« 146 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c August is, mi. 
favourable, will bring a full crop, and every other tree will 
require removal. I have a good length of wall at present in 
this happy condition, and I must confess that I am not a little 
proud of it. 
We have been gathering Early Beatrice since the end of 
July ; Early Louise in quantity, and better in quality, about a 
week later. Hale's Early and Early Rivers have a few fruits 
sufficiently ripe to gather, while Early Ascot Peach and Lord 
Napier Nectarine promise to be not far behind. The bearing 
space of our wall is about 9 feet high, each tree has a lateral 
space of 4 feet, and bears from thirty to fifty fine fruits. The 
only protection used in spring was a board coping a foot wide 
which has remained on, and a bird net of an inch mesh, which 
was removed at the end of April. We had several rather 
sharp frosts at the end of March ; on one occasion the thermo¬ 
meter at 4 feet from the ground went down to 22J°, and on 
another to 23°.—Wm. Taylor. 
CLIMBING PLANTS. 
Often have I written about hardy climbers, and yet the sub¬ 
ject is far from being exhausted, for they become more beautiful 
every year, fresh charms becoming developed with advancing age 
—charms that would probably remain unnoticed upon solitary 
specimens, but which are rendered prominent by association 
with others. Early in the year a pair of Clematis montana were 
very beautiful. Planted originally to cover the massive stone 
piers of a gateway, they have climbed over the tops of the piers 
along a wall on each hand, one running onwards to the top of a 
gabled roof along the edge of which a fringe of its long branches 
hang down for several feet, no pruning knife ever being suffered 
to touch them, and nothing can be more striking than this huge 
old plant when laden with its pure white flowers. The pendant 
branches half screen and mingle charmingly with the growth of 
a Bignonia radicans, a Ceanothus azureus, and a Periploca grmca. 
Later on the Bignonia will give us large clusters of its brilliant 
flowers, some nestling among the Clematis, and others standing 
out boldly from the mass of foliage in striking contrast to the soft 
clustering spikes of the pale blue Ceanothus. The Periploca has 
been in bloom several weeks and its flowers will soon be gone, 
but its foliage is so ornamental, clothing the wall with such 
dense masses of green, that we regret it is deciduous. The other 
Clematis has climbed up the end of a building full 30 feet high, 
twining about among the branches of a Virginian Creeper, among 
the foliage of which its white blossom is very pretty, and not 
infrequently proves somewhat puzzling when seen for the first 
time. Near the Virginian Creeper a Honeysuckle (Lonicera 
brachypoda) has hitherto been highly ornamental, but I am 
sorry to say the severe weather of last winter killed many of its 
branches. Several others have suffered, and among them I am 
sorry to have to include the fine old specimen of L. flexuosa 
growing upon my house, which has lost all its upper branches. 
We have now had three consecutive winters of unusual severity, 
and it is curious to see that the effects upon some of the old 
climbers is very similar to that of repeated attacks of illness 
upon old people—debility, disease, and sometimes death. For 
the first time in my experience Berberidopsis corallina lost most 
of its foliage last winter, the only branches not denuded being 
close to the wall or sheltered by the dense sturdy growth of a 
Coteneaster. I am glad to say new foliage has come, but neither 
is it so stout in texture nor so large as usual. I may note that the 
two specimens growing here of this fine climber have hitherto 
been remarkable for robust health and extraordinary vigour. 
Myrtles too were cut down, and an Aristolochia Sipho lost much 
of its growth. 
Ampelopsis Veitchii grows in our favour. No building appears 
too high for it. Once established it requires no further care but 
to keep it within bounds, which is not often required, for it makes 
its way behind the branches of other climbers and mingles its 
growth with theirs most charmingly. One huge plant of it has 
covered two storeys of a lofty building, and is rapidly advancing 
upwards over a third. It is spreading laterally among the 
branches of a Climbing Devoniensis Bose on one side, and a 
Marbchal Niel on the other. At its base are several other 
climbers, the most conspicuous just now being Clematis Jackmanii 
laden with its rich violet purple flowers made more than usually 
attractive by their setting of the Ampelopsis foliage. The Ampe¬ 
lopsis bore seed abundantly last year, but very little of it proved 
fertile, only about a dozen seedlings having been raised from a 
considerable quantity of seed. 
