December 1,1881.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 491 
old plants are very apt to damp off. I have kept it out through 
the coldest and wettest winters by packing it well round with 
broken limestone, old mortar, or anything which can keep the 
crowns of the shoots from the soil and ward off stagnant wet. I 
propose next to mention a few annuals or tender shrubs with 
which the rockery may be filled up till a sufficient number of 
permanent occupants can be found.—C. Wolley Dod. 
PROPAGATING BUSH FRUITS. 
Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries are favourite fruits in 
all gardens, and in many they are the only fruits grown. Young, 
healthy, strong-growing trees always fruit more freely than old 
worn-out bushes, and it is a good plan always to keep up the 
stocks by propagating. Few amateurs can raise their Apple, 
Pear, Plum, Peach, and other trees, but all may raise their Goose¬ 
berry, Currant bushes and Raspberry plants. They are as easily 
propagated as any of our softwooded bedding plants, and many 
may find it profitable to insert a few cuttings every winter. As 
in most other plants, there are some very good varieties and many 
very inferior. Only good kinds should be grown for stock, and 
those not in possession of them should buy them and increase 
them afterwards. 
As pruning will shortly be general, it is then the cuttings must 
be saved. Only the strongest and best ripened of the Currant 
and Gooseberry wood should be selected. Clean growths about 
12 inches long are the most suitable. Each kind should be tied 
up in a bundle separately, and the cut ends must be placed in the 
soil to keep them fresh. Here they may be left until a wet day 
or any convenient time in the winter or spring, when they may 
be prepared for insertion. This is done by removing all the 
eyes or buds from the base upwards for about 9 inches, leaving 
three or four good buds at the top. The leading bud should also 
be removed to give the others a better chance of starting. In 
Gooseberries the spines may be left on the wood, as they help to 
keep the cuttings firm in the ground. They should be placed in 
rows 1 foot apart and 4 to 6 inches between the cuttings. About 
3 inches of the wood beneath the ground is sufficient, and the soil 
around them must be made very firm. They must be inserted 
before growth commences, and by the time the parent bushes are 
in leaf it will be found that the cuttings are also green and nearly 
all producing roots. By autumn most of them will have formed 
several small shoots. If space can be afforded they may be trans¬ 
planted the following spring, and by the end of the second year 
pretty little bushes will have been secured, and they may be trans¬ 
ferred to permanent positions. 
Raspberries are still more easily increased from rooted suckers, 
which may be secured without disturbing either the permanent 
roots or the canes which will bear next season’s crop. They 
should be lifted with a spade, and they may at once be placed in 
their fruiting quarters. One or two canes to every root is suffi¬ 
cient, and where the young canes are growing in clump together 
they may be divided. Of all modes of growing the Raspberry we 
prefer to have them in rows, and to form these the young plants 
may be put in about a foot apart.—J. Muir, Margam. 
LIQUID MANURE FOR ORCHIDS. 
Under this heading your correspondent “ A. H.” (.page 423) 
has referred to a subject of great importance to gardeners, 
and Orchid-growers especially. It is a subject that has been 
neglected by many, and I am glad to see “ A. H.” drawing 
attention to it. It is very true that Orchids are nourished with 
the excreta of both birds and mammals. They are also nourished 
with decayed vegetation. I well remember when receiving an 
importation of Orchids, in which I had a number of Cymbidiura 
giganteum, noticing a quantity of decayed leaves amongst the 
clumps, and on a little closer inspection I discovered that the old 
decaying pseudo-bulbs were doing service the second time. It is 
well known that after the old pseudo-bulbs have produced young 
growths they gradually lose their leaves and shrivel. In course 
of time these decay and form material for the roots. I found 
several of these old decayed portions pierced with living roots. 
I should not give liquid manure to weak-growing kinds ; but, on 
the other hand, it could and is used with great advantage for 
many strong-growing species. Not only are terrestrial Orchids 
benefited by liquid manure, but many of the epiphytes also gain 
advantage by it. Dendrobiums for instance, that have filled 
their baskets with roots, are greatly benefited by being watered 
or dipped occasionally in weak liquid manure during the growing 
season, and I find it a good plan through the summer to syringe 
weak liquid manure amongst the pots that Dendrobiums are 
growing in. There are many other plants that would gain by 
occasional supplies of Kquid manure. Calanthes for instance, after 
they have filled their pots with roots may have it every time 
they are watered. Pleiones are encouraged by liquid manure 
after they are well advanced in growth; so, also, are Coelogynes 
and Cypripediums, and I have given a slight sprinkling of Clay’s 
fertiliser occasionally over the roots of C. insigne with good results. 
