56 



GLEANINGS ON IJORTlCUl/lHitE, 



ihe first rule to be laid down as a basis of all the rest, is to 

 shorten every shoot in proportion to its strength, and to prune 

 to where the wood is firm and well-i"ipened ; this will cause all 

 the pithy and unripened wood to be removed, thence causing a 

 supply of that which is better ripened for the ensuing year. But, 

 in order to give every facility to the ripening of the wood, it must 

 be trained thin, not in profusion, according to the general custom, 

 but such shoots only as may be rec^uired for the following year. 

 Trees which have arrived at a bearing state should have their 

 strongest branches shortened to twelve or fourteen inches, those 

 next in strength to eight or ten, and the weaker ones to four or 

 six inches, pruning each to what is termed a treble eye, or that 

 where there is a blossom-bud on each side of a wood-bud ; where 

 bi'anches are not in a bearing state, these treble eyes will not be 

 found ; they must therefore be pruned to a wood-bud alone, 

 which is always known by its sharp point. When the trees have 

 been pruned once in this manner, the shoots must be trained 

 neatly, nearly parallel to each other, so that a line continued in 

 that direction would lead itself clearly out to the extremity of the 

 tree." — D?: G. Lindley in his " Guide to the Orchard," &c., p. 302. 



Never crop the border, add no manure, keep the trees clean 

 and healthy by syringing with tobacco-water, and elevate the 

 ends of the leading branches so that they may form the same 

 curvilinear inclination with the horizon. 



RASPBERRIES. 



The large-fruited monthly raspberry requires a rich soil, and 

 to be cut down within three inches of its roots when planted, and 

 it is most prolific. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



I have (through God's blessing) had such success in the culti- 

 vation of strawberries, that I should be glad to hear of all my 

 horticultural friends being similarly prosperous in obtaining 

 good crops annually of such agreeable and wholesome fruit as 

 strawberries, both in a medicinal and palatable point of view : in 

 the former they are little inferior to water-creases; and, in the 

 latter, when gathered from the beds ad libitum in the morning, 

 and in the preserved state, few, if any fruit, excel them. 



In the early spring, my young friends are pleased to call our 

 " Strawberry" the " Paradise-gardens," and the enjoyment' that 



