800 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
er 2, 1884. 
as early and heavy bloomers. All the varieties here cited 
may be depended upon as sure to give satisfaction. 
The blue varieties, another important section, are also 
numerous ; but by citing only the very best the reader will 
not be confused by numbers, for I have often found what a 
great drawback it is to have too many kinds to select from, 
and also realised the difficulty of discarding intermediate 
shades. A long way ahead of all is True Blue (Dean), the 
colour clear and good, habit sturdy and compact, and cer¬ 
tainly a marvel in the Viola field ; early and continuous, it 
is unequalled, and no garden is complete without it. Tory 
is a full-flowering and well-known variety, which must not 
be passed by. Then in Holyrood we have a bold handsome 
flower, rich in colour and specially suited for summer beds; 
and in Lord Darnley, a seedling from Holyrood, we have 
much richer and deeper-coloured flower. The colour, a rich 
velvety violet blue, makes a splendid mass. This is a grand 
variety and a decided acquisition. Forerunner is an excel¬ 
lent sort, flowers deep rich violet-blue ; and finally we have 
Eoyal Visit, a most telling and distinct Viola. These are the 
very best, and each distinct in itself. 
One other group yet remains which contains some lovely 
varieties. These are recognised as Fancies, holding a simi¬ 
lar position amongst bedding Violas to the section of Pansies 
under the same head, and distinguished by their variously 
■coloured flowers, form a highly attractive group at present 
very little known. These are strongly recommended, and 
can scarcely fail to win a popularity which they well deserve. 
'The most worthy members are Countess of Kintore, a 
variety sufficient to satisfy anyone in search of novelties 
of sterling merit. Its flowers are pale greyish purple, with 
large white blotches, early and continuous bloomer, and a 
grand variety. Harlequin has smaller flowers of rich rosy 
purple, in the lower petals blotched with white, the top petals 
white. This is a charming variety, and very distinct. 
Duchess of Albany, a new variety, has pale lilac purple 
flowers, with greyish-white markings; Columbine is white, 
margined with lilac, very distinct and pretty. There are 
others equally good and distinct, but the colours of these will 
suffice to prove their variability and their right to this 
section. 
I do not wish the exclusive use of Violas as bedding plants ; 
that would be bad taste indeed. My ideas of producing 
effect are not by numbers of one plant, for this would soon 
be equally as monotonous as a glare of scarlet Pelargoniums, 
and should be avoided. Father aim at pleasing combina¬ 
tions without verging upon formality, and with a variety of 
"plants ; for example, a bed thinly planted with white Violas, 
with Anemone fulgens dotted here and there, or Anemone 
appenina, or a bed of blue Violas, with scarlet Tulips dotted. 
Or, again, lilac Violas with Cheiranthus Marshalli or C. 
alpinus; or I wonder who would object to a bed of white 
Violas, with a spike or two of single red Hyacinths and a 
sprinkling of Forget-me-nots ? Or leaving Violas out of the 
question for a moment, I wonder who would disagree with 
a bed of white and crimson Daisies, dotted either with 
Myosotis, Siberian Squills, or Chionodoxa ? Again, Aubrie- 
tias might form an excellent groundwork for yellow Tulips. 
Such combinations are pleasing and attractive and, dare I 
add, edifying. We want more of this style of arrangement, 
which, I venture to predict, must be the gardening of the 
future. It is far more harmonious and natural than an 
assemblage of scarlet Pelargoniums or carpet beds. — 
E. Jenkins. 
AUTUMN THINNING OF FRUIT TREES. 
The disastrous frosts we experienced towards the end of April have 
caused many a fruit-room to be but poorly filled this autumn. As an 
example (and I am afraid there will be many such) I may state that our 
orchard trees have not yielded one bushel where we had ten last year. The 
hot summer has hastened the maturing of Apples to some extent, and this, 
together with a light crop, will enable us to get all safely housed a week 
or more earlier and in much less time. Now I have been thinking that 
it would be well for many of us if we were to devote a few days’ labour 
thus saved to the thinning-out of the overcrowded branches. 1 then 
made up my mind, and would advise others, not to delay this operation 
till winter when there will be less to do, but to make an effort to do it at 
once. No one who has Peach trees to manage doubts the utility of 
cutting out the bearing wood as soon as the crop is gathered, so that the 
young wood may get thoroughly ripened. And I think it would be a 
step in the right direction were all our fruit trees similarly treated, so that 
winter pruning wuuld be reduced to a minimum. More than one reason 
can be advanced in favour of our doing so, but 1 will only mention two. 
