December le, 1880 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 545 
in 7-inch pots clothed with plumes as graceful as Humea elegans, 
and of a bright gold or crimson colour. Seed has to be sown in May 
or June, and the young plants grown in a frame in a similar way 
to Balsams, then taken into heat in the autumn and treated about 
the same as Poinsettias, which will bring the plumes out to per¬ 
fection. There has not been sufficient care taken yet in the selec¬ 
tion of seed of this plant by the trade, or it would have advanced 
to a stage much nearer perfection. It is very variable, and I 
find that even one year’s selection has made a great stride. 
Yet another useful annual for winter flowering is the Browallia. 
B. elata grandiflora is probably as good as any of them. Its 
colour is bright blue; and although it has a leggy habit when 
grown naturally, it assumes a very neat and branching habit 
when treated in the way I recommend—viz., sow seeds in spring, 
and when sufficiently large to handle place three plants round a 
7-inch pot, and let them grow up as tall as they will till about 
the beginning of September, by which time they will begin to 
flower and their stems will have become somewhat hard ; then cut 
them down to about 9 inches from the pot, and they will break 
out abundantly and may be removed from the cold frame or even 
from outdoors to a minimum temperature of 55°, where they will 
grow and bloom profusely, producing flowers inferior only in 
name to the Forget-me-not. 
Carnations, of which I have a house 56 feet by 16 full of 
flowering plants ten months old, are grown in the same way as 
described by me in this Journal some years ago, are quite in¬ 
dispensable, and are of such easy culture where there is con¬ 
venience that it is difficult to imagine why they are not more 
generally grown ; but somehow most people have an idea that 
there are great difficulties in their cultivation, and either do not 
attempt it at all, or they do so with plants which have been 
stunted, and as a natural consequence they fail. The flowers 
when cut will last a week in water, and we sometimes cut more 
than a hundred in one day during midwinter 
Gesnera refulgens is in full beauty now, its tall spikes of red 
Foxglove-like flowers mounted above its warm-looking brown 
velvet foliage makes it a particularly welcome plant for Christ- 
mastide, when, for some reason which I cannot adequately describe, 
bright colours seem to be more enjoyable than at any other time. 
G. zebrina splendens with its green and brown leaves, and its 
reddish orange and yellow flowers, is now past its best, and G. 
cinnabarina with duller-coloured foliage and brighter flowers 
than either of the preceding, will not flower for another month, 
and will carry on a succession of Gesneras to the end of February. 
Zygopetalum Mackayi, which is perhaps the easiest grown of 
Orchidaceous plants, is just ready to open its sweet-scented beau¬ 
tiful violet and white flowers in great abundance, which will last 
a long time either cut or on the plant, and Epiphyllum truncatum 
varieties are very gay, as they never fail to be at this time of 
year. 
Among other flowering plants not mentioned by “Florist ” at 
page 504 are Mignonette—Miles’s Spiral is a good winter variety 
—Roman Hyacinths, which even those who have no love for the 
ordinary Hyacinth, and I am one, cannot fail to appreciate ; 
Violets, of which Marie Louise is the most generally useful; 
Richardia rethiopica, or Lily of the Nile ; Bougainvillea glabra, 
which will almost always admit of a small faggot of flowers and 
bracts being cut out without being missed ; and a scarlet climbing 
Tropreolum.—W m. Taylor. 
[The Pelargonium trusses are splendid. The flowers are semi¬ 
double ; the prevailing colour of the upper petals is scarlet, 
brightening towards the base and shading to crimson at the edge ; 
the lower petals are very rich pink, tinged with pale purplish 
magenta. The trusses with their stalks inserted through holes in 
a board, and firmly wedged with cotton wool and strong pegs, 
arrived as fresh as when cut, the board resting on supports 
3 inches from the bottom of the box, which the trusses faced. The 
trusses packed in the ordinary manner on the false bottom, and 
filling the box, did not arrive in such good condition.—E ds.] 
PRUNING YOUNG FRUIT TREES. 
I have recently planted some Apricots, Plums, and a Peach, 
which I purpose training fan shape. They are strong and healthy, 
and contain from five to nine shoots each. Should the shoots be 
nailed at their full length or shortened back ? and if so, how much 
and when ? They were planted a month ago. Some of the trees, 
especially the Peach, are almost perfect in form.—B. E. W. 
