38 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 21, 1892. 
seed-parent, and as to this one I cannot help thinking that there must 
be some mistake as to its parentage. 
“About three years ago I thought that I would try the effect of 
crossing the races the reverse way—that is, applying the pollen of the 
Sweet Briar to the blooms of some of the Hybritl Perpetuals. In no 
single instance had the seedlings a fragrant foliage ; but it is but right 
to add, the number of seedlings so raised is but small. The blooms dealt 
with were not numerous, and many of them did not produce hips. I 
consider the effect of using the pollen of the Sweet Briar, therefore, as 
still an open question. 
“ I have now to state a fact that I own was a considerable surprise 
to me. As many, I think, as four or five out of the seedling Sweet 
Briars which have hitherto flowered have now turned out to be Per¬ 
petuals, blooming a second time in the autumn, and blooming then 
freely. During this autumn of 1891, indeed, in spite of the heavy rains, 
they have gone on blooming right through the month of October, and 
they bloom, like their seed-parent, in clusters. An additional charm, 
and in my estimation a great charm, is to be found in the fact that these 
flowers have a very delicious scent—a scent quite independent of and 
different from that of the foliage. Whence comes this habit of autumn 
flowering 1 I am unable to answer the question. Some of these Perpetuals, 
it is true, had for their pollen-parent a Hybrid Perpetual Rosa such as La 
Souveraine, but the parents of others have been of a Hybrid China or a 
Hybrid Bourbon, neither of which ever bloom a second time—such for in¬ 
stance as William Jesse and Paul Ricaut. If we go back a generation, no 
doubt we come in contact with a progenitor endowed with this ‘ per¬ 
petual ’ quality, as both the China and the Bourbon Roses are of that 
kind, and this much-coveted habit of perpetual blooming may, like the 
gout, be given to skipping a generation. I shall know more about all 
this when the Svveet Briar crosses with the Tea Roses, of which I have 
a great many, are a little older, and vouchsafe to show me what they 
can do by way of flower.” 
[As an example of what Lord Penzance has accomplished we here¬ 
with present an illustration (fig. 6) of Sweet Briar Lady Penzance, 
for which the Royal Horticultural Society has awarded a first-class 
certificate. This is a charming single variety, with metallic rosy bronze 
flowers, yellow at the base of the petals. The flowers are about 2 inches 
across, and the foliage is fragrant. A note accompanied the plant, 
exhibited at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, was to this 
effect:—“ The specimen is a graft or bud on the Manetti of a seedling 
from the common Sweet Briar, crossed with the pollen of the Austrian 
Copper Briar in 1886. The seedling came up in the spring of 1887, and 
flowered for the first time in 1889, but had only one flower. It is now 
a vigorous plant 4 feet high, the wood a sort of purple colour like that 
of the pollen parent.”] 
FRUIT CULTURE. 
Extension v. Restriction. 
(^Continued from page 19.') 
The cultivation of fruit for profit needs more than a passing 
thought ; it is not merely sticking the trees into the ground and 
leaving them afterwards to take a natural course. This system of 
extension has resulted in the ruin of many orchards in the past. 
What kind of trees should be planted ? Should they be 
standards, bushes, or pyramids on a free or a dwarf stock ? Those 
on the Crab and the Pear have been largely planted in the past, 
and will ever be useful in orchards that are grazed or intended for 
that purpo.se when the trees attain a bearing condition. They are 
the most suitable al’o for planting in hedges that divide one field 
from another. Only those varieties with robust constitutions 
should be selected for these open positions. Large quantities 
of trees might be planted of both Pears, Apples, and Plums in 
hedgerows, and in a few years they would yield valuable crops of 
fruit. They would prove no detriment to the land for farming 
operations ; on the contrary, they would quickly enhance its value. 
As we have in view fruit-growing for profit, we should plant 
Apples on both the Crab and Paradise stock and Pears on the Pear 
and Quince, the latter to fruit until the former come into bearing, 
for it must be remembered that several valuable varieties of Apples 
are shy on the Crab stock in a young state ; but those on dwarf 
stocks would very quickly commence yielding a return, and would 
continue to do so until the others attained size and needed more 
room. It is a mistake that can be seen in nearly all orchards to 
plant the permanent trees too closely together. About 15 feet is a 
suitable distance for Plums, and 30 feet or more for those on the 
Crab and Pear stocks. I measured the distance this summer of the 
trees in an orchard that have been planted about twenty-five years ; 
they are 30 feet between the rows and 21 feet from tree to tree. 
