JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
352 
[ May 5, 1881. 
is greenish yellow with a few tints of red. It is an old species, 
having been described and figured by Parkinson in his “ Paradisus ” 
under the name of “ Hyacinthus Botroides major moschatus, the 
Great Yellow Muske Grape Flower,” which he states is “ very 
sweete in smell, like unto Muske, vrhereof it took the name 
Muscari.” A few potfuls of this in a greenhouse are very 
acceptable.—L. C. 
WALLFLOWERS AND SWEET WILLIAMS IN POTS. 
Wallfloweks. — These are always appreciated when they 
appear in the open, and they are so easily cultivated that 
the poorest as well as the richest may have them in their gardens. 
But the object of our writing is to let it be more generally known 
how well they are adapted to pot culture, and how well they 
are suited for room decoration during the early months of the 
year. Sweet-scented flowers are alwayg welcome at any season, 
and none more so than the Wallflower. We sow the seed in 
May on a warm border; as soon as the seedlings are large enough 
they are pricked out on a piece of good ground about 9 inches 
apart each way. They are lifted and potted in the autumn. If 
they are then placed in a house or pit where a temperature of 
about 45° or 50° can be maintained and never allowed to become 
dry, they will make good plants, and will flower about the begin¬ 
ning of February without any forcing. The double German forms 
are very fine when well grown, but for sweetness the single varieties 
are not surpassed. 
Sweet Williams. — I find these very useful when grown in 
pots. Treated in the same way as Wallflowers, they can be had in 
flower about the same time. When properly treated they require 
no staking, as the flower stems are as stiff as when grown out 
of doors. We raise them from seed in the same way as Wall¬ 
flowers ; but when a good variety is obtained it is advisable to 
propagate it by cuttings, which will be found to root freely on a 
warm border.— Leadenham. 
CHISWICK IN MAY. 
It is long since the Royal Horticultural Society’s Gardens were 
so beautiful as they are now. Every year during the fruit-blos¬ 
soming period the numerous trees of various forms and sizes which 
constitute this great collection are more or less attractive, but this 
year the wealth of blossom is so great and the flowers are so fine 
that the effect is particularly imposing. The Pear trees especi¬ 
ally are densely clothed in silvery drapery, forming pyramids of 
purity that no ornaments of the pleasure ground can surpass. Last 
year Pear blossom was comparatively sparse, many trees being 
nearly destitute of flowers. This year the reverse is the case, 
there being very few trees that are not crowded with blossom, 
and some of these are instructive. For instance, on one side of a 
walk we find a grand pyramid Jargonelle 10 or 12 feet high and 
6 feet in diameter at the base, with branches so strong that no 
wind can move them, wreathed from base to apex with large 
blush flowers, while a tree of the same variety, and identical in 
age, form, and size on the opposite side of the walk, is flower- 
less. The fruitful tree is on the Quince stock, the barren tree on 
the Pear. The superiority of the former stock is most striking, 
the tree being equally stout in stem, clean, and healthy with its 
barren neighbour 11 over the way.” This Pear is considered diffi¬ 
cult to train in the form of a handsome pyramid, but the, examples 
referred to are as near perfect as anyone could wish. The flowers, 
too, of this variety are amongst the finest, being very large. 
Splendid, too, in this respect is a variety named Belle Henriette : 
beautiful indeed is this tree — a huge bouquet, and the appro¬ 
priateness of the name as applied to the flowers cannot be ques¬ 
tioned. Henri Capron compels a pause, being about equally 
fine ; and similarly striking is the valuable autumn Pear Belle 
Julie, the merits of which as a certain bearer combined with 
excellent quality is not yet sufficiently appreciated. During 
recent bad years this tree has been remarkable for its heavy 
crops, and yet it is, if possible, more richly draped with blossom 
than ever. Near it is Urbaniste, with insignificant blossom, but 
this is not an index of the fruit it bears, which is fine. Beurre 
Hardy is one of the grandest pyramids in the garden, perhaps 
excelling in this respect Beurrd d’Amanlis and MaiAcbal de Cour, 
which are models of fertility ; while Deux Soeurs is one of the 
latest, and singular as being the only variety having flowers 
tinted with pink, like Apple blossom. Such trees as those are 
quite capable of bearing a bushel of fruit each. There is a large 
plantation of Pears similar to those alluded to, some of the trees 
being 10 feet high and more that have been planted six years. 
