March 9, 19T2. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



19 



PRUNING AND NAILING. 



Although the weather has ibeen so milcl 

 in many places, the rainfall! d'uring Novem- 

 ber and December was very excessive, and 

 prevented or delayed both pruning and 

 nailing. Where this was the case, no time 

 should now he lost in getting the work 

 finished hefore the pressure of other duties 

 comes. Some gardeners reserve pruning 

 and nailing for frosty weather^ 'but there is 

 nothing gained 'by doing so; in fa-et, it is 

 next to a waste orf time putting men to 

 nail trees, when they are so ibenumbed with 

 cold as to cause them to^ run up and down 

 the paths to warm theni'selves. Those who, 

 like myself^ have had' much experience of 

 this work in their early days, know full 

 well what it means. 



tend itself indefinitely without coming into 

 contact with its neighbour. One sometimes 

 hears gardeners remark, We have not 

 time to do such good work now." It is 

 not the time that is spent on it^ but doing 

 the work in the .right season and in tfie 

 most systematic manner. When nsdling, 

 the shred should always be placed on the 

 opposite side of the shoot to that whicli 

 it is inclined to grow, so that whatever 

 strain there is it should be on the shred, 

 and ample space should always he allowed 

 for the swelling of the wood the following 



■vw •.-mm-* 1 * _ 



portions sJiould 



cut to a hud on the upper side. It may also 

 he necessary to check the flow to the upper 

 shoots by pinching them when they have 

 made three or four inches of growth, so as 

 to divert the sap in other directions, and 

 more equalise the flow. It is a mistake 

 to produce overngross shoots, as these have 

 to he cut away. The aim should he to only 

 encourage the growth required^ removing 

 aJl superfluous and ill-placed shoots at the 

 first possible op|x>rtunity, and regulating 

 _ those that remain in such a manner that an 

 year. With all trees this is impc^rtant, but even and well-balanced tree is the result ; 

 more especialJy is this the case with young if this is accomplished, the operator will 

 v^igoroois ones, whose growths swell rapidly, have every reason to congratulate himself. 

 Young trees need more attention than older jf q 



ones, for, should a leading shoot be crippled 



thrO'Ugh the shred being too tight, this 



?ii wnat It means. causes the tree to he ill-shaped and PYRAMID AND STAMDAPn 



I hve<l at one place where the young men ^^^^^^.^ h^Ur^^^A I^AIVHU J\LSU O 1 AiNUAKU 



in the houses did all the nailing, hoth in- 

 side and out. 



as there were ahout one htxndred 



Nailing was a considerable 



item, 



and twenty yards of iMorello cherry wall 

 to do. The same of outdoor peaches, in 

 addition to several hundred ya'rds of apii- 

 cot, plum, pear, cherry, and other fruits. 

 No matter how cold it was, the young men, 

 when they had done their work in the 

 warm houses in the morning, had to turn 

 out in the biting cold winds to take their 

 turn on the walls. It was not so had when 

 the weather was mild^ and one enjoyed the 

 change, but in some winters the f rost was 

 very severe, and one winter I remember 

 well in the early sixties, when the snow was 

 on the ground for several weeks together, 

 and the weather was so cold that one 

 scarcely knew wheth er they were hittin g 

 tlieir fingers or the nails, yet we were com- 

 pelled to turn out. It was this that made 

 nie determined" that, if ever I was in charge 

 of a garden where there was a quantity of 

 nailing to be done, it should be given to 

 the outside men to do before the weather 



unevenly halanced. 



Pruning is an art that can only be 

 learned by practice, and to become proficient 

 in that art one must have practical de- 

 monstrations for not only is there a irre.it 

 difference in the habit of o;rowth ami mode 

 of fruiting of the various species under cul- 

 tivation, but the different varieties of the 

 s:mie speciesi require special treatment 

 peculiar to themselves. Take, for example. 

 Belle Magnifique cherry ; few would prune 

 this in the same wav as they would the 

 Bigarreaus, but treat it more in the Avay of 

 the Morellos. Yet, in dealing with cherries, 

 many w^ould simply state that shoots should 

 be cut to a certain bud, tieating all varie- 

 ties alike. The same remark applies also 

 to plums and pears, as no two varieties 

 grow exactly alike. 



Now^ in pruning either wall trees, or 

 those growing in the open ground, tiie 

 operator should know exactly the position 

 he wants the next season's growth to take, 

 and should cut to a bud accordingly. It 

 is always preferable to use a sharp knife to 



doing, 

 cherr\ 



cold, and this I ^mcceeded in seccateurs, and the hlade should he placed 



for, although theie was a Morello 

 wall with an area of over seven 

 thousand square feet, the nailing on this 

 was usually completed hy the end of Nov- 

 ember, and no finer or hetter trained trees 

 were to be found in the kingdom. It was 

 the rule to have r.tll the north, north-east, 

 and north-west walls done first, as it is 

 when nailing tho^e that one feels the cold 

 most, especially when the wind is blowing 

 a gale. It is astonishing how much of such 

 work a couple of good hands that have 

 been well trained will get through, but 

 when novices are put to the job without 

 Jiiiyone of experience to teach them, there 

 can bo little wonder at slow progress and 

 bad work. 



