JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
216 
[ September 8, 1881. 
first be given, and the frames kept very close until the plants 
can be gradually hardened. It will be understood that those in 
pots will be rooted first, and ready for potting singly into 2 or 
3-inch pots about the month of May. Those under handlights 
require a little different treatment in spring. As soon as the 
sun has power the small frames are shaded, and during 
showery weather the lights are removed. If this can be carried 
out once a week, or at short intervals, the cuttings improve con¬ 
siderably. If dry weather sets in the young plants must be well 
supplied with water. As the season advances a little air must 
be given daily on favourable occasions, as the roots are gene¬ 
rally produced when growth commences. It is surprising 
what a time some of the varieties take to form roots, and 
often the season is far advanced before this is accomplished. 
Some are ready for potting off during the month of June— 
such, for instance, as Cryptomeria elegans, which roots quickly. 
Retiuospora ericoides is even freer in this respect, while Thui- 
opsis borealis and T. b. compacta are a very long time before 
they are rooted, and are often left the second season. As a 
rule when they are well rooted the different varieties are potted 
off singly, and any cuttings that are not rooted are placed 
thickly together in 8-inch pots, and remain in them in cold 
frames through the following winter. After the plants are 
potted they are placed in frames and kept close for a time 
until they commence rooting again. They are then turned 
out and stood closely together in narrow beds, and cocoa-nut 
fibre refuse is placed amongst the pots and about an inch in 
depth over the rims. The plants may have to stand in this 
position through the winter, but in the majority of cases the 
strongest are planted out, and only the weakest plants and 
those potted late are kept and wintered in pots as described.— 
W. Bardney. 
(To be continued.) 
FANCY PANSIES. 
Since my notes on Fancy Pansies were written I have been 
unfortunate with my stock of plants. The hot weather we had 
during the latter part of July was very favourable for the fly, and 
my stock has been sadly injured. In order to insure a supply of 
cuttings, therefore, I have taken off the shoots which are infested 
with the fly, and the little shoots at the base of the plants will soon 
be strong enough for the purpose. As Pansies everywhere are 
much infested with the well-known enemy to Pansies—the red fly 
—it may be of advantage to note here the remedy I am trying. 
Softsoap is dissolved in water, using half a pound of soap to two 
gallons of water, and the plants are watered through a fine rose. 
As we are having very showery weather in this locality it is neces¬ 
sary to apply it several times a week, as the rain soon washes off 
the solution. 
It must be borne in mind that if a fine display of blooms is 
required a fresh stock of Fancy Pansies must be propagated every 
year. The most suitable cuttings are those taken from the base 
of the plant; by this is meant the fresh shoots which spring up 
round all roots of Pansies at this season of the year. The leading 
stems which have flowered may be struck, but the flowers from 
them next season would be worthless compared with plants raised 
from the small offsets, which as yet have not flowered. If it is not 
convenient to winter the stock in a frame the cuttings should be 
taken at once, and they will then be well established by winter. 
If the plants are not producing a sufficient quantity of fresh 
shoots I remove a few of the leading stems, and in a very short 
time I have an abundance of cuttings. 
Of late years I have propagated them in the following manner. 
Among the new growth at this time of the year I shake a little 
finely sifted soil, which encourages the formation of roots, and I 
have rooted offsets to plant either in the open border or in frames. 
About the end of September the frames are prepared, a mixture of 
good loam with a liberal quantity of well-decayed manure and 
a little sand being the compost used. The cuttings are planted 
about 4 inches apart, and for a few days the frames are kept 
closed and shaded. During the winter as much air as possible 
is given in mild weather, as from experience it has been found 
that this is the best method of keeping down insect pests. In 
the case of plants which are to be wintered outside, a border 
is chosen which is protected either by a wall or hedge, but every 
care is taken that the plants will not be injured by excessive wet 
from drip, &c. If plants are placed out at once they will be well 
established by winter. In selecting cuttings for this purpose I 
obtain the strongest of the fresh growth—rooted if possible. 
