63 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jalj 26, 1877. 



are injured by frost. Few Roses are finer in the bud than the 

 old Blush or common China, a bed o£ which is worth a place 

 in every garden. 



Tea-scented Roses. — These are unfortunately tender, but if 

 grown as dwarfs and mulched in winter, some dry litter being 

 placed over the shootB in severe weather, will succeed in 

 sheltered situations ; that good old Rose Gloire de Dijon is 

 however, very hardy. They require a good rich soil, light 

 rather than heavy, and moderate pruning. Abricote, Anna 

 Olivier, Madame Caroline Eu9ter, Madame de St. Joseph, 

 Madame Joseph Halphen, Mdlle. Therese, Monsieur Henry 

 Bennet, and Paul Piantier are free-flowering. Madame Fran- 

 cois Jamin, Madame Docteur Jutte, Louise de Savoie, and 

 Madame Chaveret have great fragrance, as have Madame 

 Schultz and Triomphe de Rennes in the Noisettes, Reve d'Or 

 being the hardiest of that family. 



I would mention few autnmnals which are pretty in the bud. 

 Niphetos (Noisette) Safrano, Sombreuil, and Perle des Jardins. 

 In Tea-scented or NoisetteB Gloire de Rosamene (Bourbon), 

 Perpetual White Moss, Marie Boiseee, Madame Freeman, and 

 Marquise de Ligneris (Hybrid Perpetuate). 



In Slimmer Roses (though old associations may keep them 

 alive their day is past) only a few will have note — viz., Pro- 

 vence (Cabbage), desirable for its fragrance; Crested for its 

 beautiful buds, DeMeaux for its earliness, Spong for its small- 

 ness and usefulness, and Unique white. Good treatment is 

 required and close pruning. 



Moss Roses are indispensable if only for buds, Celine being 

 superb. The common Moss is very beautiful, Lanei and Marie 

 de Blois being very mossy, and White Bath. Close pruning 

 and very liberal treatment is needed to bring them to perfection. 



Of Hybrid Chinas Blairii No. 2, and Hybrid Bourbons Coupe 

 d'Hebe and Paul Ricaut are the bsst. 



I have only to add of Austrian Briars Harrisoni, which 

 requires to have the we ak shoots thinned out, pruning those 

 left about one-third of their leDgth, keeping the soil liberally 

 manured. All the Ros es named are valuable for garden decora- 

 tion and for affording " bushels of flowers " for cutting, many 

 of them also affording " exhibition blooms." — G. Abbey. 



THE HARDY FRUIT CROP IN NORTH WILTS. 

 One almost feels inclined to put the above in the form of a 

 question, thus : " What crop of hardy fruits is there in North 

 Wilts?" an d add as answer, "There is not any," in imita- 

 tion of the question and answer, " What are the manners of 

 the inhabitants of such an island?" "They have not any." 

 In truth the answer would be literally correct as to Pears. On 

 twelve trees I have counted only two Pears. Ten had not even 

 one. Plums (standard Orleans), not one; Damson trees, not 

 one ; Coe's Golden Drop, just a few ; Bullaces, none ; wall 

 Plums, six on three trees, the six being Coe's Golden Drop 

 again. Apples with me an utter failnre, the only tree giving 

 anything like a crop being a Hawthornden half-standard ; 

 pyramids a crop only, and that a poor one, on one tree, and 

 that a Golden Pippin. I viBited a grand walled garden 

 recently, grand in results rather than show, and which I 

 have visited regularly for upwards of twenty years, and always 

 found a great abundance of fruit. This garden is long and 

 narrow, and by its walls and narrowness protected from much 

 wind ; and the frost too being what the gardeners here call 

 "broke by the waUs." The whole of one side I found crop- 

 less, whether the trees were wall, pyramid, or standard. The 

 other side there is a Yery little. Apples fair, but the old Haw- 

 thornden stands out in grand singularity by producing an 

 abundant crop. Pears there were next to none ; sometimes 

 on one branch, possibly sheltered by another tree, there would 

 be a few. As to orchards, the scaroity of Apples is consider- 

 able, not that, like Pears, there is no crop at all. The 

 orchard which I have seen being at this time most prolifio is 

 one which happens to have a belt of forest trees around it, 

 consequently its trees are sheltered from the frost and blight- 

 ing winds by the larger trees. There are exceptions to the 

 scarcity: thus, Strawberries are most abundant, Currants of 

 all kinds are plentiful, Walnut trees are in some oases bent 

 earthwards with the weight of the " nuts." 