Nailing, like all other work, requires 

 practice if it is to be done quickly and well : 

 the operator should see at a gl'^nice where 

 the shoot should go, and on which side to 

 place the shred so that the nail may not 

 press against the young growth. It is had 

 nailing oftener than not that causes canker, 

 for wherever tiie nail comes in contact with 

 the wood it is sure to cause harm. I have 

 stood for hours at a wall instructing begin- 

 ners how to do the work, and that is the 

 <^nly way to have it done satisfactorily. 

 |>ardening is carried on in private estab- 

 lishments for the pleasure and enjoyment of 

 the owners, but there can be neither when 

 tlie work is done in a 



slovenly mannei", and 



'•nUvs voung men have a good training in 

 tbeir eai-ly days, it is quite certain thev 

 ^MII never he able to properly organise a 

 ^t;m under them in after life. 



-^^nling n»ay be thought to be of little 

 onient. hut I have seen visitors staml nnd 

 at n wrll-trained tree for a consider- 

 ^o !n '■'^^''^"''^^"S that everv shoot 



cr n 1 P^'^P^i' Pl^^f^^^ i^c> over- 



^'^^^Snig, and space for each growth to ex- 



in such a position that when the cut is 

 made the top edge shall be just above the 

 bud, so that the growth proceeding there- 

 from may heal over the wound made, whicli 

 cannot take place when seccateurs are used. 

 In pruning wall trees the aim should be to 

 have the shoots as evenly halanced as pos- 



Do not try to cover the wall in a 

 season or two, but consider what the tree 

 should he in ten or a dozen years' time, 

 and treat it accordingly, ^lany trees are 

 spoiled when young owing to their shoots 

 not having been pruned back far enough, 

 thus leaving a portion of the waJl bare. 

 When selecting fan-trained trees at a nur- 

 sery, always discaid those having a centre 

 shoot, as such can never be got into a good 

 s|ia[>c iit'terwards. A well-trained tree is 

 not only a credit to the person who is in 

 cliarge/hut is a pleasure to the owner who 

 takes a pride in his garden, and, though 

 they may not express themselves as being 

 well pleased, one can usually tell by their 

 manner whether they are satisfied with the 

 way things are managed. I was once told 

 by'^a gentleman who was very fond of his 

 garden that it was seldom a person had due 

 credit for doing things well, but if anything 

 went amiss it was soon hrought to notice. 

 This is undoubtedly so, for it is impossible 

 to pass by a dead tree unnoticed, though 

 one may go hv a dozen in a flourishing con- 

 dition without attention heing arrested, 

 but wlien we see a notahly fiue specimen 

 one is sure to stop and gaze on its propor- 

 tions, and pass some observations about it. 

 To obtain trees of this class >i)ecial atten- 

 tion must be given from their youth up, 

 each shoot must li;ive been cut U> the xvjlwx 

 bud, and assigned its proper jxvsition. v^a]) 

 has a tendency to How more rapidly to the 

 upper hranohes. tlieivfoi'o tln^se should be 

 cut to a hud on the lower side <vf the shoot, 



FUCHSIAS. 



I cannot call to mind any plant that gives 

 such a generous return for a small amount 

 of attention and labour as the fuchsia. 

 Fui-ther, it lends itself to a variety of pui- 

 poses, including the very important part it 

 plays in tedding arrangements and garden 

 decoration generally. We Inn e Ihm^u taught 

 to believe that at least partial shade is 

 essential to the well-being of tliese ))huits. 

 but that fallacv is exploded hv a vei v < lear 



^ fc' i K m. 



demonstration of their ahilitv to thrive in 

 luxuriant fashion in sun-baked and ex}X)sed 

 situations. The weather we e\])erien:'ed 

 last summer provided a very severe tist. 

 and was very trying to vegetation genej ally, 

 and yet, \\liere fuchsias received close an<l 

 regular attention to artificial watering, to- 

 gether with refreshing shower lialhs in the 

 evenings of those hot davs, thev were 

 clothed in beauty the season through. 



I propose to offer a few remarks as to 

 their production as standards and pyra- 

 mids, and it may be said that the orthodox 

 way to proceed for standards is to 



conmience with cuttings and to allow the 

 resulting plants to run up to the required 



height before being stopped. 



Assuming that the cuttings are inserted 



in Fehruarv and the 



are grown 

 under glass, they will reach 3ft, in height by 

 the end of September, and in this way the 

 foundation of the standards is laid. No- 

 thing is gained by stopping them imtil early 

 February of another year, and if subjected 

 to Avarm and fairly moist conditions, good 



soon formeil. 



compact heads 



Another plan I ha^e adopte<l in recent 

 years is to utilise sur]dus ]dants of tall 

 growth to form stamlar<!s. These arech^an 

 pruned with the exception ot i)in. at the 

 to]>, when the stock of plants is }>eing over- 

 hauled in February, and as thes^ have thick 

 and strong stems and a large r 

 splendid heads are formed in a very short 

 time. To my mind, fuchsias are seen 

 to the best advantage in standard form, 

 and as seen arranged thinly over violas, to 

 harmonise or contrast pleasingly with them, 

 a fine and charming effect is produced. 



It is hardly necessary to point out that in 

 the production of pyramids the mode of 

 procedure is entirely different from that 

 for standards, and certainly lx>th methods 

 of training should be employed. A very 

 ready methml of getting together a stock 

 of large and serviceable fuchsias for park 

 and garden decoration is to plant out each 

 season a nuniW of plants from \Vm, pots 

 and keep them pinchetl with a view to syni- 



metrv. , p • i 



Some wonderful examples of pyramid 



fuehsiiis have been exhibited at the Temple 

 aiul Holland Park shows in recent years, 

 and it is nothing short of marvellous how 

 these giants were hrought from a long dis- 

 tance without suffering. AV. H. Acgett. 



