4 
JOURNAL CF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July i, 1£89„ 
in peat, and should be plante 1 about 4 inches deep as soon as the bulbs 
can be procured in the autumn.—G. 
NOTES ON HARDY FRUIT. 
Apples. —In but few instances will it be necessary to thin out the 
crops on trained trees. Most of the Codlin family, however, including 
Keswick, Carlisle, and Lord Suffield, are bearing freely, and these where 
at all thick ought to be lightly thinned, more, however, being gathered 
when the fruits are near the size of large Walnuts, at which age they 
can be used for cooking purposes. Any pyramid small standard and 
bush trees that have formed much growth should have this lightly 
thinned out, and if the trees are sufficiently fruitful the reserved shoots 
may be shortened back to a length of 9 or i2 inches, or according to 
their vigour. Vigorous trained trees closely pruned are rarely fruitful, 
and the simplest, as well as the best method of correcting this habit, is 
to leave a number of well-placed branches all over the tree unpruned 
both now and at the winter pruning. In most instances these will ripen 
well and form fruit buds at nearly every joint during the following 
summer. Espaliers, cordons, and fan-shaped trained trees should have 
foreright shoots shortened to about 6 inches in length, or rather less if at 
all weak. The leading shoots to be preserved to their full length and 
properly laid in. 
Pears. —The crops on wall trees are partial, and not much thinning 
out appears to be needed anywhere. Nor are many of the trees clear of 
walls heavily laden with fruit, large quantities being much injured by 
caterpillars. All well-established trees are growing vigorously, and the 
summer pruning ought now to be completed. These may be treated 
exactly in the same way as advised in the case of Apples generally. A 
spell of bright sunshine and clear weather has well hardened the early 
leading growths, and advantage should be taken of this in southern dis¬ 
tricts to secure a second pair of branches for young horizontally trained 
wall trees. Supposing two, and a leader have already been obtained, 
the latter should be shortened to about 12 inches in length, and from 
the shoots resulting a fresh leader and two well placed side branches 
may be laid in. If this is attended to at once the young shoots will 
have time to mature before the fall of leaf. 
Plums. —Wall trees generally are bearing excellent crops, and 
another thinning out must be done at once, or the quality of the crop 
may be seriously impaired. The thinnings may be utilised for pies, and 
good preserve can also be made with them. All leading growths ought 
to be fastened to the walls or trellises, but those of a very rank character 
should either be cut c’eanly out or stopped, a removal of a portion of 
the leaves a so checking this unfortunate habit. Gross shoots unchecked 
soon disfigure a tree, these robbing their more weakly neighbours, and 
cause the trees to become unshapely. On some soils Plums frequently 
lise large branches, though perhaps not so suddenly as might appear to 
the superficial observer. When the foliage on a large branch assumes a 
glaucous hue, and no young shoots are formed on it, most probably it 
will be dead by this time next year. These losses should be anticipated 
(they cannot be prevented) as much as possible by laying in young 
shoots now to take their place. More also should be reserved to cover 
any bare portions of the main branches, and especially ought strong 
young shoots from near the base of the tree be taken good care of. All 
superfluous shoots to be pruned to a length of about 5 inches. It is 
also advisable to thin out branches on pyramid and bush trees ; this 
insures the ripening of the reserved shoots, causes the formation of 
fruiting spurs, and benefits the fruit that may be hanging on the trees. 
The Plum aphis is very abundant this season, many trees being smothered 
hy it. The ordinary green and black aphis or fly is also troublesome, 
and all must be destroyed as quickly as possible. After the trees have 
teen pruned and the branches reserved laid in, all should have a 
thorough cleansing. A free use for several evenings in succession of 
either an engine or syringe and soapy water, or soft water well impreg¬ 
nated with soot, will do much towards clearing the trees of such pests. 
1 he soot mixes readily with water if first made into a paste, and is both 
objectionable to the insects and beneficial to the trees. If it is thought 
necessary to syringe the trees with a decoction of auassia chips, or 
tobacco water and sofrsoap, in each case freely diluted with water, it is 
advisable to syringe this off the fruit with clear water. 
