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JOUBNAL OF HOETICTJLTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



t October 13, 1870. 



FBDIT DEPABT5IEXT. 



Proceeded with gathering fruit aa it waa fit, and now the 

 chief proportion is heused ia good order, thongh a number of 

 the late Pears and Applea are out still. Where trees kept 

 dwarf are rather luxuriant, and the fruit ia gathered, a little 

 root pruning should be given without delay. The aooner it is 

 done the more it will be likely to act, not only on the next 

 season's growth, but also on the fertility of the tree. If the 

 roots are cut late in autumn, or daring the winter, the luxuriant 

 growth will be arrested next summer, and greater fertility may 

 be expected in the succeeding summer — that is, in 1872. Bat 

 if the root-pruning is done in the end of September or the 

 beginning of October, and the autumn should prove sunny, the 

 pruning will tell somewhat on the productiveness of the tree 

 the following season. Where there is little or no fruit, the root- 

 pruning may be done earlier. We are not advocates for severe 

 root-praning at on:e, but would rather repeat the operation at 

 different times. If the tree is not over-luxuriant, we would 

 cut a little on two sides opposite each other, and leave two 

 tides untouched. If the trees are first planted on mounds, 

 and are yearly mulched on the surface, when once in full bear- 

 ing they will not need much root- pruning, and beyond summer- 

 piuching not much pruning of any sort, as the fruit will almost 

 exhaust the additional strength given by the mulching, and the 

 roots will be encouraged to keep near the surface — a very dif- 

 ferent affair as regards the results from roots going deep. We 

 should not forget that different principles ought to be brought 

 into operation when we plant an Oik tree for timber and a fruit 

 tree for fruit. When a fruit tree is treated like an Oak tree, a 

 certain age and a certain degree of maturity must be arrived at 

 before the tree produces fruit profusely. 



Where planting is contemplated, any trouble in preparing the 

 ground early and in fine dry weather will not be wasted. The 

 more the ground is turned up and sweetened by exposure to 

 the sir before planting, the better will the trees thrive when 

 transferred to their new quarters. Orchards in the old style, 

 with even grass pastures beneath them, are very useful where 

 large quantities of fruit are desirable. In such cases, and in 

 all cases in general, it is less necessary to trench and prepare 

 the whole ground than to prepare fair-sizel stations for the 

 trees to stand upon. Besides sweetening and exposing to the 

 air the soil of these stations, it would be well to elevate them 

 <J to 12 incbes above the general level, so that the tree should 

 eventually have its bole rising out of a swelling mound. This 

 elevation will not cause the tree to grow more freely at first, 

 bat it will insure better health and more fertility. 



ORXAMENTAL DEPAET1TENT. 



The flower garden is still so good that we have been forced 

 to mow, machine, aad sweep up leaves, and to pick over the 

 bed3 once more to remove faded blooms and some faded leaves 

 brought on again by the continued dryness. The walka also 

 were rolled after a shower to make them firm, smooth, and 

 bright. The corridors, conservatory, and other places were 

 gone over, and the tenderest plants removed. For glas3 cases 

 in summer without heat, few things look better up to October 

 from July than good plants of the better-coloured kinds of Coleus. 

 Those removed now, if quite clean, will go at once to the rub- 

 bish heap, those infested with any insects to the burning heap, 

 or where the coming cold will kill the whole. We have not 

 room for wintering large plants, and therefore must keep some 

 small ones and grow from cuttings in spring. 



All such changiug, and cleaning, and fresh furnishing should 

 take place often. The gardener should try to go through his 

 places with the eye of a stranger. It is amazing how apt we 

 are to look upon a house aa fresh arranged and fresh done up 

 day after day, when it has been the same for weeks. The eye 

 should, in fact, be more used at home to find out blemishes 

 and imperfections than to be taken up with what is beautiful 

 and interesting. In such cases it ia often less a question of 

 more or less work than simply seeing and acting on the sight. 

