162 JOUENAL OF THE KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
selection and elimination. By ' selection ' I mean the saving seed 
only from selected flowers ; and by * elimination.' the instant and 
total eradication of any plant that bears at all inferior flowers. 
To prevent these infecting the better ones, T am about among my 
flowers between three and fom- o'clock in the morning, so as to pull 
up and trample on and destroy the bad ones before the bees have 
a chance of conveying the pollen to others. It is the absence of 
this eliminating work which makes it so difficult (almost impos- 
sible) for any but an enthusiast to keep the strain true and pure. 
Double Poppies and flowers with black centres may be admired by 
some, but they are not Shirley Poppies. Shirley Poppies are (1) 
single, (2) always have a white base, with (3) yellow or white 
anthers and pollen, and (4) never have the smallest speck or sus- 
picion of black in their whole composition. It should be encourag- 
ing to others working on similar lines, but with different subjects^ 
to reflect that the gardens of the whole w^orld are to-day furnished 
with Poppies which are the direct descendants of one single capsule 
of seed saved in the little Vicarage garden at Shirley so lately as 
August, 1880." 
HELPING FRUIT TREES. 
People very often complain either (i) that their fruit trees grow but 
do not bear, or else (ii) that they don't make an atom of healthy growth, 
but are covered with such a profusion of bloom buds that they bring 
little if any fruit to perfection. In either of these cases, we strongly 
advise a trial of the following mixture : 1 part of Muriate of Potash 
and 2 parts of Superphosphate mixed well together and sprinkled over 
the surface of the ground, under and about the trees, at the rate of 3 oz. 
of the mixture to the square yard. After it has been sprinkled on the 
surface it should be well rahed in (not dug). The dressing should 
certainly in any case be given in February, but we should advise giving 
weakly trees half a dressing in November as well. 
This manure is found to have a wonderful effect in throwing trees into 
bearing and in helping weakly ones to make healthy growth. 
Many pruners absolutely prevent their healthy trees making bloom 
buds by pruning too hard. As a rough-and-ready general rule bush 
Apple and Pear trees should have all the side shoots of the branches cut 
back to two or three eyes, and the strong leading shoot of each branch 
have fully three-quarters of its total length left intact, in fact only just 
the thin top end taken off ; for if more is taken off it simply throws all 
the side eyes into wood growth next year and prevents them developing 
fruit buds. It is still worse to see standard trees looking as if they had 
been gone over with shears. Plums are \ery impatient of pruning ; the 
weakly side shoots should be nipped out or shortened well back with the 
finger and thumb nails in the summer. 
