480 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 19, 1884. 
popularity of tlie truly English flowers on which they are 
inflicted. They must be very learned at Langport. 
At last we have something like a solution of the conflict 
of opinion as to the distinctness of Lilium Harrisi from 
L. longiflorum. Some persons maintain their identity; 
others as strongly believe in their dissimilarity. If, as 
appears not unlikely, the bulbs have “got mixed,” there is 
no wonder that confusion should have arisen, and in such 
case the disputants are in the happy position of all being 
right. The true Bermuda Lily is very beautiful, and I think 
dissimilar from and superior to both L. longiflorum and its 
variety eximium. _ 
The subject ol pruning Gooseberries is incidentally alluded 
to in a note on page 465, in which it is stated examples of 
pruning and non-pruning may be seen in the neighbourhood 
of the metropolis, and in nearly every case the unpruned 
bushes have the best of the crop. Possibly similar examples 
may be seen elsewhere, such as neglected bushes of cottagers 
being laden with fruit, and the scientifically pruned trees in 
the squire’s garden practically barren. I was taught to 
prune severely and leave the centres of the trees sufficiently 
open to place my hat in. For years I stupidly and thought¬ 
lessly carried out the system, and was often annoyed in not 
being able to gather a hatful of berries. For ten years (1864 
to 1874) that method was adopted with never a full crop of 
fruit weighing down the branches; for ten years (1874 to 
1884) not a tenth part of the time previously occupied has 
been spent in pruning, and certainly ten times the weight of 
Gooseberries w T ere gathered. This year is no exception; 
bushes slightly pruned are bearing heavily, while over the 
wall in the next garden, where close pruning is the order of 
the day, there are no Gooseberries. Next year the trees in 
that garden are to be differently treated ; every alternate row 
only is to be pruned, and I have bet the gardener a new hat 
that those let alone will bear one-third greater weight of 
fruit than the others. I thick I shall win. 
Mr. Muir’s notes on Celery are suggestive. A good deal 
of the bolting of Celery results from the bad practice of 
leaving the plants in nursery beds too long, and permitting 
them to become 9 or 10 inches high before being planted 
in the trenches. If hot weather follows it is almost impos¬ 
sible to keep such plants steadily moving, except backwards, 
and then flower spikes almost inevitably form. When Celery 
is grown by the acre for market no such practice is adopted, 
nor are deep trenches made and filled with an extravagant 
quantity of manure. Sufficient to start the plants and an 
abundance of liquid food afterwards produces good Celery. 
The driblet system of earthing is attended with one danger 
—the extreme liability of the roots getting dry when buried 
under 6 or 8 inches of soil, and this alone has been the 
cause of thousands of Celery plants bolting. The longer the 
earth is packed round the stems, too, the more are they 
eaten wdiere grubs abound. It is very easy to err by com¬ 
mencing earthing too soon, but a thick muching of manure 
or short grass from lawns is valuable in keeping the 
roots moist, and it lessens the necessity of such frequent 
waterings. _ 
The subject of mulching is admirably treated by Mr. 
Iggulden, whose remarks on page 459 are as sound as they 
are opportune. Daily sprinkling flower beds with cold water 
i3 pernicious, as the consequent evaporation extracts the 
heat from the soil as fast as it is imparted by the sun, and 
the roots perish while the leaves scorch. That, I think, is 
the cause of so many plants refusing to grow that are half 
watered daily in hot weather. They may be sprinkled until 
they positively starve to death. One thorough weekly 
watering, giving sufficient to pass quite to the subsoil, and 
mulching the surface to prevent evaporation, and conse¬ 
quently retaining both heat and moisture, is infinitely more 
potent in promoting the growth of plants than daily 
sprinklings that seem so fashionable. There are so many 
extremists in the world that the expression of opinion iu 
favour of shallow versus deep cultivation of vegetables may 
not prove of the greatest benefit. The surface-scratchers wfill 
have an excuse to go on scratching, and if their crops fail 
in dry weather they will be fortified with an authority. I 
think a revolutionary innovation of that nature should not be 
in the form of an interpolatory sentence. The subject should 
be treated more fully or let alone, or the meaning of the 
innovator will not be rightly understood by all. 