They are 8 feet apart, or say at the rate of seven hundred trees 
per acre. In a good fruit year such culture could not fail being 
profitable, especially as the ground between has been and will 
continue to be also utilised by other crops. True, such trees need 
pruning, but grown as they are with branches about a foot apart 
and nearly as thick and strong as the shaft of a spade, the outlay 
in this respect is really trifling, as, in fact, trees thus fertile make 
but little superfluous wood. It is quite impossible that anyone 
who has produced such trees as these could say anything against 
the system of culture, even from an utilitarian point of view ; and 
no amount of theory—nothing short of actual results, can avail in 
attempting to show that any so-called natural, or rough-and-ready 
mode of culture, would be more profitable during the period indi¬ 
cated from the time of planting. 
The secret of having such fine trees consists in not shortening 
the leaders closely, but allowing them to remain as far as the 
wood is ripened. Few and strong side branches are then produced, 
not numerous and weak growths, which characterise thousands 
of trees grown on the pyramid system and which have not proved 
satisfactory. The principle of growing such trees as those under 
notice may be described as extension of the leader as long as 
such extension is needed, and thinning and restriction of the 
side branches, so that every leaf is fully exposed to the light and 
air. This is true culture, scientifically sound and practically 
successful, as the trees bear substantial witness. 
Adjoining this fine quarter of Pears is another quarter, mostly 
of Apples. A freer mode of culture has been adopted here, for 
all plans are fairly tried at Chiswick. “ Try all modes fully, 
fairly, and without prejudice,” might be the motto there—(at any 
rate it is practised if not proclaimed)—“ and judge by results ; ” 
or, as the Americans tersely and significantly would put it, there 
are “ no axes to grind.” It must be said that these wild trees 
that have not been pruned lately do not compare favourably 
with the others ; their spreading branches cover much more space, 
and many portions are destitute of spurs. No cropping can be 
done amongst the trees, while if all the flower trusses could be 
counted they would be far less in number than on the trees 
that have had better attention and occupy less space. And 
further, the “ let alone ” trees will soon all be ruined if every 
alternate specimen is not cut out, the same has been done 
in a large commercial fruit-growing establishment in the same 
district. In fact, these are not suitable trees for gardens, though 
it is right they should be grown at Chiswick for educational 
purposes; but there are plenty of trees that are most appro¬ 
priate, handsome, and profitable for garden culture, and those 
who denounce the culture of them with “ a sweep of the pen ” 
might do worse than pay a visit to Chiswick during the ensuing 
week. 
There are sturdy columns 9 feet high and 18 inches in diameter 
at the base that need no stakes nor other form of support, that 
take up no more room than a good Savoy, nor half so much as 
a Gooseberry bush, yet are crowded with blossom as if covered 
with snow. Are they out of place in a garden ? It may be stated 
with a considerable amount of confidence that nine hundred people 
out of a thousand who had such trees flanking their garden walks 
would not think so. Then there are the vertical cordons 5 feet 
high, rigid as Hollyhock stakes, and crowded with flowers from 
the ground upwards. These trees are planted about 18 inches 
apart, which affords free access to light and air to each, yet as in 
bloom they form an almost close fence, not occupying a width of 
ground of more than a foot. This is a beautiful screen of flowers 
now, far surpassing in this respect a row at right angles of the 
ordinary horizontal-trained espaliers, though not a word is said 
against the usefulness of the latter mode of training trees for 
gardens. If a fair proportion of the blossoms on these sturdy and 
self-supporting verticals sets—and it will not be the form of the 
trees that prevents its setting—the ground occupied of, say, a 
foot wide and 100 yards long will be more remunerative than the 
same space occupied by any other garden crops that may be 
planted on the same space of ground near the trees. Yet “fruit 
trees are not fit for gardens ” says some bold man or big man ; and 
forthwith there are hundreds of smaller men who, parrot-like/, 
follow suit, and the refrain rolls on and round, those who have 
never seen such trees as these quite believing there are no fruit 
trees fit for gardens; yet not one per cent, of them who had 
these trees in their gardens would, it may safely be said, hasten 
to root them out. “ But the time they take root-pruning and 
knife-pruning ! ” some lover of Nature may exclaim. Let them 
not be startled when it is stated as a fact that they have very 
little of either. Summer-pinching has been the mainspring of 
the fertility of the trees, and there are larger trees on walls 
that have never been root-pruned, and which need next to no 
knife or winter-pruning, and which, although the branches are 
vertically trained, are like ropes of flowers from the ground to 
the top of the wall. Such trees show in the most convincing 
