A STROLL THROUGH THE GARDEN. 
19 
making alterations, because the weather is 
so uncertain ; but when a thing has only just 
been resolved upon, or has been omitted, the 
first opportunity must be taken to carry it 
into effect. The clump they are now forming 
is to conceal that bit of new fencing, and they 
will be able to remove two or three tall hollies, 
a common laurel or two, a few large rhodo- 
dendrons, and some little fancy shrubs for the 
part that faces the windows, will complete it. 
Let us now turn into the Conservatory, and 
go through it into the house, for I begin to 
feel cold. Here you find quite a different 
climate. The glass, I see, stands at 42°, that 
is just 10° warmer than the freezing point ; 
water will freeze at 32° ; the glass out of doors 
stood at 27° ; there is therefore out of doors five 
degrees of frost. In the conservatory every 
things looks neat and clean. Here are camellias, 
throwing out a strong bloom/ftere and there, to 
enliven the collection ; hyacinths in flower, 
narcissuses and crocuses, snowdrops and early 
tulips in full bloom, which have been all brought 
forward by means of a common hot-bed. The 
rhododendrons seem all but bursting their 
blooms, and the pots of violet and mignonette 
at our feet assist in yielding the delightful 
perfume with which the place is filled. There 
is plenty of bloom to form a complete garden 
now, but what will it be when the camellias 
and rhododendrons are in perfection ? This, 
remember, requires to be swept very fre- 
quently, for the leaves fall off the trees and 
shrubs, and watering the plants occasions a 
great deal of dirt, for the portion of moisture 
that runs through is always stained, and unless 
the place was washed frequently, it would soon 
be unsightly. To-morrow we will look into 
the fruit garden, and see if anything is going 
forward there. 
THE ORCHARD AND FRUIT GARDEN. • 
Well, the hard weather continues, and 
there is no more working at the ground out 
of doors, but some of the heavy pruning 
may be going on in the old orchard, for the 
trees there had got into a very bad state. 
Standard trees yield their fruit somehow or 
other, even when neglected. The produce 
may be worse and worse every year, the fruit 
deteriorated, and people may begin to talk 
about their trees being worn out, whereas to 
the neglected growth alone may the evil, nine 
times out of ten, be fairly attributed. I can 
hear the saw going. I am glad they are at 
work at a most important subject, that I 
may the more easily explain to you the oper- 
ation and object of pruning on a large scale. 
Fruit trees in a wild state grow naturally, and 
yield their fruit in season, such as it is. There 
is nobody to find fault if the crop is short, 
the tree ugly, or the fruit small ; the whole 
appear as worthless, at least comparatively so, 
and, in a general way, the tree is reconciled to 
its station, and the station to the tree ; but 
the fruit that we cultivate is removed far 
from its natural state. The tree wants more 
nourishment and greater care than nature 
bestows, unaided, and the farther any variety 
of fruit is removed from its wild or natural 
state, the more care does it require. If the 
tree is allowed to run wild, and make more 
wood than is compatible with the root which 
supplies it, and the fruit which wants that 
supply, the produce will suffer and degene- 
rate in quantity and quality. If the branches 
are allowed to grow very thick and close, the 
sun and air will not penetrate the interior of 
the tree, and the greater portion of the fruit 
will have no benefit of either. But here we 
are ; let us observe the gardener. He has 
just put his ladder against a fine old apple- 
tree, which, as you observe, has branches 
crossing each other in all directions, and its 
entire head crowded with thin shoots ; two 
or three large branches bend down so awk- 
wardly near the ground, that he will saw 
them off close to the trunk, or at least within 
a few inches. Look at the quantity of wood 
there is lying under the tree he has pruned. 
Observe, there are main branches left spread- 
ing out all round, smaller branches growing 
out sideways from these, and, in fact, a hand- 
some but open head ; thousands of pimping 
little branches, which, like so much brush- 
wood, choked up the head, have been cut clean 
away; all the branches left on are healthy, 
and the smaller shoots from these are only 
those thick enough and strong enough to bear; 
the remainder, which took away the nourish- 
ment the fruit should have, or which, if bear- 
ing, had not strength enough to bring their 
fruit to perfection, have been cleared out. 
There may not be so many apples next year, 
but there will be more pecks of apples, be- 
cause they will be of a full size, instead of a 
miserably stunted and blighted crop. There 
are many people who will tell you that if a 
tree bears too much fruit, the wind will thin 
it; or, if not, the superfluous quantity will 
fall of itself, and that nature will, by her own 
efforts, correct the evil. If I allow for a 
moment that nature wonderfully interferes 
to adjust the balance in all her works, I must 
remind you that the argument fails, when, by 
the aid of art, we pervert the natural order of 
things,and produce that which is very different. 
Nature may adjust all the affairs of a crab, 
but not of a Eibstone pippin ; Nature may 
govern a wild plum by means that would fail 
in the affairs of a great Goliah, or a Coe's 
Golden Drop. Rest assured, my young friend, 
that it is wisely ordained that when man is 
permitted, by the exercise of his ingenuity, 
1 and the skill with which he has been blest, to 
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