286 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Oc:o">er 2, 1390. 
spring. So long as a tree which has been neglected can be made 
with a little attention to bear, if not high class, yet useful fruit, it 
will be safe to follow the advice of Mr. G. Bunyard,as given in one 
of his practical papers in the words of the old song—“Woodman 
Spare that Tree.” 
The present is the time, and the best of all times, for relieving 
exhausted trees of the useless parts, and thus concentrating the 
sap on the more useful, and imparting to them new life and vigour. 
Weak, crowded, worthless branches should be removed at once. 
Their true character can be seen now, and it can be determined at a 
glance which can be advantageously removed and which retained ; 
but only men of long experience and experts in the work can 
decide with the same accuracy how to proceed with the work when 
the branches are bare in winter. Moreover, the wounds made by 
the removal of branches now, and duly pared smooth, heal far 
more freely than when they are made when the sap is in its most 
dormant state. In affording assistance to old trees in the manner 
suggested it is a golden rule to thin out—remove entirely—worth¬ 
less branches instead of merely shortening them, and neither to 
remove nor shorten any which, if not strong, are clean and healthy 
through the direct action of the sun and air on the foliage in 
summer. These will be the extremities of the branches on the 
outsides of the trees, and there let them remain. Do not thin 
them too much, but remove the interlacing branches from the 
interior of the trees, which can be of no service, but are the reverse, 
in diverting the sap from the extremities where alone, in the case 
of such trees, serviceable fruit can be produced. 
Passing from orchard standards to established bushes what do 
we find ? Trees in various parts of the country planted twenty, 
thirty or more years ago. They afforded good crops of fine fruit for 
a few years, or until they attained the height at which it was 
intended to keep them, 7 or 8 feet, or as high as a man could reach, 
and after that they grew “ nothing but wood,” long, strong shoots 
in summer, closely cut back in winter after the manner of 
pollarding Willows. Yet the complaint is they bear no fruit. It 
would be little short of a miracle if they did, for the spurs below 
were spoiled by the summer growths above, and these cut away 
before they could produce spurs in turn. Anything more thought¬ 
less and even barbarous than such practice it would be difficult to 
imagine. If trees are to be kept dwarf, yet fruitful, exuberant 
summer growths must be prevented by free cropping in fruitful 
years, or root-pruning in fruitless seasons. In that way, and no 
other, the finest of fruit can be oduced and handsome dwarf 
trees, of which owners and cultivators may be proud. But it is 
not the way to obtain the most fruit from a given space of ground. 
When that is the object in view there must be no violent restriction 
with the knife while the roots are left to ramble where they will. 
A few years ago a gentleman had an avenue of bush Apple trees in 
his garden ; they were 6 feet in diameter and 7 in height. He 
would not have those dimensions increased on the ground that the 
cropping of the land would be interfered with. The trees made 
summer growths between 3 and 4 feet long—a thicket of them, 
closely cut back in winter. As might be expected the trees gave 
next to no fruit for years. The owner did not know what to do 
with them. He had tried manuring (which was worse than useless), 
he had tried root-pruning (but the work was not half done). He was 
advised to let a stated number of the strong summer shoots, a foot 
apart, remain unshortened, removing all others, and where new 
growths pushed from the cut back parts in spring to rub them 
out by the sockets. The first summer afterwards the 3 to 4 feet 
growths were studded with fruit buds, the second they bore 
splendid fruit, the next the crop was a crowded one, and luxuriant 
growth of necessity ceased. The trees yielded more fruit in those 
two years than in the ten preceding, and with a little thinning 
of the branches as requisite they continued as productive in sub¬ 
sequent years as could be desired. From profitless they were 
turned into profitable trees, and no further objections were heard 
about their interfering with the cropping of the land. 
