December 26 , i 860 . 5 
JOURNAL uF HORTWULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
547 
course you know that no express trains run to John o’ Groat’s— 
not beyond Perth. I have often wished they did, as the travelling 
up there is abominably slow.—F. Boyes, Beverley. 
[We are glad our correspondent has taken to writing again. 
Elis pleasant letter atones for our “ jumble,” and we shall not mind 
jumbling again if he will continue writing. We did not, however, 
jumble over the Blackberry if we did over the train. We studiously 
avoided the term “ American ” in our few lines of pleasantry on 
the page cited, and in order that there could be no mistake about 
the variety we meant both its scientific and popular name was 
given, and we fully expected “ South Wales ” would take advan¬ 
tage of the opportunity thus afforded him for a smart rejoinder. 
Judging from his reply on page 527 he either did not see the 
“ point,” or admits the Parsley-leaved variety as an American. If 
he places it in the condemned list we are bound to suggest that his 
verdict has been arrived at on insufficient evidence. The Perth 
terminus is quite sufficient for our purpose, for before reaching it 
by express train the traveller from the Land’s End must of 
necessity pass Yorkshire, in which county the Parsley-leaved 
Bramble bears far heavier crops than we have ever seen Raspberries 
bear, and the individual fruits were as large as the largest Rasp¬ 
berries we suspect our correspondent has grown or seen, and he is 
not satisfied with small or inferior produce as his letter indicates. 
If he grew such crops of Blackberries as Mr. W. K. Woodcock, 
for instance, used to grow near Sheffield, his praise of them there 
is little doubt would be far greater than his condemnation of what 
he did not see, and could not be expected to see, if his long journey 
was by “ express,” and he has not denied the gentle assumption. 
Will Mr. Boyes oblige by stating his authority for his belief that 
Rubus laciniatus is an “ English-raised variety ?”] 
ARMERIAS. 
The Thrifts or Sea Pinks, as they are frequently called, are 
pleasing ornaments of many parts of our British coasts, our Scot¬ 
tish mountains, and the Alpine regions of Europe. In summer our 
native species, A. maritima, adorns many acres in this neighbour¬ 
hood, changing the dark colour of the merse land into a light pink, 
an effect produced by the myriads of flowers of the “ Merse 
Daisies,” as they are locally called, which spangle its surface so 
closely that at a distance the green of the grass is unseen. Two 
varieties of this species, A. maritima alba and A. maritima rubra, 
are frequently used as rock or edging plants, and are very useful 
for these purposes. These Armerias vary much in shade of colour, 
and I have frequently come across plants of the white variety in a 
wild state, but have never met with the deep red, although plants 
approaching it in shade may be met with. The object of these 
notes is not, however, to extol the beauties of our native plants, but 
to draw attention to two other species which far eclipse it in 
-stateliness and in value for garden decoration. Our native Thrift 
is a humble plant, rearing its head only a few inches above its tuft 
of grass-like leaves as if conscious that our northern breezes have 
little respect for tender beauty, but our immigrants from a more 
southern clime rear their heads far above their leaves as if courting 
the warmer breath of the southern zephyr. 
Armeria plantaginea is one of the best and most useful of the 
genus, forming fine tufts of broad grassy leaves, from which rise in 
summer tall stiff stems about 14 or 18 inches high with good sized 
flowers varying in colour from white to deep red. These flowers 
are useful for cutting, and are rendered of additional value by the 
fact that they may be dried and used as everlastings. A. planta- 
g.inea is a native of the Channel Islands, and is of easy cultivation 
in a light soil not too wet in winter. The other species, A. cepha- 
lotes, the large-headed Portuguese Thrift, has several synonyms. 
It has also been called A. latifolia, A. mauritanica, A pseud o- 
Armeria, Statice lusitanica, Statice pseudo-Armeria, and also 
A. formosa. I have, however, an idea that there is another 
species under the latter name which is distinct from A. cephalotes. 
Its English name is also doubtful, as in addition to that given 
above it is also called the Great Thrift, and in the “ Hortus 
Cantabrigiensis ” it is named the Plantain-leaved Thrift, by no 
means an inappropriate name. 