At one time Cymbidiums, for instance, were grown in sphagnum, 
peat, and charcoal only, but now most of the leading Orchid- 
growers pot them in strong loam, and the plants thrive much 
better in it.—W. K. 
PRUNING, TRAINING, AND NAILING FRUIT TREES. 
Much pruning, training, and nailing is often done in the sum¬ 
mer time, but it is only temporarily performed then, and now it 
must be done carefully. Some gardeners prune and nail as soon 
as the leaves have fallen. Others do the work at intervals through¬ 
out the winter, while many leave it until spring ; but this we do 
not approve of, as that season brings its own work, and when 
tree-pruning and nailing have to be done then the work is likely 
to be done hurriedly and carelessly. As a rule we have our 
pruning and nailing completed by the new year, much being done 
in November. This year we are not quite so early, having been 
engaged in other work that could not be performed in frosty 
weather. According to the winters we now have, open weather 
must be taken advantage of for ground work, and there is gene¬ 
rally plenty of time for pruning and nailing. At one time we 
were led to believe that pruning in severe weather was injurious 
to the trees, but we have never found it so in practice. If the 
wood is well ripened it is surprising what frost it will bear, but 
uuless this is the case it may be injured whether it is pruned 
during that time or not. 
Pruning is generally considered a particular operation, to be 
entrusted only to experienced hands. Trees of little value might 
be pruned by anyone, but there are others which we trust to no 
one. There is a right way and a wrong way of doing every 
thing, and in garden practice this applies more to pruning than 
to anything else, as all hopes of next year’s crop may be quickly 
destroyed by carelessness, and the symmetry of the tree may be 
quite destroyed. There must be two objects principally in view 
in pruning—one to retain or improve the vigour and shape of the 
tree, the other to secure fruit. Plums, Apples, Pears, and many 
other fruits bear best on good spurs. These are generally secured 
by cutting-in the young side shoots to two or three buds from the 
base. When once spurs begin to be formed on young trees long 
straight shoots grow from them every summer, and if these are 
cut-in about the month of August the buds left often become fruit 
or bloom buds ; but when these young shoots are not removed in 
some of the previous months they must be removed now. As 
trees become old these spurs frequently assume large proportions, 
and in the end they have generally to be much thinned. This 
thinning may be done now ; and if care is taken in pruning, many 
fruit buds may be left near the main stems, although several of 
the principal spurs be taken away. 
Attention must also be kept to the manner in which it is desired 
to train the tree. Training does not affect pruning much, but 
pruning affects training, especially with standard trees, as their 
form all depends on the way they are pruned. Overcrowding the 
wood must be avoided. If great attention is given to this the 
trees will always look well. 
Neglected trees which have not been properly pruned have 
generally much wood growing up from the centre, and to cut it 
out wholesale may end in ruin, but if it is removed by degrees 
much benefit may be the result. It is only now and throughout 
the winter that such trees can be taken in hand, and we would 
advise in all cases that their complete renovation extend over two 
or three winters. The great inclination of all trees is to grow 
tall, and this habit requires to be severely checked or proportions 
will be lost. In some few cases it may be desirable to allow trees 
to grow quickly, but as a rule I would never allow the leading 
branches of young strong-growing trees to remain longer than 
from 9 inches to 1 foot annually. This will be the means of pro¬ 
ducing robust well-spurred branches. 
All trees and small fruit bushes are pruned on similar principles, 
cutting out shoots which are dead and dying, those with no spurs, 
and all the young wood not wanted to increase the tree. Strong 
young branches may be left to take the place of the old ones, 
but after the first year they should not both be allowed to grow 
together. It is only in very old trees, however, or young trees, 
where many young shoots or branches have to be left, as when 
once a tree is completely furnished with bearing wood it may be 
kept in good health and in a fruitful state for many years without 
continually changing the wood. This applies to both standard 
