COMMONPLACE NOTES, 



means cutting off all tho best fruit-budSi A certain amount of cutting 

 back, no doubt, is necessary in Order to form a properly - balanced tree ; 

 all HhootH growing in towards tin; centre of the tree, and those which 

 rub against and chafe their neighbours, should also be cut out ; but if all 

 other shoots are left intact, good crops are practically assured, unless the 

 climatic conditions of the season are unfavourable. 



Again, that beautiful variety, 'Gascoigne's Scarlet, 1 is frequently eon 



demned as a shy bearer, because it resents close or hard pruning ; yet, if 

 the young wood is left to nearly its full length when pruning, a mass of 

 fruit-buds are formed on it from base to summit the nest season, sue 

 ceeded by a splendid crop of its handsome fruit the year after, and this 

 abundant fertility checks rampant growth, and tbe tree eontinues to 



fruit freely afterwards* Severe pruning may answer with many varieties 



when grown in a dwarf or restricted form, but other varieties refuse such 

 breatment, and show their dislike by producing little or no fruit, and a 

 plethora of wood and foliage. Fruit-growers should study the various 

 and varying characteristics of each variety, and direct their managcriu-ni 

 accordingly. 



Tbbi for Wet Sou,. 



A Fellow asks, " Can you tell me of any evergreen Conifer which 

 would be likely to stand wet soil in which even the Scots Fir bas slowly 



dwindled and died?" Jt is exceedingly difficult to think of any tree 



which will put up with stagnant Wet, but the one from which we should 

 ■Ops most and which fairly fulfils the conditions of " evergreen u and 

 "Conifer" is Taxodium dislickum. True, it is not evergreen in dry 

 places, but it generally is so in wet ones. It is a handsome and hardy 

 tree in most situations, attaining a height of 100 feet or more. The 

 trunk is reddish-brown in colour, and of a fibrous texture, contra ting 

 charmingly with the soft light green leaves. 



Bektuoh a no A nth. 

 Who has not known the disappointment of finding some favourite 



flower-spike or some opening blossom eaten through and destroyed by 



cockroaches or other beetles? Who has not seen pot plants flag and die 

 from an invasion of ants taking up their residence among the roots V 

 We are not sure whether the ants really eat the roots or not, but we are 

 inclined to attribute the ruin they bring about partly to the mechanical 

 effect which they produce upon the soil by separating it into such minute* 

 dry particles, and partly to the acid secretion which the ants themselves 

 give off; but the damage done is unfortunately too self-evident. 



These remarks an; suggested by a really pitiful appeal from a, Fellow, 

 who says : " Last year J so swarmed with wasps that they spoilt almost 

 all my Peaches. I destroyed twelve nests in my own garden ! This 

 year I have very few, but the ants have done more damage than even the 

 wasps did last year." Now ants are always very difficult to get rid of, 

 and ordinarily we should only have been aide to advise " boiling water 

 on the nests when they are not too near the trees, and pans or sauCCM 

 sunk in the ground and partly filled with treacle and water with a little 



