356 



PBACTICAL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS 



PEUNUS 



or less inferior, naked or enclosed by the persistent calyx-tube. Besides the 

 Eose, the Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Easpberry, Strawberry, Peach, Nectarine, 

 Apricot, Almond &c. belong to this important order. Owing to the great 

 range of variation, the order has been divided into 10 tribes, which however 

 are not all represented out of doors in this country. 



Tribe I. Prune.*:. — Trees or shrubs with simple leaves, often serrate. Calyx 

 usually deciduous. Carpels 1. Fruit a drupe. Flowers regular. Stamens usually in 

 3 whorls of 5 or 10. 



PRUNUS. — A genus containing 

 about 80 species of evergreen or deciduous 

 trees or shrubs, with alternate, simple, 

 often serrulate leaves. Flowers solitary, 

 racemose, or in fascicled corymbs, white 

 or rose. Petals 5. Stamens 15-20. 



Besides the Plums proper, this genus 

 now includes the Almonds, Peaches, and 

 Nectarines (Amygdalus) ; the Apricot 

 (Armeniaca) ; the Cherry {Cerasus), and 

 the Cherry Laurels (Lawro-cerasua). 



Just here these plants are regarded 

 solely from the point of view of beautiful 

 ornamental flowering trees. The Almonds, 

 Cherries, Plums, and Peaches are not 

 only beautiful flowering trees, but they 

 bloom at a period when they are most 

 wanted, that is, from January to June. 

 Of late years this fact has been appre- 

 ciated to such an extent that small plants 

 have been grown in pots for conservatory 

 decoration in winter. The protection 

 afforded by the glass alone is sufficient 

 to make them flower earlier than out of 

 doors. 



As outdoor plants they may be 

 utilised in shrubberies, or as isolated 

 specimens in grass or even on lawns. 

 Indeed, there are so many beautiful hardy 

 flowering trees and shrubs now (see Ust, 

 p. 107) that it is astonishing they are not 

 more extensively planted instead of the 

 cheerless and flowerless shrubs so often 

 seen. 



Culture and Propagation, — Speaking 

 generally all the Plums, Cherries, Almonds 

 and Laurels described below will flourish 

 in ordinary good and well-drained garden 

 soU, and in open but somewhat sheltered 

 situations. Where it is possible to give 

 particular attention to their cultivation, 

 the cultural practice as detailed under the 

 Plmn (p. 1069), the Cherry (p. 1075), the 

 Peach and Nectarine (p. 1078) may with 

 advantage be adopted. It is not, however, 

 necessary to practise all the details given 

 under each of these fruits, as the objects 

 in view are entirely different. In one 



case the aim of the gardener is to secure 

 the finest possible crop of fruit ; in the 

 other he seeks only to obtain a beautiful 

 well- shaped tree or shrub which shall bear 

 abundance of blossom, and give the garden, 

 park, and landscape generally a charming 

 aspect. To secure this, ordinary good 

 cultivation mixed with common sense will 

 as a rule be sufficient. Pruning may be 

 practised to a moderate extent, but only 

 when the branches are apt to become too 

 dense so as to exclude light and air from 

 the interior of the tree, and prevent the 

 proper ripening of the wood. 



As for propagation, this is effected by 

 seeds, budding, grafting, layering, and cut- 

 tings, but it wiU be better for the amateur 

 as a rule to obtain established plants from 

 a nurseryman. There is, however, no 

 reason why he should not sow his own 

 seeds as soon as ripe in sheltered spots 

 in ordinary good soil. Plants are easily 

 obtained in this way, but it takes a long 

 time before they reach the flowering stage. 

 By budding or grafting some of the best 

 flowering Plums or Cherries on stocks of 

 any of the ordinary kinds raised from 

 seeds, flowering specimens wiU be obtained 

 in a shorter time, and any particularly rare 

 variety can also be more quickly increased 

 in numbers by this process. A watch, 

 however, must be kept to prevent suckers 

 of the undesired stock springing fr-om the 

 base and absorbing the nourishment re- 

 quired by the choicer graft. 



Layering is another operation easily 

 performed with most of the species. By 

 pegging branches down as explained at 

 p. 59, plants wiU in due course be obtained 

 on their own roots, and with such any 

 suckers fr-om the base will of course be 

 the same as the vajriety. 



Cuttings of the ripened branches 9 in. 

 to 1 ft. long will also root freely with 

 many kinds if inserted 3 or 4 in. deep in 

 light rich and sandy soil about September 

 or October in warm and sheltered spots, 

 or under handlights in the case of kinds 



