500 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 18, 1885. 
namely around the spurs and near the base of the shoots. In this event 
the upper parts of the growths are essentially the more fruitful in their 
nature, and it is because these are cut off at the winter pruning that so 
many vigorous bushes produce such poor crops of fruit. It is far better 
not to prune such bushes at all than to act in that far too common 
manner. I pause, however, to reflect that I am dabbling in science again, 
and can almost imagine some “ practical ” reviewer rising in rebellion 
against me. 
The great desideratum, as it seems to me, in summer pruning is to 
enable the lower leaves on the young shoots to develope fully under the 
most favourable conditions, as only then can they become perfect organs, 
preparers and storers of food. If imperfect, as they must be if shaded 
and overcrowded (with the strength of the trees appropriated by those 
above) they are deprivers instead of supporters of the tree, and what 
ought to be the most fruitful parts are really the most barren. Pinch 
early, is my advice if you pinch at all, and give the lower leaves a chance 
to do their important work. 
Then the influence of pruning on the current crop has to be con¬ 
sidered. On this point your correspondent observes when the work is 
postponed until the fruit is far advanced and a general slashing of the 
growths follows to give it light, that it results in premature ripening, 
which means that the fruit must both be smaller in size and inferior in 
quality for the “ assistance ” that is afforded. That is quite true. Such 
“ thorough ” work as that paralyses trees for the time being and the 
swelling of the crop ceases, whether of Currants, Grapes, Melons, Pears, or 
any other fruit. 
“ W. M.” contributes a very useful article on Celery on page 455, 
advocating the raising of plants on mild hotbeds and transferring them 
when only a few inches high direct to the trenches. In my opinion that 
is the best practice that can be adopted for the main and late crops. It 
is too late for persons to raise plants in that way now, but it is soon 
enough to point out the mistake that is made in allowing those that 
are pricked out in nursery beds to remain there too long to become thin, 
tall, and crowded before removing them to the trenches. The first 
favourable opportunity should be seized for planting Celery, while the 
-plants are still dwarf, and let them make their growth in the trenches, 
where it will be solid ; whereas if crowded in beds the stems lack 
substance, and a serious check follows if plants are removed when a foot 
or more high. If dry weather prevails after planting much watering may 
be avoided by covering the soil in the trenches with lawn mowings or 
whatever else may be more convenient for preventing the escape of 
moisture from the earth by evaporation. 
The mention of lawn mowings naturally leads to a moment’s thought 
on their effect in preserving Onions from the destructive maggot, as men¬ 
tioned by Mr. J. Gilbert on page 469. That is an excellent hint oppor¬ 
tunely given. I have never tried that plan of baffling the enemy, nor 
can I do so, as the Onions in my garden are not attacked ; but I should most 
certainly cover the soil amongst them with lawn mowings if the Onion 
fly were present. I can quite see the way in which the mulching may 
prove of great service. The Onion maggots are not hatched in the soil 
and enter the bulbs from below, but the fly deposits eggs on the leaves of 
the plants in small clusters that are plain enough to persons who know 
what to look for. I have examined many hundreds of them with a mag¬ 
nifier, under which they very much resemble ants’ eggs. They fall, hatch, 
and enter the plant, finding their prey instinctively if they meet with no 
obstruction. Soil drawn in iidges round the plants is a good barrier, 
and so also must be the grass mulchings, amongst which the maggots 
cannot travel. It is a mistake to suppose the eggs are deposited in the 
axils of the leaves, as a rule. I have watched the flies carefully on warm 
still mornings at this season of the year, and invariably observed the eggs 
on the leaves, from which they are easily displaced by the wind. I have 
driven thousands off with water forcibly applied with the syringe, and 
those that fall near the plants soon take possession of them if permitted 
to do so ; but the newly hatched maggofs cannot travel far, and I stroDgly 
suspect could scarcely travel at all amoDgst a layer of short grass. The 
plaD, I consider, is highly worthy of being tried wherever Onions are 
liable to destruction by the maggot. 
On the page above quoted I perceive a suggestion which I think is 
worth bringing a little more prominently forward — namely, that the 
coming autumn will be exceptionally favourable for holding a Pear 
Congress in London, corresponding with the successful Apple Congress of 
1883. This idea should, I venture to submit, be considered by the 
authorities. This is a “ Pear year,” and either one great gathering 
of the fruit should be organised, or periodical exhibitions of all the 
Pears that can be collected represented in a ripe state. If the present 
opportunity for testing the relative merits of the different varieties of the 
prince of hardy dessert fruits passes, a long time may elapse before 
another equally good may occur. In order, however, to have the finest 
examples of the greatest number of varieties, the fruit, as suggested by 
Mr. Young, must be thinned when the trees are heavily laden. It is quite 
as important to thin Pears as to thin Grapes for the production of superior 
specimens, and the woik of thinning hardy fruit is far too much neglected. 
Let all whose trees are heavily laden think this matter over, for the subject 
demands particular attention at the present time. 
