BOOT PRUNING OF FRUIT-TREES. 



217 



To sum up the benefits of root-pruning, for the information 

 of the uninitiated, the operation — 



1. Induces fertility. 



2. Cures canker and spot on fruit. 

 8. Improves the flavour. 



4. Prevents the formation of useless shoots. 



5. Eeduces the labour of top-pruning. 



To illustrate these remarks, I may quote the case of a garden 

 noted for its grand fruit. On planting, the land was trenched 

 6 feet deep, and for a few years the trees grew very fast and 

 prospered, producing gigantic fruit, though not in any great 

 abundance. Suddenly the foliage of the Pears and Apples 

 became yellow at the tips, and mildew set in, and then canker 

 appeared. The trees had been induced to root deeply by the 

 best soil being placed at the bottom of the trench, and on their 

 gaining the desired food, they exhausted its goodness, and were 

 too far from the surface to gain much by mulching. Many died 

 outright. By degrees they were lifted and placed in better 

 conditions, and when last I saw them finer crops could not be 

 desired, or better specimens of cultural care. It was an initial 

 mistake to trench the land so deeply. 



THE VAEIABILITY IN CULTIVATION OF HARDY 

 FLOWERING PLANTS. 



By the Rev. C. Wolley Dod, M.A., F.R.H.S. 



[Bead September 20, 1892.] 



Garden flowers which have never been matched amongst wild 

 forms are supposed to be produced by cultivation, and it is 

 generally assumed that cultivation improves flowers. 



I will define cultivation to mean giving plants room for their 

 full development, both above and below the surface, in tilled 

 ground. This definition does not claim to be complete, but it is 

 sufficient for our purpose to-day. 



Li 



