180 THE FLORIST AND 



piece of ground with a new plantation, this system does very well for a few 

 years — provided the soil is well enriched, and kept in good condition. 



Raspberries. — We have found it a good practice to thin out the young 

 shoots about this time, leaving five or six of the best grpwths, and clearing 

 away all the others. Those that are left will gain additional strength, and 

 their development will be still further encouraged if the bearing wood is cut 

 out as soon as the fruit is all gathered. 



Surface Stirring. — No careful cultivator will permit weeds to overrun his 

 fruit garden ; but even although the soil be tolerably clear of weeds, the sur- 

 face should be stirred from time to time to allow the admission of atmosphe- 

 ric air and moisture to the roots. We have frequently remarked that the 

 physical texture of the soil for fruit trees is of much more importance than 

 its chemicakconstitution. The soil for a fruit garden may be made too rich 

 by the application of manures ; and when this is the case the trees will grow 

 luxuriously, but will not fruit. Nothing in the shape of manure can compensate 

 for a deficiency in the porosity of the soil ; a bulky, undecomposed mass of 

 organic substances, such as barn-yard manure, applied to an adhesive, clayey 

 soil, will have a tendency to impart a degree of friability. But in these times 

 of concentrated essences, porosity must be secured by other means. Brain- 

 ing is the fundamental auxiliary in conjunction with deep cultivation. Gua- 

 no, poudrette, and other artificial manures can. then be advantageously ap- 

 plied in small quantities annually, towards the end of the season, burying it 

 slightly to prevent in some measure the loss of gaseous matters. A soil 

 managed in this way may be kept in fine condition during summer by a sys- 

 tem of deep surface stirring, more particularly after heavy rains, which con- 

 solidate 1 ^ and^harden the surface. The more air in the soil the less will it be 

 effected by drouth. 



These general remarks may meet the wishes of your correspondent who 

 inquires about soil for seedling fruits. S.B. 



ELOWER GARDEN. 



I promised'in my last to"resume the subject of budding Roses, as there is 

 perhaps no one subject of American floriculture less attended to. Any one 

 acquainted with European gardening "must very much miss the " standards," 

 the miniature tree roses which there abound. To account for this we are 

 told that the English" dog rose, (Rosa canina,) on which they are worked, is 

 not adaptec^to our climate, and^hat whatever are worked on them soon die 

 out.g> This is undoubtedly true of imported trees, especially when planted in 

 an exposed situation. The stem becomes " bark-bound," and frequently 

 dies down below the bud, and suckers so abound that the energy of the stem 

 is materially weakened,Jand frequently the whole dies off. But if a strong 

 sucker is led up, and _the rest taken off, and wjien it becomes of a proper 



