156 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 16, 1888. 
firm it cannot subsequently be done without the risk of snapping them 
in two. Owing to the lateness and softness of the central growth of 
espalier or horizontally trained trees it is not advisable to shorten these 
back with the motive of securing a second pair of branches in one 
season. No doubt these would form readily enough, but it is very 
doubtful if such late growth would ripen properly this season, and 
unripe wood is not suitable for laying the foundation of a profitable 
tree. Summer Doyenmi or Doyennb d’Ete will soon be ripe, and though 
small is very good in quality if gathered and eaten at once. Citron des 
Carmes is a little larger and somewhat later, and this also must be eaten 
direct from the trees, as when kept it soon becomes dry and mealy. 
FRUIT FORCING. 
Peaches and Nectarines. — Early Forced Trees. —Trees that have 
been subjected to early forcing for a number of years acquire a tendency 
•to premature development; notable in this respect are Early York and 
other varieties, particularly those having large flowers. This can only 
•be prevented or lessened by allowing a moderate extension of the 
[laterals, exposing the trees to the air by the removal of the roof lights, 
■or it may be arrested by the maintenance of a dry atmosphere and a 
somewhat dry condition at the roots, but this tends to cause premature 
■ripening of the foliage, and subsequent wholesale loss of the buds, 
being worse than the loss of a few buds from premature growth. With 
the trees fully exposed the foliage will ripen freely, ahd where the roof 
lights are not moveable admit air to the fullest extent, maintaining a 
■good moisture in the borders, damping the house occasionally in hot 
weather. Some of the foliage of the trees in the earliest house, or that 
■started in November or early December, will now or shortly begin to 
fall; but do not accelerate this by brushing the trees, only remove such 
as are ripened for the purpose of destroying insects. Trees showing in¬ 
dications of weakness should have the roots bared and the soil removed, 
•supplying some rich rather strong calcareous soil, adding marl if the 
soil be inclined to be light, or old mortar rubbish if it is heavy, working 
St well amongst the roots, and making it quite firm, following with a good 
watering. Damping the trees occasionally will facilitate speedy root 
action, and in case of lifting the roots, as may be necessary if they are deep, 
and laying them in fresh soil nearer the surface, shade from bright sun 
■will be necessary, with a rather close and moist condition of the house. 
Preparing for Planting. —It is too early as yet to plant fruit trees, 
yet all trees for Peach houses should be removed thereto before the 
leaves have fallen ; indeed, as soon as the wood is in a condition to 
admit of it without danger of shrivelling. It is not, however, too early 
to select the trees for planting, having them marked at the nurseries for 
removal when in a suitable condition. Select those that have the 
branches evenly balanced, and have short-jointed, vigorous, but not over- 
'luxuriant wood. Some of the best and most reliable for early forcing 
are Hales’ Early, A Bee, and Royal George, or its hardier form, Stirling 
Castle. The best companion Nectarine is Lord Napier. If fruit is re¬ 
quired very early, then such varieties as Alexander, Waterloo, Early 
Beatrice, Early Louise, and Early Rivers may be planted; the quality of 
those is not equal to the others, though the last three are superior in 
that respect to the first two— i.e., Alexander and Waterloo, the chief re¬ 
commendations of which are their extreme earliness and good appear¬ 
ance. For succession houses, Peaches Grosse Mignonne, Noblesse, 
Bellegarde, Belle Bauce, Goshawk, and Barrington. Nectarines 
Elruge, Violette Hative, Rivers’ Orange, and Pine Apple. Late houses, 
Peaches Walburton Admirable, Princess of Wales, Sea Eagle. 
Nectarine, Victoria. It is usual to include some of the midseason 
varieties in the late houses, hence the few varieties named, such as 
Dymond and Barrington being indispensable, as also is Pine Apple in 
Nectarines. For wall cases a succession of fruits can be had from the 
middle of July by planting Alexander, Hale’s Early, Stirling Castle, 
Alexandra Noblesse, Bellegarde, Belle Bauce, Barrington, Walburton 
Admirable, and Sea Eagle. Nectarines:—Advance, Lord Napier, 
Elruge, Rivers’ Orange, Pine Apple, and Victoria. 
The borders in which trees are planted for early forcing should be 
inside, wholly or at least partly, whilst those for later succession should 
have the run of outside as well as inside borders. The borders should 
be well drained, using 4-inch drain pipes, and having proper fall and 
outlet. Provide a foot depth of drainage, brickbats, sand, or freestone, 
a” preferably chalk answer, placing the roughest at the bottom and 
finest at the top, the latter not being larger than broken road metal. 
If the drainage could be secured by a layer of old mortar rubbish 2 or 
3 inches, which has been freed of the finer particles by passing through 
a half-inch sieve, it will be a means of preventing the roots passing so 
freely into and rioting in the drainage, besides affording calcareous and 
siliceous material and facilitating lifting operations. Good strong loam 
of the calcareous formations is best, the top 3 or 4 inches with its turf 
of an old pasture. If very light add a fourth of clay marl in as fine 
parts as practicable, and if very heavy a similar proportion of old mortar 
rubbish, but for ordinary light soil a sixth of clay marl, and for rather 
stiff loam a sixth of old mortar rubbish will be a fair admixture. A few 
crushed steamed bones, about a bushel to a cartload, or one part in thirty, 
will be all that is necessary to grow the finest fruit, but if the loam 
be not turfy add a fifth of stable manure, the strawy portions being 
shaken out with a fork, or for light soil cow manure may be used. The 
border should be 24 to 27 inches deep, and a width of 4 to 6 feet will 
be sufficient to commence with, and in no case need exceed the width 
the trees cover of trellis. The material must be used rather roughly, 
well incorporated, and put together when dry, so as to admit of its being 
well firmed. Allowance must be made for settling. 