I eaches and Nectarines. —Latterly these have made better 
progress, and most of the trees will perfect good crops. In many cases 
the fruit ought to be freely thinned out, one fruit to every 6 square 
inches of wall space being ample, in fact rather more than should be 
left on weakly trees. Foreright shoots ought to be cut well back, and 
only a moderate number laid in on the upper side of the fruiting 
branches. If not unduly crowded these shoots will ripen properly and 
flower freely next season. Continue removing any curled leaves, and 
if black fly is prevalent dust the affected points and leaves with 
tobacco p ovder. . The engine or a syringe should be used on the 
trees in the evening of every hot day, soot water also being beneficial 
to these as well as to Plums. If mildew is prevalent coat the 
afiected points with sulphur, and should red spider put in appearance 
mix sulphur freely with the syringing water. A handful to a three- 
gallon. can is sufficient, and may be best mixed with the water by 
squeezing it through a muslin bag. It is a curious fact that best 
fruit always seem to swell close to the nails used with the shreds, 
and as contact with these is liable to much disfigure or spoil the fruit 
the nails ought to be shifted before the fruit commences the final 
swelling. \\ aterloo promises to be even earlier than the serviceable 
Rale s- Early, 
Cherries. —Birds are liable to clear off the fruit of these long" 
before they are ripe, therefore complete the pruning, this being done- 
much as advised in the case of Plums and net over early. Green fly 
and a larger species of black fly are very troublesome among Cherry 
trees, and these again must be kept down as previously advised if 
clean fine fruit is desired. As a rule the nets may be taken from 
the Strawberry beds in time to cover the Morello Cherries, and the 
latter are not so liable to become so dirty. Seeing the fruit is prin¬ 
cipally borne on wood formed during the next season, the young shoot&i 
must only be thinned out now.—W. Iggulden 
THE NATIONAL CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW AT HULL. 
The error in the numbering of some of the classes in the National 1 
Society’s schedule to which your correspondent, “ E. M.,” has drawm 
attention is unfortunate, but any inconvenience will be obviated if in¬ 
tending exhibitors fill in their entries from the Hull Society’s schedule,, 
which is quite correct in the numbering of the classes. The National 
schedule is also not quite correct in the conditions of some of the cups,. 
Here also the Hull schedule is to be taken as correct.—R. F. J. 
NATIVE GUANO. 
Native guano and sewage are convertible terms, and the disposal' 
of the latter has long been a question of embarrassment to parish 
authorities. Its right place is undoubtedly on the land, and how best 
to distribute it with safety to the public health is a subject of great 
public importance. On the occasion of the opening of the Native- 
Guano Company’s works at Kingston for disposing of the sewage of 
that town and of Surbiton by their ABC process, the Mayor of King¬ 
ston (Mr. Alderman East) said that there were two or three ways of 
disposing of town sewage : (1) By transferring it to their neighbours £ 
(2) by disposing of it on their own land ; (3) by running it into the 
river. To the first course there was the objection that their neigh¬ 
bours usually had sewage of their own to deal with, and would by no- 
means undertake the responsibility of more. To the second, that where 
town land was scarce and quite close, as it were, to the market place,, 
sewage, for obvious reasons, could only be applied with great caution^ 
To the third, that the river conservators refused its admission until it 
had been reduced to an inoffensive state. The Corporation had, he said,, 
been embarrassed by this question of sewage disposal for many years,, 
and after the most careful consideration they had come to the con¬ 
clusion that the Native Guano Company’s process of resolving sewage 
into an easily applicable and inoffensive manure, leaving a harmless- 
effluent to escape into the river, was the best means of solving the 
diffinulty, and had come to an arrangement with them accordingly. 
The Worshipful Mayor’s remarks were made at a lunch on the works 
on Saturday last, previous to which a large company of experts had in¬ 
spected the process from its preliminary to its final stages. The method 
of converting raw sewage into an odourless fertiliser is ingenious and 
highly interesting. In the first place, after passing through a grating, 
it flows into a pump well beneath the main building, and the deodorising, 
mixture is there applied. Centrifugal pumps lift and discharge it into 
a meter chamber, whence it flows into open channels in the grounds,, 
precipitating agents being applied on the way. These channels conduct 
it to the settling tanks, which are eight in number. They are 85 feet 
long by 50 feet wide, and about 8 feet deep, and have a holding capacity 
of 1,200,000 gallons. The tanks are arranged in pairs, with a dividing, 
wall, which does not, however, extend to the further extremity, but 
leaves an opening several feet long. Flowing from the channels above- 
referred to into the first tank, the sewage passes through it, settling as 
it goes, and passes round the end of the wall into the second tank, where 
further settling takes place, and the surface water flows out through a 
floating apparatus and escapes into a channel lower down, whence it 
passes through a covered channel to the river. This effluent is quite 
clear and odourless. 
The deposit left after the surface liquid has escaped is pumped from.- 
the tanks into what is known as the sludge well, where further appli¬ 
cations are made to it, and from there it is transferred to an upper 
floor of the main building, and forced by air pressure into filter presses,, 
which press the remaining moisture from it. Removed from the presses 
it is thrown into a heap to dry, and then passed through a cylinder into 
a disintegrator, where it is powdered and passes out ready for use. 
When placed in sacks ready for being dispatched for use on farms- 
and gardens the native guano resembles coarse soot, hence is in a form 
that renders it easily and conveniently applicable to the soil. Many good 
gardeners speak highly of it, and it is essentially a safe fertiliser for farm, 
and garden crops generally, also for lawns and flower gardens. The; 
process by which the Native Guano Company evolve it from town 
sewage is entirely inoffensive ; in fact, while the works were in full 
operation on Saturday last, which was a very hot day, no inconvenience 
was experienced by the visitors who inspected them, much less by the 