They are already sadly crowded in the rows—in fact, a third of each 
tree is useless. Those on the Paradise and Quince would be placed 
10 feet apart. In some soils those on the Quince commence fruit¬ 
ing very early, and considerable care is needed at first to prevent 
their fruiting too freely, or they will never attain sufficient size to 
be of much use. They soon become a mass of fruit spurs, making 
little or no growth, not sufficient, at any rate, to sustain the tree in 
that health and vigour which is necessary to prolong life and enable 
it to perfect fruit of the first size and quality. When I refer to 
trees on the Paradise I refer to the English variety, not the French 
Paradise. I am not partial to it or the dwarf stunted trees that are 
generally found upon it. There can be no question that the French 
Paradise too much promotes early fruitfulness, the tree has not a 
chance of attaining strength or size. Those who plant these exten¬ 
sively will, I fear, be sadly disappointed in the years to come, for if 
they are allowed to fruit as they will fruit, their life can only be a 
short one, and they will be worn out by the time those on the 
English Paradise and the Crab begin to be profitable, and would 
yearly become more so. When fruit trees are planted for yielding 
good fruit and profitable returns, my advice is. Plant trees that will 
last in good bearing condition for at least half a century. For 
temporary purposes, to yield a return practically at once, those on 
the French Paradise are useful, and would pay for planting ; but I 
place very little higher estimate upon them than I should upon a 
Gooseberry or Currant bush planted between the rows of those on 
the English Paradise to be cut away when crowded out. 
Pruning should be done from the first, and principally during 
the summer, so that light and air can penetrate freely to the spurs 
and fruit. Half the bushes and pyramids are too crowded with 
branches, and fruit spurs of any value exist only on the outer 
branches of the tree. Standards should be pruned for the first few 
years, and then allowed to grow untouched, except for the removal 
of any cross branches or otherwise that show a disposition to crowd 
the tree. From first to last those on the Paradise would be pruned, 
the principal work being done in August. 
It would pay to thin the fruit on bushes and pyramids, and also 
such free-fruiting kinds as Cellini, Lord Suffield, Ecklinville Seed¬ 
ling, Stirling Castle, and others, which should never be on other 
than the Crab stock ; they fruit so freely, even on this, that unless 
some of the fruit is removed in the early stages of the trees’ growth, 
they would soon become a mass of fruit spurs and fail to attain a 
large size. Puny fruit is practically worthless in the market, and 
if all that sets and swells in some seasons is allowed to remain, 
there is certain to be a quantity of small ones. Thinning would 
insure a good crop of fruit of the first size and quality, and give 
the trees every chance of perfecting the crop, and at the same 
time preparing bold fruit buds for the following season. Heavy 
crops exhaust the trees to such an extent that the following season 
is necessary in which to recruit themselves. Moderate crops 
annually of good fruit are better and more profitable than a 
heavy crop every second or third year. The chance of a crop 
would be doubled, for spring frosts do not always destroy the 
blossoms. 
We must now consider the stocks upon which Pears and Apples 
are worked, and its influence on the tree and fruit. It is no 
uncommon thing to observe that portion of the stock above ground 
thinner considerably than the stem of the tree above the union. 
This is particularly noticeable in the case of Peaches and 
Nectarines, Apples on the Paradise, and Pears on the Quince. The 
more the head is encouraged, or in other words allowed to extend, 
the greater the difference becomes. Single cordons rarely display 
any difference, and in most cases the stock continues to be the 
thicker of the two. A good many contrivances have been resorted 
to in the past to encourage them to swell. It is a common idea 
that the stock is “ hide-bound,” and the knife is drawn down the 
bark for the purpose of opening it and inducing it to swell. I 
have no faith in such practices, and the good that results is more 
imaginary than real. If the principle commonly known as exten¬ 
sion is followed the tree outgrows the stock upon which it is 
worked. For some years we have been in the habit of working 
Roses close to the root, and why not fruit trees on the same principle ? 
I am convinced that it is a mistake to work either Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, or Nectarines above the ground level, except the stock 
for the two former is the Crab or the Pear as the case may be, 
which in nearly every instance that I have observed remains the 
thickest. But why work the stock in the other case close to the 
ground ? Because the stock when below the surface invariably 
swells as freely as the variety worked upon it. If what are known 
as bad stocks, especially in the case of Peaches and Nectarines— 
that is, stocks above the ground that do not swell, are buried, they 
commence swelling freely in nearly all cases. If Peaches and 
Nectarines were worked close to the ground level, or sufficiently 
near, so that when planted the union would rest upon the 
surface of the soil, we should hear very little of bad stocks in the 
future. Budding and grafting Apples and Pears on strong large 
stocks well above the ground is djing out, and rightly so, because 
in the past disease and early death have in thousands of cases 
resulted. 
The influence of the stock upon the variety worked upon it is 
very marked in many instances. We may say the Quince and the 
Paradise stocks restrict considerably the growth of the tree, 
increase the fruitfulness of the variety, and the size of the fruit in 
