JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 10, 1881. ] 
395 
at the foot of the walls whereon Peaches, &c., grew, leaving certain 
other trees in the same situation without the water, so as to test the 
truth of the assertion. 
Besides adopting any methods which may keep the air above freez¬ 
ing point, protection against radiation is especially to he considered. 
It is astonishing what a very slight protection will sometimes suffice. 
Various 'fruit trees in which the petals were more incurved than 
others will thereby protect the pistil from injury ; while Cherries, in 
which the withered calyx-tube was observed still suspended on the 
summit of the ovary before falling off, were thereby protected, while 
others from which it had fallen were cut on the same occasion. 
Such were some of Nature’s hints as to what was requisite to pro¬ 
tect the blossoms from the injury of frost. 
ABOUT PEACH TREES. 
There are certain questions about which there is hardly room 
for discussion. It may, I think, be taken for granted that during 
all times the grower with few trees and much space would extend 
the branches. But about pruning and cropping, do gardeners 
practise what they preach ? I have seldom seen them do so, but 
frequently have seen them with crops which evidenced that they 
considered their prestige depended thereon, and others with bear¬ 
ing wood tied in as though they contemplated during the winter 
months turning basket makers 1 Let me impress upon young 
gardeners the adoption of the following plan : Say a young tree 
with six branches is at hand. Give the bottom pair just a gentle 
rise and divide the rest equally, with the exception of giving to 
the top pair two spaces. When disbudding remove all the back 
shoots and all the bottom shoots, and remove those in the front 
with the exception of a few, which pinch short to form fruit spurn. 
With a sunless season the fruit buds of these latter, requiring less 
ripening, may save a crop, and they clothe the tree. On the top 
of the branches leave shoots for bearing about 18 inches apart. 
Thus you will have a fan-shaped tree formed of “wings,” and 
you will never be troubled whilst laying in your wood with one 
lateral running into the other ; so you will have a tree that will 
please the eye and secure fruit with ordinary attention. Of course 
I do not offer this as any new plan, but I do offer it as a plan 
that deserves attention, and yet a plan that is very far from 
being practised generally by professional gardeners.— Joseph 
Witherspoon. 
RHODODENDRON CAUCASICUM PICTUM. 
On the 6th of April we lifted a large plant of the above from 
the open border and placed it in the plant stove for cutting. On 
the 13th, exactly a week after the operation, sixteen fine heads of 
open flowers were cut from the plant, and the evening of that day 
the specimen was a mass of beautiful pink flowers. On the 14th 
136 open trusses were cut, leaving about sixty remaining, counting 
buds as well. This is a first-rate forcing variety. We have grown 
it for many years, having it in flower frequently about the begin¬ 
ning of the year for conservatory work, when it lasts a long time 
in flower. 1 do not think its use for forcing is as well known as 
it deserves to be. It is freely used in this locality (Cheshire) 
under the name here given, and also there is a fine white variety 
which we have not grown. A plant of a red kind was lifted here 
before the 6th of April and put in the early vinery, and it is not 
yet (May 7th) fully in flower. But most people who force plants 
know the great difference of Rhododendrons in this respect. 
R. c. pictum is now just coming into flower in the borders, and is 
very pretty ; only for this work it is risky to grow it too largely, 
as it is sometimes completely cut down by late frosts when it is 
in full flower.—R. Mackellae. 
CARPET BEDDING. 
After all that has been written against this mode of garden 
decoration it has yet probably more admirers than any other, 
judging by the thousands who enjoy it in the London parks, and 
the long pilgrimages that are made to them for securing the latest 
patterns. The system is also largely practised on the lawns and 
terraces of private gardens, as we know by the inquiries we 
receive on the subject. The present being the time for arranging 
the beds, we submit the first of a few examples designed by Mr. 
Graham of Hampton Court, which are quite different from any 
he has hitherto produced. The arrangement for a whole ground¬ 
work of the attractive dark green hardy plant, Herniaria glabra, 
will considerably reduce the expense of planting such a bed. The 
> margin, No. 11, had better be raised about 5 inches above the grass, 
slightly bevelled, and planted with Echeveria, Sedum glaucum, 
or both together, to keep up the soil and improve the appearance 
of the bed. This design can be planted in many different ways 
to suit the taste or variety of plants at command, and with certain 
modifications that will suggest themselves the character of the 
design may be adapted to beds different in form to the one repre¬ 
sented. The following is a mode of planting suitable for the 
design submitted:— 
1. Echeveria metallica, or any other suitable specimen plant. 
2. Alternanthera amcena. 
3. „ paronychyoides major. 
4. Pachyphytum bracteosum or Kleinia repens. 
5. Alternanthera paronychyoides. 
6. Sempervivum montanum. 
7. Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum. 
8. Herniaria glabra. 
9. Sempervivum tabulseforme, or plant of a similar character. 
10. Alternanthera of any kind. 
11. Echeveria secunda glauca interspersed with Sedum glaucum. 
Jottings from the West. —I was very much pleased to see 
“ Verna ” alluding to our plants of the hedgerows, copses, &c. 
I am particularly partial to our British “weeds,” as gardeners 
too frequently call them. No matter how severe our winters, 
they are always succeeded by charming spring flowers, such 
as Petasites fragrans, three species of Potentilla, one or two 
varieties of Viola, three species of Ranunculi, the Daisy, Primrose, 
wild Hyacinth, the Hawthorn and Blackthorn, and a great many 
