THE FLORIST'S TULIP. 



Ill 



separated ; and between my old friend Ben Simonite of 

 Sheffield and myself there are nearly a hundred miles of York- 

 shire ground between our gardens. 



We all hope the old flower may grow into wider notice once 

 again ; but it is difficult to tell whether our losses, by age and 

 death, are anything more than covered by the coming of new 

 growers. One thing I hope — that there never will be a Tulip 

 "boom." We want steadier, riper growth than that. Booms 

 have plenty of blossom, but are apt to shed their fruit untimely. 

 So to speak, they don't get over their " second swelling " ! Time 

 and fashion try them sorely. When novelty wears off, and hosts 

 have joined subscription lists, and made long scores in catalogues, 

 who yet care no more for one kind of flower than another, so 

 long as it is something new to them, or fashionable ; and when 

 the omni-patient gardener is oppressed with plants for which he 

 is allowed no due requirements, but is supposed, of course, to 

 have to grow anything " sent in " to him — and does not ; then all 

 these unstable elements of an inflation drop away, and there is 

 left, after all, little else than the men of love and patience, who 

 were there before the " boom " began. 



In them there stands the old, perhaps rugged, bearing-wood. 

 It is from them — from influence of their zeal, and the pride and 

 love they show in their favourite, and the quiet pleasure there 

 is in the pursuit — that there is the greater hope of seeing a safe 

 continuance, and not a short-lived, loud revival, of Tulip culture. 



I hope the life of the flower will be safe in our day, and far 

 beyond it ; but I hope there will be no Tulip boom ! 



SUMMER PRUNING AND TRAINING OF FRUIT-TREES. 



By Mr. A. Young, F.R.H.S. 



[Read Jane 7, 1892.] 



It has been said that the principle of summer pruning of fruit- 

 trees is one of those phases in the successful cultivation of fruit 

 grown in the open air upon which cultivators are not agreed. 

 Certainly there is great diversity of opinion as to the time when 

 and the extent to which the trees should be operated on, and 

 there are some people who go so far as to question whether 



