528 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
Thinning of Fruit often makes all the ' 
difference between a fine crop and none, 
chiefly because the crop, when too thick, does 
not get all the support it ought to have, and 
all fails together; whereas by dint of attention 
and timely thinning the crop to half, or a 
third, or even a fourth of what there was ori- 
ginally, it would meet with a correspondingly 
improved sample, and all saved and ripened 
well. This should be carried down to goose- 
berries and currants. — G. 
The Italian Cypress. — It is quite a mis- 
take to suppose the Italian cypress too delicate 
for our climate. It has been neglected from 
want of knowledge how to treat it ; but there 
are many fine specimens in our gardens, and 
the plant seems rapidly coming into fashion 
again. The cypress, in this damp climate, is 
apt to grow too fast and too succulent. To 
correct this, it ought to be planted on dry, 
hard, gravelly soil, no matter how poor, if not 
impervious to the roots. Further, it ought to 
be pruned, kept to a leader, and even headed, 
if it grow too luxuriantly. It is sure to re- 
cover itself. But the best way to give a good 
figure to the tree, which, like some others of 
the Conifers, is apt to divide into two leaders 
near the root, is to trim it up continually to 
one stem till it reaches the height of three, 
four, or six feet, after which it will go ahead 
and run up to a point as well here as in Italy. 
The mistake made is that of treating it like a 
bush, branching from the root upwards, as a 
thuja or juniper, a tendency which ought to 
be sedulously counteracted. These remarks, 
however, apply only to Conifers of the cypress 
and juniper sections, and of upright habit ; in 
no way to araucarias and cedars, which are 
the most spreading of the tribe. The figure 
of a good cypress, as seen in Greece and Italy, 
is that of a tall evergreen poplar, rather more 
sharply pointed at the top while a young tree, 
but becoming rounder and more shaggy in 
character with age. The horizontal or spread- 
ing cypresses throw their arms to so short a 
distance, and acquire by time so near a resem- 
blance to the habit of the upright variety, as 
scarcely to deserve notice as an exception. 
The cypress, like the stone pine, and some 
other Conifers, is apt to thi-ow out, while 
young, an overstrong branch, which becomes 
a second or false leader, low down on the 
stem. It is to prevent the growth or predo- 
minance of such branches, that for a few years 
the trimming system is necessary to secure 
symmetry in the future tree. A cypress is a 
tall, graceful tree, and not to be treated like 
an Arbor-vit0e, or a juniper bush, throwing Wp 
a number of stems from the ground ; and is 
as little to be assimilated to the spreading 
Abietinae in treatment as the Lombardy poplar 
or the Quercus pyramidalis is to the Abele or 
the spreading oak of our forests. — Gai'dener^s 
Chronicle. 
The Oxalis for Winter Flowering. — 
Few plants repay the care bestowed on them 
better than Oxalises. During the cold season 
of the year, they decorate the rooms, the win- 
dows, and the vestibules, with their charming 
flowers. The small Oxalis tricolor is especially 
attractive and interesting in the evenings 
and mornings, by its pretty twisted corollas, 
striped with red and white, and at noon by 
its elegant open limb. This flower presents 
the phenomenon of reproducing its buds every 
night, to expand and fade with the rays of the 
morning sun. On the other hand, Oxalis 
Borvei has its large rosy-purple flowers ; Ox- 
alis variabilis, faithful to its name, gives us 
grandiflora and the variety Simsii, so distinct 
by their fine milky-white flowers. Oxalis 
speciosa shines in the midst of its companions 
by its bright purple corollas; and beside these 
varied tints, Oxalis JSmersonii, with its fine 
saffron-yellow flowers, is equally effective. In 
the garden of the learned Chevalier M. Michel 
Tenore, of Naples, there is the flnest and most 
extensive collection to be found on the Con- 
tinent. They are not grown, certainly, to 
large and heavy specimens, being not much 
more than six inches high; but they are very 
neat, and grown so thickly that they form a 
sort of leafy carpet, interspersed with brilliant 
flowers. With regard to the culture : — At the 
commencement of September, the tufts or roots 
begin to start. They should then be separated 
in order to multiply them, putting three or 
four pieces or little tufts in a middle-sized pot ; 
unless it is preferred to have them in a box, 
or anything like a lai-ge flat vase, so as the 
better to imitate a flowery turf. The soil 
should be composed of peat, leaf-mould well 
decomposed, and sand, giving a third part of 
each. It should be made light and porous, so 
as to allow a free admission of air. In this 
mixture the roots are placed, about half an inch 
under the surface. They should be moderately 
watered and removed to a warm and sheltered 
part of the garden. About the end of the 
month, the leaves will have begun to spring 
up. At the beginning of October, they are 
removed to the sill of the window which it is 
required to decorate. Here the essential con- 
ditions of their growth, and certain and con- 
tinued flowering, are the sun or light, air, and 
now and then a little tepid water. From Oc- 
tober to March and April these pretty flowers 
are in all their perfection. In the spring they 
should be removed to a cool place, where the 
late frosts will not injure or reach them. Even 
then they had better be kept rather dry than 
have a great deal of water. Thus the routine 
necessary to have these flowers all the winter 
is very simple, — Ghent Annales. 