Trees that are neither worn cut or nearly so by age, nor 
neglected, or wrongly treated should equally have attention now¬ 
in the removal of breastwood or lateral growths from the main 
branches instead of leaving them till winter or spring. A young: 
shoot may be left where there is space for a new branch a foot 
from the others, and the main branches thus thinly disposed should' 
be well furnished with blossom buds, and eventually laden with- 
fruit. These remarks apply to established trees, for the shoots of 
young trees should be cut back for the first two or three years for- 
ensuring a strong foundation and producing the requisite number 
of growths for well furnished trees. This shortening may be 
deferred till the leaves fall or till spring, according to circum¬ 
stances ; but early autumn pruning generally is of more importance 
than is recognised by many owners and managers of fruit trees.— 
J. Wright. 
HARDY FLOWER NOTES. 
September has just come to a close, and it is impossible for 
the lover of flowers to think of the close of the month with 
equanimity. It seems but yesterday—and yet it is three years ago 
—since, on the 29th of September, the morning dawned mild and 
showery, and all was bright and full of bloom, but ere night the 
wind had veered round to the north-west, our most dreaded wind,, 
and when day broke once more, blackened flowers and stems and 
bleak desolation everywhere spoke all too eloquently of the power 
of that pitiless icy wind. I had only the previous day been in a 
garden where a long walk presented a picture of beauty ; long lines 
of Begonias on either side, with Dahlias in the background, while 
tall Hollyhocks, and some of finest Ricinuses I have ever seen, 
broke the regular lines of White Queen and Glare of the Garden. 
Need I say what this was like on the morning of the 30th ? Words 
cannot depict it, and I leave it to the reader to imagine the scene. 
With such a bitter gale the hardiest flower had to succumb, and too 
many were doomed untimeously to depart. 
“ To see their mother—root .... 
Where they together 
All the hard weather 
Dead to the world, keep house unknown.” 
I have no doubt that some who read this will utter a malediction 
upon me for sounding these notes of evil warning, but their motive 
is a good one, warning all to keep a good look-out, and by a little 
timely reflection, save some of our late favourites from being 
“ nipped i’ the bud.” A worthy neighbour of mine has a late 
Chrysanthemum which she carefully covers with a cloth when signs 
of frost appear. This late Chrysanthemum—a late purple Pom¬ 
pon—is one of the hardiest I have ever seen. I do not know its 
name, but it grows from year to year a true herbaceous perennial, 
which needs, and receives, no protection or propagation. But 
enough of winter awaits us without dwelling too much upon it, and 
let us while they are with us think of the glories of the present. 
If there were no Sedums worthy of growth but the one now 
in flower, S. spectabile, often known as S. Fabaria, the family would 
deserve gratitude at our hands for producing such a useful flower. 
There is something so bright and cheery in its fine large flat head's 
of pink flowers that we cannot refrain from admiring it. This 
Stonecrop is sometimes used with good effect as a bedding plant, 
but grown as such much of its beauty of form is lost, but when 
grown in single plants of moderate size it is much finer. It has a 
singular property of intoxicating or stupefying bees, and I have no 
doubt that “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ” will agree with me in 
recommending that the plant should be grown very sparingly where 
bees are kept. I have heard of one humane lady who carefully 
lifts bees off her beds of the Sedum and lays them on the grass to 
recover. CEnothera taraxacifolia is still flowering away, and 
although it appears to prefer a light sandy soil, seems also to 
luxuriate in a moist season. It is perfectly hardy with me, and my 
plants are fast increasing in size. In my last notes I made mention 
of some of the Colchicums in flower. Others have now come into 
bloom, and two that I have flowered for the first time are worthy 
of special note. The first, C. chionense, is, as the specific name 
denotes, a native of Chios, and is, I think, one of the finest of all 
the chequered varieties. The shape is starlike, and the colour, 
when tho flower is in its early stage, is more crimson-like than C. 
variegatum, the commonest of the chequered varieties. This is one 
of the Colchicums know to Miller and the old authors of works on 
gardening. The next is C. veratrifolium, which is almost equal in 
value to C. speciosum rubrum, but is not of such fine form. Several 
others, including the double white, are also in flower. I have been 
anxiously looking out for flowers of autumnal Crocuses, but the 