I think that is all I have to say at present, except to observe 
that I cannot undertake to “ think aloud” every week, as I 
have been invited to do by the writers of some letters that 
have been forwarded to me by the Editor. — A Thinker. 
ESPALIERS. 
Why do I recommend on page 437 the converting of hori¬ 
zontal espaliers into palmette verifiers ? Because, as is clearly 
stated in that article, “ its inherent weakness of form invariably 
led to premature barrenness and decay in the lower branches.” 
That this statement is borne out by facts there can be no 
question. In many an old garden have I seen espaliers with 
the lower branches in various stages of decay while the top was 
still in full vigour, and I have lived long enough to see a con¬ 
siderable number of espaliers planted in the best of soils for 
fruit culture (a deep rich loam, brought into fruiting under 
careful aud skilful culture, yielding four bushels of fruit to a 
tree; fruit, too, so fine that I have a note of a Gloria Mundi 
Apple picked off one of them weighing 23 ozs.) reaching the 
stage of barrenness, debiiity, decay, followed by the equally 
inevitable cutting down, grubbing, and replacing with young 
trees. It will therefore be evident that 1 have ample reason 
for not saying “ Agreed ” to “ A Thinker’s ” inference that I 
should be disposed to leave such trees alone. 
When I sat down to write the paper on espalier Apple trees 
I had no intention of making the drawing printed with it, and 
did so simply to make the matter clear, just as one is apt to 
make a hasty sketch in a letter to illustrate one’s meaning. 
Further thought leads me to inquire if the ends of horizontal 
branches might not be turned upwaids, and the form of the 
tree be so changed without much wasteful destruction of fruit¬ 
ing wood? Certainly this could be managed upon many trees 
with comparatively young and pliant growth, but older rigid 
growth would have to be cut as in fig. 100. Trees so converted 
would not for a while look so well as a finished palmette verifier; 
but this is clearly a case wherein utility stands before appearance, 
and the end and aim of fruit culture—the production of full crops 
of fine fruit upon healthy trees—has to be kept well to the fore. 
If, therefore, it is possible so to alter aud improve a faulty form 
of training, it certainly ought to be done. 
But says “A Thinker,” “'I cannot see clearly how the space 
between two trees could be occupied after some feet had been 
cut from the larger branches and the resultant growths trained 
vertically.” Has my critic never seen a cordon P and is he aware 
how quickly those invaluable little trees come into bearing P 
Planted 18 inches apart they soon fill every foot of space as¬ 
signed them, not as mere makeshifts, but as really valuable fruit 
trees. I hope next planting season to plant at least one row of 
espalier cordons, and take this opportunity of recording my 
opinion that cordons are the best - better even than palmette 
verifiers for espaliers, and, with one or two exceptions, for walls. 
My exceptions are Peaches and Nectarines, and perhaps Figs, 
and yet I really cannot see why Fig cordons cannot be managed 
as well as any other sort of fruit. What we require in a Fig 
tree is plenty of short-jointed stout lateral growth, every such 
shoot of a Brown Turkey or Brunswick giving two or three Figs 
from the upper buds upon open walls, and under gla-s other 
sorts do so too. Compare the points of merit in a cordon with 
those of any other form, and see how much may be said in i s 
favour. It requires so little space that a failure is made good 
without materially affecting the fruit supply; it comes quickly 
into fruit-bearing, and yields fruit of high excellence in size, 
form, colour, and flavour. It is true that a single cordon cannot 
yield much fruit, but I believe it will be found that five diagonal 
cordons trained upon wires to a height of 6 feet 6 inches will, 
when fully developed and in full bearing, give a bushel of Apples. 
Although I cannot speak positively here, yet my assertion is not 
mere guesswork, but it is based upon fairly reliable data. Much 