Succession Houses .—As soon as the fruit is gathered from the trees 
cut away the shoots that have borne fruit, unless they are extensions, and 
thin all the growths where too crowded. Admit air to the fullest ex¬ 
tent, and syringe occasionally to free the foliage of red spider if any 
appear, applying an insecticide if necessary. The inside borders must not 
be allowed to lack moisture, giving a good watering if necessary, and 
the trees being weak and not plumping the buds well afford liquid 
manure. 
Late Houses .—Trees in these will need frequent attention in 
thinning and regulating the summer growths, and if they are laid in 
thinner than usual it will in a measure compensate for the deficiency of 
sun. Gross growths, of which there are plenty this season, must be 
stopped or removed. Endeavour te secure a balance of moderately 
strong wood, and to insure the ripening as well as to improve the flavour 
of the fruit gentle fire heat, especially in low and in cold situations, will 
be of great benefit. Give attention to syringing unt.d the fruit com¬ 
mences ripening, so as to keep the foliage free of red spider, and water 
the inside border as may be necessary. 
Unheated Houses. —The hope is that the present sunny weather will 
last, of which every advantage should be taken, ventilating early and mode¬ 
rately through the day, so as to make up for lost, closing early with a 
view to insure a long day’s work, but admit a little air at night to allow 
the temperature to gradually cool and the pent up moisture to escape. 
Keep the growths thin, and the foliage clean by judicious syringing. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
Auriculas ani Anemones. —Quite new seed invariably germinates 
more readily and the seedlings are stronger than any that result from 
sowing old seed, consequently care should be taken of all seed pods 
on both the Alpine Auriculas and Anemones. As soon as the seed is 
well ripened sow it on the surface of a pan filled with fine sandy soil 
and cover lightly. Set the pans in a handlight or cold frame anl shade 
from bright sunshine. The Anemones germinate evenly, the Auriculas 
more irregularly, some of the seedlings appearing in a month or less and 
Others much later on, and the soil ought not, therefore, to be much dis¬ 
turbed when the earliest seedlings are pricked out in other pans of fine 
loamy soil. The Anemones need not be interfered with unless very 
thick, and if planted out early in the spring will give a few flowers the 
same season. 
Violets in Hot Weather .—The greatest enemy Violets have is the 
red spider, this in some instances completely crippling the plants. Nor 
does a long spell of showery weather much check the ravages of this 
little pest. The best remedy is to frequently syringe the plants with 
water to which sulphur his been freely add-31. A good handful 
to a 3-gallon can of water is sufficient, and it can be most readily 
mixed by being worked through a bag made of muslin or fine netting. 
If the leaves both on the under and upper sides are well coated with 
sulphur this will effectually check the red spider and a healthier growth 
result. Sickly foliage will not build up good crowns, and in addition is 
very easily killed by frost. Light land may be made more cool or better 
adapted to the growth of Violets by receiving occasional very light sur- 
facings of common salt, care being taken not to let any of this fall on 
the leaves. 
Weedy Wallis. —Weeds are very abundant everywhere, and on gravel 
walks especially are not easily destroyed by ordinary means. A good 
surfacing of salt will kill a good many of them, but is not nearly so 
effective as Smith’s weed killer. This, by no means an expensive 
remedy, only requires a liberal addition of cold water before its appli¬ 
cation, and never fails to destroy all weeds it come3 into contact with. 
Full directions are sent with this poisonous compound, which should be 
strictly adhered to. It only remains to be added that those using it 
must not walk over turf or splash it in any way, or brown patches will 
be the result. The turf or Box edgings ought to be protested with the 
aid of boards slid along as the moisture is being applied. All that is 
necessary is to thoroughly wet the weeds and they soon disappear. In 
some positions every second year is often enough to use this remeiy. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Begonias. —If the varieties intended for autumn and winter flower¬ 
ing have not been placed in their largest pots it should be done at once. 
Insert cuttings of Begonia nitida, B. nitida rosea, B. Ingrami, and others 
that are useful for flowering from February to April. Cuttings of these 
should be placed singly in small pots to accommodate them until the 
close of the year, when they can be placed in 4 and 5-inch pots. 
Panicum varieqatum. —Prepare a number of 3 and 4-inch pots of 
Panicum for decorative purposes during the winter. Insert the cuttings 
thickly together, and if they are kept close and shaded from the sun 
they will soon become established. To have these in good condition 
they must be grown for some time after they are rooted ; in fact, until 
the pots are filled, and then they are highly ornamental. Fittonias may 
be rooted in quantity for the same purpose, only these should be in¬ 
serted singly, or if rooted together they may be placed into 2-inch pots 
afterwards. A good plan is to root them in pans and then establish 
them singly in bunches of moss. These, if placed thickly together in 
boxes with soil amongst them, are easily kept moist, and have good 
balls of roots when lifted for association with Selaginellas and small 
Ferns. This method is as good as potting them singly, for if required 
iu pots the*' can be placed in them as required. 
Bertolonias. —In order to keep these in good condition through the 
winter root cuttings at once. Plenty can generally be taken from the 
base without injury to the plants. Young plants raised from cuttings 
are easily preserved in an ordinary §tove through the winter, while large 