Not far from the Ampelopsis is another very attractive group 
of climbers. The loftiest is a Solfaterre Rose, one of my especial 
old favourites. All its lower branches are covered by a white 
Jessamine, which, too, is rapidly mounting upwards past one of 
the windows of a drawing-room to those of a boudoir upon the 
next floor, for which purpose it was planted. Up among the 
Bose branches a Prince of Wales Clematis has climbed, and its 
deep purple flowers are now in full beauty, and the last scarlet 
flowers of Lonicera sempervirens are falling among the branches 
of the Jessamine.— Edward Luckhubst. 
HOW TO INDUCE EARLY FERTILITY IN SEEDLING 
FRUITS. 
One of the great drawbacks attending the raising of seedling 
fruits such as Apples, Pears, and Plums, is the long period that 
must elapse before they produce fruit and can be proved. A 
seedling Apple or Plum will rarely bear in less than from eight 
to ten years, and a Pear in less than from sixteen to twenty years. 
A Cherry, on the other hand, will sometimes bear fruit in from four 
to six years. Fertility may be frequently hastened, however, by 
tying or ringing the bark of a branch. This is done by removing 
a thin ring of the bark, or by tying the branch tightly round with 
wire, by which means the sap is checked in its descent, the branch 
becomes swollen above the tie or ring, and fruit buds are formed. 
I have recently had a noticeable instance of the success attending 
this plan, which I tried on an UDfruited seedliDg Apple, a branch 
of which I tied round last year with wire, and I find that not only 
is this the single branch which has fruited, but the only one on 
the tree which blossomed. 
Another mode of obtaining the same end is to tie down the 
branches where practicable. Planting in a warm or shallowish 
soil, or removal to such a position from a deeper or richer soil, 
will also usually tend to early fertility. I also recommend that 
buds be carefully taken from the yearling fruit and inserted in a 
stock which induces precocity in fruiting. If an Apple, on the 
Doucin or French Paradise, a Pear on the Quince or Whitethorn, 
or a Plum on the Myrobalan or Sloe. By adopting one or all of 
these means the ordinary fruiting period may be advanced, and 
raisers may hope to live to taste the fruits of their labour.— 
T. Laxton, Bedford. 
PREPARING FOR WINTER. 
( Continued from page 75.) 
TOMATOES. 
Having written previously and at considerable length upon 
this subject I have some diffidence in recurring to it. The import¬ 
ance of the subject and the knowledge that there are many fresh 
subscribers to the Journal of Horticulture must be my excuse. 
Given a suitable house, or a suitable position in a house, and there 
is nothing to hinder the merest tyro from growing Tomatoes in 
winter. When well grown they are decidedly ornamental, and 
there are but few establishments, even supposing the proprietors 
have no special liking for them, where they will fail to put the 
fruit to a good use. Those who are great admirers of the Tomato 
will find house-grown fruit much superior in quality to any they 
may have ripened in the open during the majority of our seasons. 
It is rather amusing to note the great divergence of tastes with 
regard to Tomatoes, some being inordinately fond of the fruit, 
while others have a positive aversion to them. Some on first 
tasting do so with a firm conviction they will not like them, and 
this was the case with a farmer whom I recently tried to convert. 
He seriously affirms he could taste the Tomatoes I gave him for a 
fortnight, and makes a wry face at those growing whenever he 
pays us a visit. The relish for them is undoubtedly an acquired 
one, and for this reason more than one attempt to eat them should 
be made. If considered insipid when sliced up and eaten with 
vinegar, oil, and pepper, they may yet be found palatable when 
baked. According to some authorities Tomatoes possess medicinal 
properties, and are especially recommended for those afflicted 
with a disordered liver. This is good news to me and probably 
many others, as I have no objection to such agreeable remedies. 
After this brief attempt at the conversion of some of our readers 
1 will now offer a few remarks on the winter culture of the 
Tomato. The plants will not succeed in a greenhouse temperature, 
but require to be grown in a house under the same conditions 
as ordinary stove plants. Bottom beat is not absolutely necessary, 
but if properly attended to they will succeed better with it. I 
have grown profitable crops in 12-inch pots, these being thinly 
disposed on a staging over hot-water pipes and among small 
decorative plants, growing in a low span-roof house. The Toma¬ 
toes were trained up the wires previously used for the Melons. In 
a high-fronted house the Tomatoes might be grown in the same 