So many persons fail with Tuberous Begonias as bedding plants, that 
they are apt to consider the glowing descriptions of them in flower 
gardens overdrawn. It is not very easy to exaggerate the beauty of a 
really well grown bed ©f Begonias, but it is one of the simplest things 
imaginable to fail in producing a brilliant mass of luxuriant plants. 
Grow them under glass tenderly, with stems so weak that stakes are 
requisite to support them. Let the pots get packed with roots, then 
plant out, and failure is certain, just as certain as it would be with 
Potatoes prepared in a similar manner. The right method of procedure 
is sketched by “ J.” on page 456—namely, Grow them steadily and 
sturdily in boxes, from which remove them to beds of rich soil when the 
weather is favourable for the work, mulch the soil between the plants, 
and they will surprise by their vigour, floriferousness, and beauty. 
Does not your excellent correspondent, “ D., Deal," when he complains 
of a “ lull” in the herbaceous garden after July, forget the effectiveness 
of summer-flowering Chrysanthemums? There are several that expand 
in July, forming imposing masses of flowers in various colours right 
through the summer. I think these hardy border flowers have not yet 
received anything like the full share of attention to which they are 
entitled. Then, too, for flowering after July are there any plants more 
effective and better adapted for mixed borders than Pentstemons ? I know 
of none. In colour they are most diversified ; some delicate, others rich, 
while scarcely any plants can excel them in gracefulness of habit. Then 
if armfuls of Carnations are coveted from July till October, grow a 
number of plants well from seed, and there will not be much of a “lull” 
in the supply of sweet and pretty flowers in the garden, or for arranging 
in vases in rooms during the period indicated. 
Common-sense remarks on the management of Vines are embodied 
in the article of “ J. M.,” page 463. It is a question if closing with much 
moisture so early in the afternoon that the temperature remains between 
90° and 100° for some time afterwards has not been overdone in places, 
and I think it is undoubtedly wise to “ reduce the temperature by degrees 
in the after part of the day,” as in that way the maximum heat of 80° to 
85° can be maintained for the longest time and under the most favourable 
conditions—namely, a free circulation of air. 
Disbudding is mentioned. It is an important process, and it is very 
certain that all the gardeners in the country will not agree with me when 
I say that it is very easy to remove superfluous buds too soon ; it may be 
a greater evil to unduly defer the work, but taking off one of two buds 
from a spur before the bunches are visible does not add one berry to the 
shoot remaining nor add to the eventual vigour of this shoot. I daresay 
I shall have someone “ down upon me ” for such heterodox teaching, but I 
cannot help it. I must say what I think about the matter. It is easy, 
as suggested by your correspondent, to tie down the young wood too soon, 
easy to syringe a great deal more than is necessary or advisable ; easy to 
attach too much importance to stopping the growths at any particular 
leaf; easy to err in determining the weight of a crop regardless of the 
condition of the Vines ; easy to attach too much blame to plants in 
vineries in the spring and summer when the crops of Grapes fail, and 
very particularly easy for an individual to blame anything but himself 
for a failure which, by a different method of treatment, might have been 
averted, always provided the means are afforded him for working effec¬ 
tively, and this is certainly not the case in hundreds of gardens 
where good meD, whom I pity, are expected to “ make bricks without 
straw.” - 
"What is the size of “A Kitchen Gardener’s” wheelbarrow ? That is 
the thought which occurred to me on reading the laudatory note (page 
458) on Beeson’s manure, a peck of which was mixed with every bairow- 
load of soil for Strawberries. If it is really necessary to use the manure 
so lavishly as your correspondent’s note implies for producing a satisfac¬ 
tory effect, I venture to think a gord many persons will find a difficulty 
in investing in it. I am so intensely conservative as not to try every 
“ new thing.” I had, however, almost decided to try the manure in 
question, but am now inclined to wait a little longer. 
A GOOD many things in the way of prospectuses reach me from time 
to time, and occasionally something more substantial, with polite requests 
that I will say what I think about them. For instance—Mr. Witherspoon 
has sent me illustrations of his Red Rose Boiler that has been advertised 
in the Journal, and copy of certificate that was adjudged for it, signed by 
Mr. James Douglas and the late Mr. Charles Turner as Judges at the 
Newcastle Show. After an examination of the boiler by those authorities, 
how is it possible that anyone not having seen it can say anything 
worth recording ? This only can be said, if I were contemplating heating, 
this boiler would be examined with the same care as others, and the one 
would be chosen which was conceived the best adapted to my purpose. 
I have less difficulty in dealing with a Broccoli. A fine example of 
Gilbert’s recently certificated Burghley Queen has reached me, with the 
information that it is the result of a cross between Chou de Burghley and 
Cattell’s Eclipse. When cooked the Burghley Queen was as white, tender, 
and delicious as any Cauliflower ; and the fat marrow-like leafstalks 
surrounding it contributed if possible to its excellence. Most gardeners 
will have to try it. That is my opinion, and in giving it I do not invite 
nor covet articles of any kind to think about. Several I have had to 
pass because I could not “ prove ” them, and the senders are disappointed. 
—A Thinker. 
Camellias.— Without the wood is thoroughly ripened the flower buds if 
they form cannot be expected to remain on the plants until the flowers are 
