332 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
same flower that is beautifully perfect at one 
period, will in a day or two more be greatly in- 
creased in size, but the petals lie less symme- 
trically, the eye is becoming confused, the 
vivid colour fades, the form changes for the 
worse, and yet such has been the disposition 
to give size the preference, that all these 
things have been overlooked, to the disad- 
vantage of smaller though infinitely more per- 
fect flowers. Under these circumstances, we 
hope and trust that judges and societies will 
declare themselves determined to abide by 
the rules laid down for the perfection of 
the flower, and thus correct an innovation 
which has been encouraged too much, by the 
various contrivances to put prizes into wrong 
hands, and increased, by force of example, 
among the mongers. 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS, 
AND ORIGINAL NOTES CONNECTED WITH HORTICULTURE 
AND NATURAL HISTORY. 
Authorities.— Journal of Horticultural Society, Jl. H. S. — 
Gardener's Gazette, G.. G. — Gardener's Chronicle, G. C. — 
Gardener' s Journal, G. J. — Quotations from which are duly 
acknowledged by tlie-respeclive initials attached to each. 
The Periploca. — In cases where large 
quantities of the above twining shrub are 
required, I have found that the best and most 
expeditious mode is to trim the old plants of 
their shoots in the month of August or Sep- 
tember ; and insert these shoots, just as they 
are taken off, in lines four inches apart, and 
at a depth of two to three inches. The 
branches should of course be laid down hori- 
zontally and completely covered up ; and, in 
order to insure a full close crop, no part of 
the line should contain less than three 
branches, that is, they should be put down in 
small handfuls. In the month of the ensuing 
March, these branches will have sent up 
strong shoots, and almost as thickly as an 
ordinary crop of corn ; and in the autumn 
they should be taken up and potted. Their 
after treatment is a mere matter of routine, 
known to every one. This shrub is very 
ornamental, and especially adapted for arbours, 
or for the partial covering of rustic-work, &c. 
To the classical planter, no plant carries with 
it a more pleasing association, being a native 
of one of the most noted parts of Greece. — J. G. 
Fuchsia corallina. — This is a seedling ; 
it was sent from Lucombe, Pince, and Co.'s 
nursery at Exeter, to the Eoyal Botanic 
Society's Exhibition in May, and there re- 
ceived a first-class seedling prize. Viewed 
without reference to "properties," this is avery 
remarkable and exceedingly showy plant; and, 
to my taste, much before almost all the varieties 
raised of late years, in point of beauty. Those 
who know the older species of Fuchsia will 
readily form an idea of this kind, when I state, 
that, in general character, it somewhat re- 
sembles the old F. virgata, but is perhaps three 
times as large. It has the same clear neat 
stemmed habit ; the leaves have a reddish 
tinge, and the flowers areof the texture of those 
older kinds, and much the same in colour ; 
that is, with clear bright coral-red sepals, and 
purple petals. The leaves in their figure, and 
in their reddish tinge, and red veins, resemble 
those of F. radicans, a not very common trail- 
ing species, which may probably have been 
instrumental in producing Messrs. Lucombe's 
variety : they are large ; perhaps four inches 
long, and two broad. The flowers, as before- 
stated, are of very large size ; and they are 
produced from the axils of the leaves, on long 
stalks. Some idea of their size may be formed, 
when it is stated, that from the tip of a berry, 
not the base, to the tip of the stigma, which 
is not unusually prolonged, measures some- 
where about four inches. — M. 
Summer Pruning. — There is hardly a 
more important operation in the whole course 
of practical gardening than the proper regu- 
lation and distribution, during summer, of the 
shoots which are annually produced by fruit 
trees ; and this is particularly so in the case 
of such as are trained to a flat and limited 
surface. Yet, notwithstanding this, I hardly 
know of a practical operation which receives 
less due attention, or which is so often done 
in an imperfect and improper manner. A 
pretty general conception seems indeed to be 
entertained that the shoots should be thinned, 
but this is done at considerable intervals, and 
then by wholesale. Such treatment, I con- 
ceive, must be hurtful to the trees ; it must 
be injurious to them to allow their young 
shoots to grow for a time in the thick and 
crowded state in which they are always pro- 
duced by plants such as these, whose develop- 
ing surface is limited, and' then suddenly and 
severely to thin them, and thereby submit the 
shoots which are retained — not to more light 
and air or a greater degree of exposure than 
would be beneficial for them, in a general 
sense, but — to a far greater degree of expo- 
sure than the crowded state in which they 
have previously been growing has enabled 
them to prepare themselves to bear. Such 
alterations as these must, in fact, derange the 
exercise of the functions of these actively- 
growing parts ; and though the effect of such 
derangement may not, in consequence of in- 
nate energy in the trees, be at once apparent, 
it must become impressed upon the system, 
and will show itself sooner or later. The work 
of thinning the } r oung shoots of trees, such as 
those under consideration, to be done so as to 
secure its full advantage, and to avoid as far 
as possible any of the evils brought on by its 
being improperly performed, should be of 