 Hence a man with little or no more labour, and scarcely more 

 time, will keep a house always preaentable, and another man 

 wiB have it always untidy, except immediately after one of 

 these great out-clearings and fresh- furnishinga. The first man, 

 even when doing the necessary watering, will not pass an un- 

 sightly plant thoroughly exhausted, nor a plant with a few 

 faded leaves, without removing it, nor will he pour water 

 •on every pot alike, just in the way of routine. The other 

 never seea that a plant ia faded, never sees the miserable 

 welted leaves, waters the decaying and the flourishing alike, 

 and if let alone would never move a plant after he had once 

 placed it on a shelf or platf ->rm. 



his living by practising something of taste and order, looking 

 out for untidiness ought to be an every-day and an every-hour 

 operation. Some time ago we walked through a pretty little 

 conservatory, communicating by wide folding doora with a 

 richly-furnished drawing-room. The gardener was an able, 

 intelligent man, but these qualitiea seemingly did not give him 

 a sense of order or the faeulty of observation. The fine stone 

 curbs were slimy green, the stage had plenty of green, the pots 

 were dirty, and thongh there were many blossoms, they were 

 mingled with fading leaves, and the gardener seemed to see 

 nothing of the diaeord between all this and the neatly-furnished 

 drawing-room. We could not well venture farther than to 

 move some of the slime from the stone curbs with a walking- 

 stick in rather a contemplative earnest way, but our friend was 

 not observant enough to take the hint. As advice worth having 

 and valuing, we would say to our young readers, Beware of the 

 habit of looking on plants, houses, and borders as jast fresh 

 arranged, fresh potted, fresh cared for, when days or even 

 weeks have passed since the work was done. Look at such 

 things as they are to-day without any reference to the past. 



Struck Cuttings. — Anticipating rains we have overhauled lots 

 of cuttings for the flower garden, that were thickly inserted in 

 shallow wooden boxes and pots, setting them a little further 

 apart, and removing every decayed and faded leaf. As stated 

 formerly, we are obliged to take small cuttings and put them 

 in thickly together, in order to be able to house enough of 

 them under glass in winter. We find no fault, quite the 

 reverse, with those who taks large cuttings and give each a pot 

 in winter. We must suit ourselves to circumstances. As these 

 cuttings, rooting now, are so close together, there is the more 

 reason that not a decayed leaf should rest upon them, as in 

 dull heavy weather a few such leaves festering about the stems 

 would be apt to gangrene and rot them, and, if free air could 

 not be given, the very air about the plants would tend to pro- 

 duce decay. The cuttings thus treated had the surface soil 

 sprinkled over with a mixture of fine sandy loam and charcoal 

 dust, a good security alike for neatness and against damping 

 and unhealthy vapours. 



We shal make preparations for tak'ng off our shrubby Cal- 

 ceolaria cuttings by the end of the mo nth, and we find it is of 

 importance giving the cuttings fresh soil, Herbaceous Cal- 

 ceolarias for pots we are potting and pricking-off now. They 

 are most useful for cosridors and cut flowers early in summer. 



We intended to have alluded to different modes of treating 

 old Geraniums in beds, but the matter has been alluded to, and 

 further particulars can wait for another time. — B. F. 



Bahisbtko Flies.— The Food Journal states that in Belgium 

 the butchers use, with great success, laurel oil on the door-posts 

 and window-frames for the purpose of keeping away flies. The 

 emanation from minced laurel leaves is rapidly fatal to all small 

 insects. These facts might point to gardeners and housekeepers 

 how to exclude flies from structures where their presence is 

 especially disagreeable. 



TRADE CATALOOUE RECEIVED. 

 Lewis S. 'Woodthorpe, Monro Nurseries, Sible Hedingham, Essex. 

 — Catalogue of Greenhouse and Herbaceous Plants, Fruit Trees, Orna- 

 mental Trees and Shrichs, &c. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*»* We request that no one will write privately to any of the 

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By doing so they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore he addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, <£c, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.C. 



We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 



jj.B. Many questions must remain unanswered until next 



week. 



Patext (A Young Gardener).— Yon will ever repent of taking ont a 

 patent. Register your invention, and the probability is that yon will 

 As a gardener must gain I never be repaid for that small expense. 