These are planted on a small prepared bed, each cutting being 
pressed firmly down. As rooted offsets are used for this purpose 
they become well established by winter, and there is no danger 
of the frost disturbing them. The plants are allowed to remain in 
the frames until they begin to show flower in the spring. It is 
wise to choose mild weather for transplanting, so that the plants 
are not checked in growth. If plants or flowers are required for 
show it is the best plan to leave them in the frame, giving abun¬ 
dance of air on suitable occasions, and shading on very hot days. 
—Vindex. 
PEACH-TRAINING FOR AMATEURS. 
A FRIEND has kindly sent me a copy of a contemporary, in 
which I have the honour to be criticised thus—“ Mr. Taylor of 
Longleat has set himself a task in attempting to prove that the 
fan system of training stone fruits is wrong in principle according 
to all our notions of vegetable physiology.” Happily this is not 
a very difficult task. Mr. Robert Thompson in the original edition 
of the “ Gardeners’ Assistant,” at page 550, says, when writing of 
the Peach, “ The fan method is the best, yet it requires particular 
care and some knowledge of the physiology of the tree, otherwise 
the latter will become weak at the bottom and too strong at the 
top, as well as exhibit irregular growth throughout.” Here, then, 
are two important admissions : first, that the system is not a per¬ 
fect one, and secondly, that to carry it out the operator requires 
both theoretical and practical knowledge as well as to be particu¬ 
larly careful. The first justifies me in recommending a system 
which, if not absolutely perfect, has not so many disadvantages as 
fan-training, and the second goes a long way towards corrobo¬ 
rating me when I say that “ seven-eighths of the men (including 
labourers, specially mentioned in the preceding line) brought up 
in gardens never could be trusted to attend to fan-trained Peach 
trees.” If that is too sweeping an assertion I shall be glad to 
modify it on proof being adduced to the contrary by responsible 
practical men, but at present I have nothing to withdraw, and am 
of opinion that the fact is too evident to require argument. Even 
amongst those who call themselves young gardeners I wonder how 
many can honestly say they understand the fan method of Peach¬ 
training. I say this without any disparagement to the young 
men in question, for it is a difficult lesson to learn, and the atten¬ 
tion given to hardy fruits of late years has been small compared 
With that spent on less difficult subjects. 
I am taken to task for presuming to think that my own par¬ 
ticular notions on vegetable physiology are “all our notions.” 
Now the only physiological question here is whether branches at 
different angles from horizontal to perpendicular have all the 
same chance. According to my notions of vegetable physiology 
the lower branches, being horizontal, have a very poor chance 
indeed. I have no objection to except my critic, but with that 
exception I shall still be so presumptuous as to assume that that 
agrees with “all our notions.” Granted, then, that in fan-training 
the force is equally divided from the fact that no two branches on 
one side of the tree have the same angle, a plan which will give the 
same angle to every branch, and which is simplicity itself, ought 
not to meet with any formidable opposition. It is nothing to me 
that “ every noted cultivator has recommended fan-training,” and 
has spent a decade in attempting to carry it out if his trees have 
lived so long ; noted cultivators have recommended things and 
systems before which are now obsolete, and it is possible that fan¬ 
training as far as the Peach is concerned will follow in their wake, 
In these economical days we must move along and not wart from 
six to ten years for that which need only take two and cost com¬ 
paratively little. If those who grow Peach trees for sale would 
only train them much in the same shape as they do their hori¬ 
zontal Pears, which as I have pointed out in a previous paper can 
be done in the second year from the bud, we might always 
reckon on having a crop of Peaches the second season after plant¬ 
ing, should it be a favourable one. 
As to the objection that with this system there would be more 
bare wall at the bottom than there is when the fan-training is 
carried out, it is not worth much, for the lower branches in my 
case are equal in vigour with the upper ones, and barring the 
frosts, which have a special liking for lower branches, will carry 
an equal crop. In fan-training, on the contrary, the lower branches 
are the weakest; and although I have bad the advantage of being 
employed in more than one garden where there were some of the 
best fan-trained Peach trees in the country, I have never seen 
a great weight of fruit gathered from within 3 feet of the ground, 
even though flued walls were used in some cases. Training merely 
for the sake of covering a wall with fruit trees is a thing of the 
past with most of us, our employers preferring rather to look at 
the produce than at the training. Nevertheless, apart from its 
