



3 11 

 19 11 

 89 11 



m. h. 

 23 af 5 

 85 6 

 47 7 

 59 8 



7 10 

 14 11 



after. 



Days. 

 16 

 17 

 18 

 19 

 20 

 21 



c 



m. s. 

 5 32 

 5 38 

 5 44 

 5 49 

 5 54 



5 59 



6 2 



195 

 196 

 197 

 198 

 199 

 200 

 201 



From observations taken near London during the last forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 74. 6" 1 , and its night 

 temperature 50.4°. The greatest heat was 94 J , on the 17th, 1831 j and the lowest cold 33°, on the 17th, 1863. The greatest fall of rain was 

 1.60 inch. 



PRUNING ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. 



No. 4. 



AVING in previous papers treated at con- 

 siderable length on pruning Conifers and 

 the forms most suitable, I have chosen for 

 my third section the most serviceable of all 

 evergreen shrubs. 



Section III. consists of Hollies, Laurels, 

 Sweet Bay, Laurustinus, and Box. As spe- 

 cimens on lawns or at the sides of walks I 

 know of no equals to them. They can be 

 pruned to any extent, and in a short time 

 will be as green and well covered with foliage as ever; 

 and they can be formed into cones, pyramids, round bushes, 

 or any other shape, and be kept to it with the smallest 

 possible increase in size : hence their adaptability for 

 architectural gardens. The subjects comprised in this 

 section are well worth}' of separate note ; therefore I shall 

 commence with the Holly, which admits of three different 

 modes of pruning, or rather training, to secure — 1st, cones 

 or pyramids ; 2nd, bushes ; 3rd, open natural trees. 



Hollies as Cones or Pyramids. — Man can aid in pro- 

 ducing more beautiful objects than Nature left to herself, 

 but he cannot cause a subject Nature has decreed shall be 

 a pyramid to become a handsome bush. Mr. Rivers, the 

 father of close pruning or summer pinching, has found out 

 that : some kinds of fruit trees, he tells us, are not adapted 

 for bushes, but they form handsome pyramids, and the 

 contrary also holds true ; and so it is with Hollies. All 

 may be formed into cones, but it is by a very close crop- 

 ping of the side shoots, and the subjects thus treated never 

 have a natural appearance ; they are on a par with standai d 

 Roses — the acme of ugliness. 



Good sorts of Hollies for cones are I. Aquifolium, 

 Aquifolium fremina, Aquifolium flava, altaclerensis, balea- 

 rica, glabra, Hodginsi, maderensis, and Shepherdi. All 

 except the first three have splendid broad leaves ; the best 

 are Hodginsi, maderensis, and altaclerensis ; the first of 

 these will form a fine avenue when planted by the sides of 

 a broad walk. 



Of the variegated sorts, the gold and silver-edged are the 

 best two ; then Handsworth New Silver. Gold and Silver- 

 blotched, and the Gold and Silver Queen's, but none out- 

 vie the two first-named and oldest. 



Cones or pyramids of any of the above are secured by, 

 as might be expected, cutting in the sides and encouraging 

 the top. The trees almost invariably grow more strongly 

 at some distance from the ground than near it : hence the 

 necessity of securing branches near the ground or base of 

 the tree while it is young, for if not produced then they can- 

 not be obtained after the tree is of good size. The greatest 

 difficulty is in securing a good leader and keeping it per- 

 pendicular. If the trees are required to form close pyra- 

 mids, a strong growth in the leader is a disadvantage 

 rather than a gain, as with a vigorous leader we have the 

 side shoots considerably further apart than when the 

 growth is not very strong. I consider it well to select for 

 pyramids trees with straight stems, and with the branches 

 No. 485.— Vol. XIX., New Series. 



set on near the ground, and the pruning of the side shoots 

 should begin when these have extended about 1 foot from 

 the stem. Then take off then: points, and a string fastened 

 to the end of the shoot, and extending upwards to a height 

 of 3 feet, and brought to the centre of the tree, will show 

 to what extent the side shoots are to be pruned, none 

 being pruned closer to the main stem than 3 inches ; 

 the leader being 6 inches above where the side branches 

 are cut back to 3 inches. This being done, we shall have 

 trees about 4 feet high, half that through at the base, and 

 gradually tapering upwards. Care should be taken to 

 have the centre erect, the cone from the base tapering 

 upwards all round. The best time to prune is just before 

 the trees begin to grow, and they will not require any 

 further pruning the same season than the stopping of any 

 irregularity of growth, which it is better to do in time ; 

 for by stopping a strong shoot during its period of growth 

 we induce greater vigour in those shoots remaining un- 

 stopped, and have a greater chance of obtaining in the 

 stopped shoot growth of the character required. 



The following spring the tree will need to be gone over, 

 and the side shoots cut in, or such of them as have ex- 

 tended beyond an extent corresponding to the others ; and 

 as we may in a vigorous, healthy tree calculate on about 

 ■f inches of annual increase in the growth, we must shorten 

 the lowest shoots to that length, and with a line from, 

 them., as before, to the apex or top of the leader or tree, it 

 will be readily seen to what extent the side branches will 

 require shortening. We have in this case a greater in- 

 crease of the tree at its base than in its upper parts. The 

 top will always be the strongest, therefore cut in the top 

 most, and the lower part will become well furnished ; this 

 effected, we can easily furnish the top. If the leader 

 deviate from the perpendicular, either cut it away to the 

 point where it is in the centre — and this is the best plan if 

 the leader is very strong — or secure it in the centre with a 

 stake, the latter mode being desirable when the tree is 

 growing weak in the centre. The whole art in pruning 

 Hollies in the form of cones is to cut them to that form 

 every spring, and leave the rest to nature. The trees will 

 sometimes put out strong shoots from the main stem or 

 branches, and those having an upward tendency, or grow- 

 ing over shoots they must enfeeble, should be rubbed or 

 cut off close to the part whence they proceed. The trees 

 will not have an equal amount of branches all round — some 

 parts will be thick, others thin ; therefore, in pruning, thin 

 out the most crowded parts of the tree, and cut the thin 

 parts but little or not at all, only pruning enough to preserve 

 the required shape. Open spaces or sunk parts should not 

 have the shoots shortened, but be allowed to grow until 

 the space is filled up. 



Bushes are formed by restraining the upper part or centre 

 of the tree, the shoots there not being permitted to grow 

 erect, except for the extension of the plant. To secure a 

 c'ose growth near the base it is necessary that the head be 

 taken off at the height of 2 or 3 feet from the ground, and 

 the side shoots ought not to be stopped until they are 

 distant from the stem half the height of the tree. This 

 will afford the basis of a half sphere. All that is required 



No. 1187— Vol. XLIV., Old B*eies. 



