Deoeit-ber 29 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
557 
these is to take the blooms off carefully without any wood and 
wire them to stems.—J. Muir, Margam. 
Camellias generally commence losing their buds during the 
month of October, or very shortly after the plants have “been 
brought in. I hose who turn their plants out in summer often 
push them on with heat in order to secure early flowering which 
induces buds to fall, certainly meaning disappointment, especially 
with small plants. I will endeavour to explain some of the causes 
u ;5 e b , modes of prevention. Those that require early flowers 
should make these provisions in the spring season by placing the 
plants required into heat as soon as they have flowered in order to 
get their wood made early and the buds set. During the growing 
period liquid manure should be used twice a week. Sheep manure 
is the best, or a surfacing of droppings is also good. The plants 
succeed admirably in a vinery if the Vines are not too thickly planted 
but insufficient light causes a weak growth. 
When the buds are set the plants should be removed to a cooler 
house for a few weeks to harden the wood previous to be in" placed 
outside, which should be in the beginning or middle of July at the 
latest. Select a place where the plants are protected from the 
direct rays of the sun during the middle of the day. The shade 
from trees where not too closely planted I have found to suit them 
admirably. The plants must not be left out after the middle of 
September but when housed give all the air possible for a month or 
«o. Ihe plants should be thoroughly syringed twice a day from 
the time they are turned out till the middle of October. This 
prevents thebuds becoming too hard. I have foundthat by placin" 
the plants in the full sun, however much water is given at the 
roots, the buds suffer, and in consequence they do not open so 
freely. Good drainage and plenty of water are essential to secure 
the buds. 1 believe in many cases failures are caused by plants not 
having enough water or by insufficient drainage, and plants thus 
treated should be in full flower in ordinary seasons by the end of 
December if kept in a temperate house or conservatory after the 
end of October. If the house should be planted with Camellias, 
■alrord some shading with Lapagerias. Syringing in this case must 
be maintained, especially through July and August, early in the 
morning and late in the afternoon.—J. P 
LEAF SOIL. 
This is a valuable commodity in all gardens. In propagating it 
is as useful as sand, and almost all plants in pots are benefited by 
its use. It is also excellent in the kitchen garden and flower beds, 
.and as a winter covering it is equal to the more expensive cocoa nut 
fibre. It is, however, more in propagating and potting that it is 
used and valued, but it varies in quality, and much that would turn 
out first-rate is rendered next to useless by the treatment it is sub¬ 
jected to. In many cases it is thought so long as it appears to be 
leaf soil that is all that is necessary, and the leaves are frequently 
used for hotbeds and other purposes before they come for potting. 
Indeed, this is considered the right way to convert them into mould. 
It is certainly one way, but far from being the right way ; on the 
contrary, it is the worst plan possible, as the fermenting bed reduces 
it to mere waste. We have used it often from Pine pits and never 
-felt satisfied with the result, but after receiving a hint from our 
friend Mr. J. Wright as to not fermenting it, we have ceased doing 
ao, and the result is a material which may be put to the choicest 
plants without producing fungus or any other deleterious matter. 
V e have abundance of leaves ; we could collect a thousand cartloads 
from now until March. They are chiefly Oak and Beech, and these 
are the best of all ; but we not go far afield for our leaf soil, but 
collect it quite close to the garden. We do not gather the leaves 
into a large heap to ferment as is often done, but we collect several 
cartloads into a hollow and spread them out in a layer about 
18 inches or 2 feet deep, and there they remain without fermenting 
until they decay naturally. Those collected in this way about this 
time last year are now in splendid condition, and by storing a 
^quantity in this way annually there is no difficulty in securing a 
•constant supply of leaf soil. I can recommend this system 
thoroughly.—A. G. 
PRUNING THE GOOSEBERRY. 
Pruning, although understood by professionals, is not so by 
thousands of amateurs and untried men. For the latter class I 
intend to offer a little plain advice detailing the practical minutiae 
'which belong to pruning. It may be here observed that some 
classification of the bushes is necessary in order to understand the 
question aright. The following points may serve to classify 
them :—1st, Mode of growth. 2nd, Age of bush. 3rd, Vigour of 
’the bush. 
