502 
AGNOSTUS SINUATA. 
FRUIT GARDKN. 
Transplant, nail, and dig ; in showery 
weather, clean nails, make shreds, and choose 
the frosty mornings for getting on manure to 
the ground. If draining is required, now is a 
good time to get this done ; make them gene- 
rally four feet deep ; shallow drains are apt 
to hinder progress in improving soils. Pruning 
must now be proceeded with in good earnest. 
Almonds. — Prune and treat in the same 
manner as the peach tree. 
Apples. — When grown on walls, keep the 
spurs short, and every part of the tree covered 
with them, and only in cases where the wood 
is not ripened, or very weak, shorten the 
leaders. Be particular in cutting in the young 
trees ; a chief point in training is beginning 
well, or " setting off properly." If the wall 
is high, train them in a fan form, but horizon- 
tal if the wall is less than twelve feet high. 
In standards keep the heart of the tree open, 
and prevent branches crossing. 
Apricots. — The pruning is usually deferred 
until spring ; yet it may be done now with 
advantage ; leave a few spurs, but depend 
upon the young wood chiefly; and when nailing, 
use as few nails and shreds as possible. 
Cherries. — The sooner the pruning of these 
is finished the better; train in the fan form; 
and treat the morello as a peach-tree. 
Currants, will be improved by manuring 
and digging the soil after pruning. 
Figs. — Attend to having these covered 
with mats, straw, or any dry material: this 
should be done when they are quite dry. 
Nectarines. — Have any of the trees trans- 
planted if the weather is dry ; but defer pmn- . 
ing until spring. 
Pears. — Get these pruned and nailed ; the 
horizontal form of training is preferable, ex- 
cept for some sorts which do well if the young 
woodislaidin as on Seymour's plan for peaches ; 
in the finer sorts remove all spray, and any 
superabundance of buds. 
Peaches. — Defer the pruning of these until 
February; but planting may now be done. 
Strawberries. — Instead of the usual prac- 
tice of digging between, the rows, after the 
plants are thoroughly cleared of all the runners, 
it is preferable to top dress the beds to the 
depth of two inches, with a compost of duno- 
and loam. 
Vines. — Finish pruning them as early as 
convenient, and get them securely nailed. 
Cuttings of Vines may be planted any time 
during winter. 
AGNOSTUS SINUATA.. 
(A. Cunningham.) 
THE SCALLOPED-LEAVED AGK03TOS. 
This fine plant forms an exceedingly inte- 
resting object on account of its clear and 
erect growth, and large interesting, usually 
pinnatifid, or rather sinuated, leaves, which 
very much resemble those of some oak. It 
forms a tree-like shrub, with a bare stem, 
branching out into a head, well clothed with the 
leaves, which are shining and of a hard texture; 
they are, moreover, not always lobed, but are 
sometimes of a simple oblong figure. From 
the axils of these spring the clusters of bright 
and deep orange-coloured singular flowers. 
The clusters consist of about a dozen blossoms, 
which spread out from the end of the stalk 
that bears them, in a horizontal manner, like 
the spokes of a wheel ; in an early stage of 
development they are about an inch in length, 
slender, with a little knob at the end ; as they 
advance in growth they bend regularly up- 
wards, the slender part bursts, and the orange- 
