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Garden and Forest. 



[Number 292. 



ill growing an orchard in Kansas was to get rid of our eastern 

 horticultural education in regard to pruning. We were taught 

 to trim the body of the tree up high enough so that a team 

 could be driven under the limbs and to thin out the branches 

 so that the sunlight could easily get into all parts of the top. 



In Kansas there is so much sunshine and it is so intense at 

 times that all parts of the body and limbs of our trees need to 

 be shaded with foliage, or the bark is sure to be scalded if they 

 are in feeble condition. It is this abundance of sunshine that 

 enables us to produce such large crops of fruit of excellent 

 quality, with a minimum amount of pruning. 



We commence pruning our trees at one year old in the nur- 

 sery and train one upright shoot ; as the season advances we 



of Kew. Mr. Watson's experience, however, as detailed in his 

 letter in Garden and Forest for August 30th, differs in sev- 

 eral particulars, as would naturally be supposed, from that of 

 many expert growers in this country. I have found no better 

 soil for aquatics than that recommended by Mr. Watson, but 

 I prefer to compost the loam and manure for a season before 

 it is used, and if cow-manure is not available I have found 

 well-rotted stable-manure and sheep-manure to answer the 

 purpose well. 



No doubt, plants differ largely under climatic and other influ- 

 ences, but I am inclined to think that many varieties appear 

 under different names, and that the Nymphaeas need the care- 

 ful attention of a committee on nomenclature. For example. 



Fig. 61.— Inula grandiflora. — See page 404. 



form the top, commencing at about one foot or a little more 

 from the ground, and let lateral branches shoot out six or eight 

 inches apart on all sides of the tree, always keeping a leading 

 centre shoot. We continue this for four or five years, until 

 the tree is trained into proper shape ; after that we do but lit- 

 tle pruning, except to cut off' the water-sprouts. 



The Cultivation of Water-lilies. 



LL Americans who grow plants of this interesting class 

 - are glad to hear the experience of others, and especially 

 of recognized authorities like your correspondent, Mr. Watson, 



A' 



among the plants described on page 366 is Nymphaea Sturte- 

 vantii, which differs materially Irom the plant known here by 

 that name. With us, grown out-of-doors in full air and 

 sunshine, it has foliage of a red-bronze color, sometimes 

 almost crimson, and its very large flowers are a bright rosy 

 red. As to the parentage of this grand plant, it is difficult to 

 conceive that it is the offspring of Nymphaea rubra and N. 

 dentata, although I w^ill not assert that these are not its 

 parents. Monsieur Marliac declares that he originated N. Lay- 

 dekeri rosea in his establishment, but no amount of guessing 

 will reveal its parentage. I can hardly conceive that N. Mar- 

 liacea chromatella has any affinity to N. tuberosa, since there 

 is no resemblance between the root, leaf or flower of the two 



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