15S 
CONIFEE.E. THE PINUS, OE PINE TEEE. 
young shoots ; these young plants may be 
grown to flower in the same way as the older 
plants, and are preferable to seedlings, when 
the smaller sized flowering plants are desired. 
"When seeds can be obtained they should be 
sown at the end of February in a hotbed, and 
grown on in a cool hotbed (that is, a hotbed 
where the bottom heat is mild, and plenty of 
air is admitted daily) for a month or two, and 
then taken to the greenhouse and treated nearly 
the same as tender annuals : in fact, when- 
ever seeds can be secured, it may be grown 
exactly as one of these, and would form a 
very valuable ornament to the greenhouse 
during the latter part of summer, when the or- 
dinary greenhouse plants are placed out of doors. 
Fugosia hahecefolia, was formerly known 
under the name of Hibiscus hakerefolius. It 
belongs to the natural order Malvaceae ; and 
in the Linnasan arrangement to Monadelphia 
Pol}andria. 
ON HASTENING THE BEAEING OF 
FEEIT TREES. 
Amoxg the many experiments prosecuted 
by Mr. Knight, the late president of the 
Horticultural Society, some were made with 
the view of hastening the bearing of fruit 
trees, by grafting them on vigorous stocks. 
One of these detailed in the Transactions of 
that Society,related to the walnutthe mulberry, 
and fruit trees of that class. In describing 
his experiment on the mulberry, Mr. Knight 
says : " I had not any young plants of this 
tree, and therefore could only make the ex- 
periment with scions of one year old, and of 
these I had only two, which had sprung from 
the roots of a young tree, in the preceding 
year. These were planted in pots, and raised 
to the bearing branches of an old tree, by 
placing them on the top of poles placed in the 
earth ; and they were grafted, by approach, 
with parts of the bearing branches. The 
young grafted tree bore fruit the third year, 
and continued annually productive. In the 
spring I introduced it into my Vinery, where 
its fruit ripened, in he greatest state of per- 
fection. Both the walnut and mulberry tree 
succeed so ill when grafted, unless by approach, 
that I can scarcely recommend attempts to 
graft them in any other way ; but when they 
succeed by other modes of grafting, nearly the 
same advantages will probably be obtained ; 
the habit of the bearing branch is, however, 
least disturbed by grafting by approach. The 
Spanish chestnut succeeds readily when grafted 
in almost any of the usual ways, and when 
the grafts are taken from bearing branches, the 
young trees afford blossoms in the succeeding 
year : and I am much inclined to think, from 
experiments I have made on this tree, that 
by selecting those varieties which ripen their 
fruit early in the autumn, and by propagating 
with grafts or buds from young and vigorous 
trees of that kind, which have just attained 
the age necessary to enable them to bear fruit, 
it might be cultivated with much advantage 
in this country, both for its fruit and timber. 
I have tried similar experiments on many other 
species of trees, 'and always with the same 
result ; and I entertain no doubt that the 
effects of time might be thus anticipated in 
the culture of any fruit which is not produced 
till the seedling trees acquire a considerable 
age. For I am thoroughly confident, from 
very extensive and long experience, that the 
graft derives nutriment only, and not growth, 
from the young stock in which it is inserted ; 
and that with the life of the parent stock the 
graft retains its habit and its constitution." 
This practice of Mr. Knight is analogous, 
both in its principles and object, to that of 
budding or grafting seedling varieties of fruifc 
! trees upon healthy trees in a matured bearing 
1 state. In this way seedling fruits that would 
probably take ten or a dozen years to arrive 
; at a fruit-bearing state, may often be fruited in 
the third year from their being raised. The 
mode of uniting the two plants should be that 
\ which is most successful with the particular 
; kind of fruit ; thus budding would be proper 
in the case of peach trees, and grafting would 
be preferable for apples or pears. 
The difference between the two plans is 
' this : — Mr. Knight's object was to produce a 
! young plant from the bearing branches of a 
fruit tree, in such a way that it would go on 
bearing when detatched as an independent tree; 
and this it would do by having at once ascend- 
ency over the roots, so that the latter had not 
power to excite it into luxurious unfruitful 
growth. In the case of uniting seedling plants 
with old established trees, the object is to re- 
| move the former from the ascendant influence of 
j their own roots, which causes luxuriant growth 
— proper for the establishment of the tree, but 
; as yet unfavourable to its fruitfulness — and to 
bring them within the influence of the elabo- 
rated sap of a mature tree, which does not 
I favour excessive growth, but the formation of 
I blossoms and of fruit. 
Mr. Knight's plan may be practically applied 
with advantage where small plants for fruiting 
in pots are required of any of those kinds of 
fruit which naturally grow large before they 
arrive at a bearing state. 
CONIFERJE. THE PINUS, OR PINE TEEE. 
The species here given are those in which 
the leaves usually grow in clusters of five 
together — rarely four. This group contains 
some of the finest species that are known. 
The present series, with those at pp. 77 and 
125, complete the genus Pinus. 