As to the mode of growth, it must be tolerably obvious to most 
Gooseberry growers that a drooping tree whose points touch the 
soil should not be pruned exactly similarly to one that grows 
upright. As an instance of the former I may quote the Warring- 
on, and of the latter the old Champagne. Gooseberries are seldom 
trained on stems sufficiently tall in the nurseries, especially the 
drooping kinds, which should, in my opinion, be on stems a foot 
ingh at least. I will now proceed to the details of the pruning, and 
will suppose the first case to be a drooping bush, such as the 
Warrington. In almost all cases of Gooseberry pruning, thinning 
out is the first operation ; but I have had cases of strong-growing 
droopers in which it was expedient to have recourse to the hedge 
shears previously to venturing in with the knife. By removing 
many of the tips of the shoots with a light hand the knife may be 
passed freely amongst them, and the thinning out performed both 
with greater ease and precision. It is an established maxim to keep 
the centre of the bush very open ; for thin how we may, it is 
almost sure to become filled up during the following summer. 
Indeed, under all circumstances, it is far better to depend for the 
crop on those exterior portions which are exposed to the light than 
on any amount of interior shoots. 
In looking carefully over the interior of the bush many shoots 
or the past summer may be perceived, which, springing from old 
spurs of former years situated on the main branches, are forced up 
perpendicularly, or, indeed, sometimes converge. Most of these are 
useless, and nothing can justify the retention of many but a lack 
°q? x ^ eldo . r shoots. Every shoot should assuredly be pruned away 
which springs up in the very centre ; for in a well-pruned tree,when 
finished, there should be a hollow cylinder kind of opening down 
the middle of at least 6 inches in diameter—that is to say, in trees 
of any size and age. After this, what spray is left should be about 
() inches apart in the interior, and so selected as to point rather 
towards the outside of the tree. 
Now we come to the thinning out of the outside portion, for 
this, too, must be carefully thinned ; not so much, however, as the 
ulterior, as before observed, for on all that freely presents itself to 
the light I depend for my principal crop. It is well here to 
observe, however, that in the event of very late and severe frosts, 
and when the Gooseberries are just coming into berry, I have 
sometimes known the chief of the crop in the interior of the bush. 
1 may here at once offer an opinion as to the average distance at 
which the young shoots should be left ; but, as kinds differ so 
much as to mode of growth, a few preliminary observations will be 
necessary. Some of the huge “ show berries ” produce foliage 
of an enormous size, as also much longer and stouter footstalks to 
the leaves. Many of our best dessert berries, such as the Early 
Green Hairy, the Pitmaston Green Gage, the small Early Yellow, 
and the Champagne, are just the reverse—small, round, and com¬ 
pact leaves on the smallest amount of footstalk. Need I inform 
the reader here that on the shading character of the foliage should 
depend, the distances at which the shoots should stand apart ? 
Supposing, then, in order to assist those who have indistinct ideas 
on this subject, that a bush in question has abundance of young 
shoots to thin, that it is a very large kind, and that the object is 
the largest crop of the largest berries, G inches I should consider an 
average distance : but if required for exhibition I suppose our 
Gooseberry fanciers would thin them to at least 9 inches. But be 
the kind one of those very small dessert sorts before alluded to, and 
3 to 4 inches may suffice. As for the intermediates, which will, 
indeed, comprise by far the most numerous and most useful class, I 
should give 5 inches as the most useful on an average. In thinning 
out it is necessary to prune close to the main branch, unless it is a 
very lean tree, and requires to be excited to make wood ; this, how¬ 
ever, argues previous mismanagement or an ungenial soil. If the 
bushes be not pruned close the sure consequence is a profusion of 
stem-shoots in the interior, which will not only give the workman 
a deal of trouble in the ensuing year, but must detract from the 
general powers of the bush. 
We come now to the shortening process, which will complete 
the pruner s labours for the present. If I were required to lay 
down a rule for shortening it should be this :—Prune away all that 
you think the bush cannot consistently sustain in its present 
position without drooping on its fellow shoots. There are many 
reasons, however, why we should occasionally deviate from this 
rule, bending to circumstances too important to be slighted. I 
have before observed that the young shoots of Gooseberries dip or 
form curves of very different character ; this is one reason why 
shortening should differ. Another may be found in the fact that 
the extreme points of some shoots are very imperfect, whether 
through blight, unripeness, or leanness. Here, then, is a reason for 
removing at least the defective portion. As an average guide to 
the inexperienced I may, however, say remove something near one- 
fourth part of the whole length of young spray. 
The bushes are now pruned ; but are the operator's labours 
