October 6, 1837. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTaGE GARDENER. 
295 
Sther work being pushed forward rapidly. When the leaves have 
alien a general clearing up is needed, which in a good many places 
takes until Christmas, then the kitchen garden needs digging, walks 
turning, and many other matters require attention. Root-pruning 
must be done early in the season before the foliage falls, when the 
weather is good and the land in the most satisfactory condition. 
The last is a matter of importance and cannot be ignored, for wo 
invariably find it in any but a satisfactory condition, even in 
November, and is very frequently worse one or two months later. 
Trees or plants do not start away well when the ground is trodden 
and worked about their roots in a wet condition. When trans¬ 
planting is done early before the foliage falls the trees have every 
chance to make a few fresh roots and thus become partially estab¬ 
lished before the approach of winter. Not only can the woik be 
done better and easier, but there is no comparison between the 
growth of trees the following season that have been transplanted 
early and those that have been left two or three months later. 
These are not the only advantages, for the fruit garden is ready for 
clearing directly the leaves have fallen, say two months earlier than 
can possibly be the case when this work is left until the approach of 
winter before it is attempted. 
It is concluded, of course, that early pruning is practised, which 
is of equal importance with the early system of transplanting and 
root-pruning. I have repeatedly urged the necessity of doing this 
work while the weather is warm and genial, not only from an 
economical point of view, but also for the we'l-being of the tiees 
and the prospect of a good crop of fruit the following year. 
Pruning as soon as the fruit has been gathered, or as it is gathered, 
cannot well be too strongly or too frequently urged, when we see in 
many gardens such waste of the energies of the tree. Light and 
sunshine are prevented from reaching those parts that most need it, 
the few weeks left to the trees to perfect their work being 
spent on material that is useless and eventually to be cut away. All 
useless shoots and branches should be removed directly the fruit 
has been gathered, so that the whole energies of the trees can be 
concentrated upon the development and perfection of the fruit 
buds. If more attention was paid to this highly important matter, 
planting and root-pruning being done earlier, we should soon per¬ 
ceive rapid progress in the culture of hardy fruits. 
The best time in my opinion for transplanting and root-pruning 
is during the present month. The work can be commenced 
directly the fruit is gathered from the trees ; in fact it need not 
be delayed until the whole has been gathered, but the two opera¬ 
tions can be going on at the same time, commencing with those 
from which the fruit has been taken first, and finishing with trees 
that have to be purchased from a nursery. Planting takes but 
little time provided the ground has been previously prepared for 
the reception of the trees. Delay in planting results in many 
instances from lack of forethought, and the ground is left until 
the trees arrive before an attempt is made to prepare it. My 
advice is to those who have deferred this as winters woik to set 
about the preparation of the ground at once, and I venture to 
predict that they will not return to the general system, one 
that should have been obsolete long ago. 
It may be argued that root-pruning is a waste of time, and only 
betokens mismanagement of the branches. To dispense with 
pruning the branches as well as the roots means following a natural 
system, or what some call “ extension,’ or in other quarters the 
« letting alone ” principle. This system may have advantages, but 
it also has disadvantages that cannot be ignored. It is, however, 
no part of my present duty to examine this mode of culture , 
suffice it to say that trees grown on these principles are not suit¬ 
able for all positions. They have a straggling appearance when 
their branches are weighed in all directions by carrying a crop of 
fruit, which in a few years results in fruit of moderate size only. 
When trees have to be restricted, as thousands have, in gardens 
of nearly all sizes, pruning the branches and roots is* necessary to 
keep the trees within bounds and in a healthy fruitful condition. 
They can certainly be managed without either, which is the result 
of cropping them until they become a mass of fruit spurs. Trees 
in this condition are not desirable, for a few years means decreased 
vigour and puny fruit, which, if they are to be restored, must be 
subjected to a rather severe system of pruning. Root-pruning, as 
some understand and teach, consists in digging up the trees, shaking 
the whole of the soil from the roots, cutting them severely back, 
and then replanting in the same position. I he system I advise is 
a moderate one, to be practised at intervals of two, three, or more 
years, according to circumstances. It consists in digging a trench 
round the trees and shortening roots that are taking the lead and 
causing the tree to grow too luxuriantly to be fruitful. If this is 
done periodically after the trees havebeen planted'..(say three years) 
it insures their making abundance of fibry roots and veijfew of the. 