In the first place the operation is much more likely to be done effectually, 
because we can decide upon how much wants removing better while the 
leaves are on the branches than the inexperienced would be able to do 
after they have fallen. Too many of us are loth to cut out healthy shoots 
if there is anything like room to have them, but when we come to 
regulate them with their leaves on them, we must be satisfied indeed if 
we have them crowded ; for if we have not sufficient room for this year’s 
leaves, where are we to find room for next year’s shoots and leaves ? 
The second reason is equally simple. The removal of all superfluous 
branches admits light and air for the better ripening of the wood. The 
result would be firmer branches, with plumper fruit buds, stronger 
blossom in spring, and (weather permitting) in the autumn a fair crop of 
better fruit. Let those, then, who have old orchard trees mount the ladder, 
saw in hand, and thin out the crowded branches with unsparing hand. 
The late warm summer has left fruit trees with remarkably fine fiuit 
buds, and should we be favoured with a fine spring the crop is sure to be 
a heavy one. Let us consider that with fair crops we have generally 
better fruit, and that by proper thinning we in a measure prevent an 
over-crop, a fair crop every year being the end to be aimed at.—A 
Working Gardener. 
AEAUCARIAS AND WELLINGTONIAS IN THE 
WEST OF SCOTLAND. 
As no one tas replied to your Ardarroch correspondent I 
write a few lines. The Araucaria at Ardarroch, Garelochead, is 
undoubtedly a most beautiful and very perfect specimen. It is 
not, however, unequalled in the West of Scotland. Not in girth, 
as that at Rozelle, Ayr, planted in 1839, when I measured it in 
1879 had a girth of 4 feet 10 inches 5 feet from the ground; not 
in rapidity of growth, as the plant at Lainshaw, Stewarton, 
planted in 1859, is now 3 feet 9 inches in girth 5 feet from 
ground, and about 40 feet in height; nor can it excel in beauty 
of symmetry the si^ecimen at Ardkinglass, Head of Loch Tyne. 
Here in the garden, at the head of an artificial lake, and at the 
opening of one of the noblest of Highland glens, with a deep 
defile in front and grand mountains aboye, this most beautiful 
Araucaria, with a girth (5 feet from the ground) of 3 feet 8 inches, 
rises to a height of about 40 feet, and is altogether worthy of a 
spot where loveliness and grandeur are singularly united. 
Model Wellingtonias.— The Californian Giant Tree 
(W. gigantea) has an appetite befitting a giant. No thin soil, 
however good, will content it. Whatever the nature of the soil 
the subsoil must be strong and cool. At Lanfine, Ayrshire, on 
the north side of the Valley of the Irvine, and 500 feet above 
sea level, it grows admirably. Two trees were planted there in 
1856 in a part of the park that was at one time a garden. 
Neither of them are crowded in anyway, and have thus developed 
their natural proportions. They are not mentioned by me as 
being remarkable for height or girth, but as being typical speci¬ 
mens of the enormous strength of trunk and lighthouse-like 
proportions which belong to what is now known all the world 
over as the “ Big Tree.” Both trees are of the same height, 
284 feet. The girth of one is 9 feet 64 inches at its base, and 
4 feet 94 inches, 5 feet up. The other is 10 feet 11 inches in 
base, and 5 feet 3 inches, 5 feet up. It will be noticed that at 
both the girth of bole at the ground is more than twice the girth. 
5 feet up, also that the height of the tree is not three times its 
girth at the (.'round. I need not say that both trees are in 
perfect health, and that both are most luxuriantly clothed from 
top to foot with side branches. Am I wrong in designating them 
typical specimens of Wellingtonia ?— David Landsbokoijgh. 
VIOLETS. 
By to-day’s parcels post I have sent for your inspection and opinion a 
buttonhole each of the following Neapolitan Violets, with their own 
foliage, taken from the open ground, therefore under the same cultural 
and climatic conditions. The varieties sent are New York (V. odorata 
pendula), Marie Louise, Marguerite de Savoie, Marie Louise (old variety), 
Venice, and De Parme. 
There is great similarity between New York, Marie Louise, Marguerite 
de Savoie, and Venice ; but I find them distinct in some particulars, such 
as profusion and duration of blooms, which rnly beccme apparent by 
careful observation under cultivation. Marie Louise is the old and true 
variety, it being a little paler in colour and with a more distinct white 
eye, with or without a very faint dash of red ; whiht De Parme is a much 
earlier better-habited plant than the old Neapolitan, the blooms being 
larger, deeper in colour, and with a clear white eye, and is the best of the 