[As this letter pertains to a subject of great and general im¬ 
portance we submitted it to a gardener who has had much expe¬ 
rience with fruit trees, and his reply will be useful to others 
beside our correspondent. It is as follows— 
D varf-trained wall trees should not be pruned and permanently 
secured to the wall now, but the branches should be fixed in their 
places to prevent injury by the wind dashing them against the 
wall ; but they must be attached loosely, so that the branches 
easily slide through the shreds as the soil and roots settle, for 
there is generally some settlement with newly planted trees. 
Pruning should be done in the spring, the branches being regularly 
disposed, and so thinly that the leaves of one branch do not over¬ 
lap those of another. If the spurs and leaves of a fruit tree cover 
a space of 9 inches the branches of that tree should not be less 
than 10 inches asunder. That is a safe rule to follow. 
In trees to be trained on the fan shape it is of great importance 
that the lower branches are strong, and when pruned they should 
be left of greater length than those above them, and their growth 
should always be encouraged to be in advance of the others. For 
this purpose the branches should be trained as much above the 
horizontal line as possible, and their ends at least should always 
curve and point upwards for the first few years. It must be 
remembered that the more nearly a branch is trained to the 
horizontal line the less freely it grows; and the nearer it ap¬ 
proaches a vertical position the more luxuriant it becomes. If 
the lower branches of the young trees are weak we should not 
hesitate to remove them, and thus secure a strong base, which is 
the only sure foundation for producing a well-furnished and well- 
balanced tree that leaves no space at the base of the wall unoccu¬ 
pied. As you have plenty of branches you can well afford to 
remove those near the ground if they are much weaker than the 
others. Retaining weak basal branches and training them in the 
first instance horizontally, or nearly so, is a grave mistake, and 
the cause of unsightly trees and vacant space on the lower portion 
of a wall. 
In pruning the trees, if the branches are not shortened suffi¬ 
ciently the hucls at the base will remain dormant and the tree 
become bare in the centre. Every branch should be covered with 
foliage and fruit buds quite down to the stem of the tree. If the 
lower branches of the trees are 3 feet long a foot may be cut off 
them, always pruning to a healthy bud. Assuming that the lower 
pair, then, are each 2 feet in length, the next pair above them 
should be 3 inches shorter, a little less rather than more ; the 
third pair from the ground being shortened in the same proportion, 
and the central leader, if there is one, shortened to about a foot. 
This leader will produce one pair, or perhaps two pairs, of young 
branches during the summer, besides the terminal growth. If 
there is not a central branch two shoots may be trained in summer 
from each of the branches nearest the centre for forming perma¬ 
nent branches, and so on until sufficient are secured for covering 
the wall. There is no difficulty whatever in furnishing the upper 
portion of a tree, and special attention should be given to the 
lower branches, always keeping them in advance of those above 
them. The base buds start more freely if the branches are not 
shortened until a decided sap movement is shown in the spring by 
the swelling of the buds. Indeed I have often found it advan¬ 
tageous to allow the terminal growths to attain a length of half an 
inch or more before shortening the branches. When the growths 
are weak, and, as they should be then, closely pruned, the knife 
may be employed sooner, or immediately the buds commence 
swelling.] 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
Auriculas. —If there be any time when the beginner in Auri¬ 
cula growing requires faith it is now. He has seen one by one 
the large fleshy leaves falling off and his plants reduced to very 
small proportions, but he need not be afraid if they are healthy 
and out of the way of drip and over-much moisture. They will 
need but little attention now, and require water but very seldom. 
The mild weather is so far favourable to the increase of green fly 
that it will be necessary to examine the plants from time to time 
and brush them away. For the same reason slugs and snails are 
troublesome, and should be trapped ; they oftentimes nibble away 
at the crown of the plant unperceived. The unusual quantity of 
autumn blooming does not seem to promise well for a very good 
bloom next season. 
Carnations and Picotees.— Those in pots will require over¬ 
hauling now and then to keep the pots clear of weeds and the 
plants of mildew or aphides. Where spot appears it is best to cut 
off the leaves on which it is. If green collects on the surface of 
the pots the soil should be stirred. Frames should be left open 
on all occasions when frost does not prevail, and care taken that 
rain does not reach the plants. When in beds they should be 
looked over occasionally, especially after frost, and if they have 
become loosened should be gently pressed into the ground. 
Pansies. —Dead leaves should be picked off and the surface of 
the pots stirred. They will now be showing signs of growing, 