strong useless ones tint are formed when a haphazard system of 
root-pruning is adopted, and which is the result of leaving the treo 
alone too long after planting. The more the trees are dug round 
the more fibry their roots become, and the check they receive if 
they have to be transplanted is considerably less. Trees that have 
been root-pruned at given intervals can be removed without crippling 
them seriously, but not so a tree that has been neglected and only 
possesses long strong fibreless roots. Trees in this condition are 
crippled and the crop lost for one year at least, and the second 
season they are often puny and small. Trees that have been sub¬ 
jected to root-pruning only need digging round them, and the few 
roots cutting back to the edge of the ball and then filling with soil 
again. It is a simple system that takes up but little time and is 
sufficient to check the exuberant growth of the trees rendering 
them fruitful without proving too severe, and thus interfere with 
the plant swelling its fruit to a large size. Trees in good fertile 
soil will produce fruit eoually as large as they did the previous 
season, but the growth will only be of moderate strength, which is 
necessary under all circumstances in order to sustain the trees in 
health and ensure their fruit swelling to good size. 
Trees that have become a mass of fruiting spurs and to all ap¬ 
pearance need neither pruning at their branches nor their roots will, 
if left alone, fruit themselves to death or until they are so weak as 
to produce fruit that is worthless. The spurs on,trees of this de¬ 
scription shou’d be cut hack freely, thoroughly thinned, and the 
whole near the extremity of the shoots cut back. This will induce 
the formation of new growth. If the tree has become very feeble 
it must be rather severely pruned. A trench must be dug round it 
sufficiently far from the stem not to cut the roots, a portion of the 
soil should be worked from amongst the roots and then laid amongst 
a little fresh soil. Old potting soil, the soil removed from the 
surface of Vine and Peach borders, or that in which Melons and 
Cucumbers have been grown, will do very well. Any tree that is 
declining in vigour should be treated in this manner, and it is sur¬ 
prising how soon they are again.restored to health and vigour and 
capable of yielding fine fruit annually. It must be remembered 
that if a tree is to produce good fruit it is necessary for it annually 
to produce a moderate growth of wood, by which means only can 
the activity of the roots be ensured. 
If trees have the fruit thinned annually, are branch and root 
pruned, if they need it, as soon as the fruit has been gathered they 
seldom fail to produce fruit annually, and when they do failure is 
due to the ungenial weather when the flowers expand. Even in the 
north they do not appear to fail half so frequently as many people’s 
trees do in more favoured spots from this cause. The weather is 
too often blamed when failure is due to other causes, which could 
often be overcome by a better and more judicious system of culture. 
—Wm. Bardney. 
VIOLAS. 
I HAVE read with great interest Messrs. Jenkins and Deans .prac¬ 
tical remarks on the culture of this now popular -flower, and 1 was 
anxiously looking forward last week to see if anyone else would give us 
the benefit of their experience. As Mr. Dean truly says, it has taken 
spine time to write tb,e Viola into popularity, but when we see such men 
as Downie, Dobbie, and Lister taking.it up, we may feel sure there is 
an increasing demand -for .exhibition varieties, Mr. Jenkins and Mr, 
Dean as large growers will no doubt have everything at their command, 
but what about the amateur, who, altho 'gh on, a small scale, likes to 
have his blooms up to exhibition form, and cannot always get good cow 
manure, old Cucumber beds, or decayed turf from an old pasture as 
some recommend ? I have had' several good receipts on the secret of 
growing Pansies sent me, but they all require a great deal of unnecessary 
labour. What the amateur wants'is a method as simple as possible, and 
one that does not demand much labour or expense... I will therefore 
give a few particulars on the mode of treatment mine have reeentd 
with marked success. The particulars of, my culture are taken from the 
advice of Mr. John Downie to an old florist friend of mine some time 
ao-o Last year I had put myself to some trouble and expense in pre¬ 
paring my bed, and purchased some very fine varieties which I planted 
in April. They did very, well for a time ; lioweveiyas the season ad¬ 
vanced one after another showed signs of going eft. I was therefore 
obliged to take most of them up and place them in in a shady .border to 
save them. Mv friend happening to come past at the time and hearing 
mv sad tale, asked me to try Mr. Downie’s plan, and plant them on a 
piece of ground after Potatoes. Accordingly a piece which had been 
well manured for the Potatoes was chosen and dug in the autumn. A 
little soot was thrown over it and allowed to get well pulverised with 
the frost. The ground was forked over a few times during the. winter, 
the bed squared up and planted in April, with the. result that I have not 
lost a single variety. Of course during the dry weather I kept them 
damp and gave them a little liquid manure on two-, or three occasions, 
but I'must also endorse what Mr. Dean says about deep planting, as I 
have experienced the benefit of it this year. . , 
I grow about fifty varieties, but the following are the, most robust 
growers ;—Duchess of Albany, Unique,- Mrs. J. Cowan Archie Grant, 
Bullion, Mrs. Steel, The Hearns, rantalooil, Clipper, Duchess of Suther- 