I hear of bad news as to fruit in and near Bath. My readers 

 will remember that it is a district favoured for fruit trees, and 

 fruit on them. Pleasantly writes, or, alas ! wrote, Charles 

 Eingsley of this place and neighbourhood as follows : — " Now 

 here we are at Bath station, and here are the handsome fruit 

 women " (not so handsome now as when Eingsley wrote — Roses 



still, but overblown) " waiting for you to buy ; and oh ! what 

 Strawberries and Cherries ! Yes, all this valley is very rich, 

 and very sheltered too, and very warm, for the soft south- 

 western air sweeps up it from the Bristol Channel, so the 

 slopes are covered with fruit orchards, as you will see as you 

 get out of the station." Very pretty description this, but I 

 am told that as to Pears one of the greatest cultivators of 

 pyramids near Bath has literally none at all. 



So that this fruit district, and I am only about ten miles 

 from Bath, has utterly failed as to Pear crop this season ; still 

 my belief is that all is carried on in a system of compensation. 

 As the farmer, who was condoled with on the death of his 

 mother-in-law, replied, " Ah ! poor old lady ; very sad, but 

 then I have got in my hay uncommonly weD." So I say the 

 fruit will be short this year — nay is ; but what a capital year 

 for growth it will be ! What wood is being made on many a 

 tree that was nearly killed with bearing ! Yes, a growing year 

 this year ; a fruiting year next, I trust. — Wiltshibe Reciob. 



MULCH. 



Matebial applied to the surface of the ground around trees 

 aa a sort of coatiDg is termed mulch. Mulching is resorted to 

 for various purposes. 1, To retain moisture. This is one of 

 the prime uses of all mulching and always to be considered. 

 2, To shade the ground during summer, so as to prevent exces- 

 sive heating by the sunshine. It is said that heating the roots 

 of trees above 70' is injurious, a statement we fully credit. 

 Where the sun shines directly on clean dark-coloured soil it is 

 often heated to a much higher degree, and that to the depth of 

 several inches in all probability. With the thermometer at 95 3 

 in the shade we found it to rise to 120° very quickly in the sun- 

 shine, a heat altogether incompatible with healthful growth of 

 a tree in this climate, or proper retention of moisture. 3, To 

 retain the tilth of the soil, to prevent baking and hardening of 

 the surface. A hard surface, a compact soil, without porosily 

 or aeration, is not congenial to plant growth. That mulching 

 prevents hardening of the surface is well known. 4, To render 

 the soil fertile and to retain fertility. This arises from the 

 decomposition of the material used, from the resulting porosity 

 and prevention of evaporation. 5, To prevent extreme freezing 

 of the ground, and to protect against sudden freezing and 

 thawing. Anything to protect from extremes or sudden changes 

 of temperature we consider beneficial, but more particularly 

 the extreme of cold. 6, To retain frost around the roots to 

 prevent too early a start in the spring. Many mulch with this 

 object in view, but our observation and experience are that it 

 will make no practical difference. When warm weather comes 

 the buds will start in spite of mulching, even though the 

 ground be frozen below. The idea that sap flows with warm 

 weather during winter in an Apple tree is erroneous. Fruit 

 trees are not like Maple trees in this respect. The sap of fruit 

 trees does not circulate till spring comes. During winter, when 

 thawed, there is a resupplying of the moisture that has been 

 dried out during preceding freezing, dry weather — something 

 we deem quite essential to the successful wintering of fruit 

 trees. 



Concerning the time of applying mulch practice differs. 

 Regard must be had to circumstances and what effect is de- 

 sired. 1, During winter and autumn after growth is over. 

 This of course would be preparation for the next season. Its 

 application at this time will give different effects, and like that 

 of any other time may have a different relation to different 

 farmwork, &a. 2, In the spring when growth begins. Applied 

 at this time it would have an effect not generally desirable in 

 most fruits — viz., retaining excess of moisture and frost too 

 long in the ground. 3, During the growing season. Suppose 

 the surface of the ground around the Apple tree to be given 

 clean culture during May and first part of June, allowing the 

 sunshine to warm the soil and start the tree into vigorous 

 growth. About the middle of June the weather becomes quite 

 warm and drought often sets in. This we deem the most 

 favourable of all times for applying mulch, as it will protect 

 against the extremes of summer heat and drought, and will 

 not have been applied so soon as to prevent the benefits of 

 spring sunshine. 



Concerning material for mulching, practice also differs. 

 1, Tree leaves, Nature's mulching, probably are superior to 

 any other, but these are not always attainable. 2, Animal 

 manure, with more or less of barnyard litter, Ac. The appli- 

 cation of animal manures to fruit trees has always been more 

 or less a mooted question. Our observation and experience in 