Although this species seems somewhat fastidious as to soil, and 
of a more delicate constitution than A. plantaginea, it is one which 
sliould by all means be secured and given a trial on rockwork or in 
the border where a warm situation comparatively dry in winter 
can be secured. A. cephalotes has much broader leaves, larger 
heads, and finer individual flowers than the other species. It is 
also taller in growth, reaching with me 20 to 24 inches in height. 
The colours are white to deep red. These Armerias may be in¬ 
creased by division when large enough, but the simplest mode of 
raising a stock is by means of seed, which is best sown in pots or 
boxes and the young plants pricked out when large enough. The 
seedlings will vary in colour, and the produce of a packet of seed is 
generally small. 
There are several other species, such as A. alpina, A. Laucheana, 
A. bracteata, but the two described are the finest and most dis¬ 
tinct and deserve to be better known.—S. Aunott. 
PRUNING PEACH TREES. 
The season having now arrived when the pruning of Peach 
trees will be pushed on with all possible speed, whenever occa¬ 
sions present themselves, until the whole both indoors and out 
have been manipulated, a few remarks on this interesting and 
important operation will, I hope, prove useful. I do not pretend 
to -write anything original on the subject, as old lessons must be 
repeated again and again for the benefit of each successive grade 
of the rising generation of gardeners. Fortunately it is no longer 
thought necessary to plant young Peach trees and wait two or 
three years before half the allotted space could be filled with fruit¬ 
bearing shoots. It frequently happens now that as much space is 
covered and as much fruit produced in two years as was formerly 
the case in double that time. When houses have to be refilled it 
is by far the most economical plan to purchase trees of good size to 
start with rather than to study economy in the first instance by 
planting small trees, which are a long time in filling the space at 
their disposal. 
It often happens that well established young trees cau be re¬ 
moved from outside walls. This is decidedly better than obtaining 
large trees from a distance, and smaller ones can be purchased to 
fill up the vacancies. Assuming that we are dealing with a newly 
planted house of young trees, the wood of which has during the 
first season extended to one-third or one-half the space they are in¬ 
tended to cover, if the wood is fairly even, well ripened, and the 
outline of the tree shapely and well-balanced, I would not in any 
case shorten the points of che shoots where there is plenty of room 
for extension, as by so doing we curtail the fruit-producing area of 
tree. The shoots should, be simply thinned, so as to leave the 
bearing wood about 6 inches apart over the greater part of the 
tree, necessarily allowing them a little closer towards the base, so as 
to keep plenty of wood for filling up vacancies. Whenever 
branches are removed take especial care to reserve the young ones 
that spring from their base, so as to prevent unsightly gaps ; and 
where there is not room for extending prune them back to one or 
two eyes, so as to form spurs from which others may be extended 
whenever they are required. In some cases it is desirable to leave 
shoots that have only a few inches of room for extension, for the 
sake of producing an even crop of fruit. As soon as the fruit is 
gathered remove such, as it will infuse new life into those springing 
from the base, enabling them to fill up the vacant space, and ripen 
their wood thoroughly. 
In cases where the leaders have extended far behind the other 
portions of the tree they should be shortened back, so as to produce 
a well-balanced head. I am a firm believer in keeping the wood of 
Peach trees as evenly balanced as possible. Once let any portion 
of a tree which has a tendency to become strong at the expense of 
the other parts go unchecked, and it is often a difficult matter to 
restore the tree to its proper balance. A great aid towards secur¬ 
ing this desirable end is to bend the strong shoots downward, 
giving them a rather sharp curve at the base, and keep them in 
such positions till the young growths are a couple of inches in 
length. By this means the flow of sap is diverted from the strong 
to the weaker ones to a certain extent. When very gross shoots 
are produced they should be entirely removed, except in positions 
where they are particularly wanted to produce a well-shaped tree. 
In such cases cut them to within an inch of their base, and when 
disbudding is performed select the weakest shoot. Whenever 
shoots are°cutback take care to shorten them to either triple buds 
or a wood bud. In the former case it almost invariably happens 
that the central bud is a wood bud, and in every instance wood buds 
are easily distinguished from flower buds by their thin and elongated 
appearance.— H. Dunkin. 
WINTER FLOWERING HEATHS. 
It not uncommonly occurs that plants of these bought in from 
nurseries are quickly damaged through insufficiency of water at 
the roots. If the plants are in a healthy condition when received 
thev will be found to te more or less root-bound, and with num¬ 
berless young rootlets in great activity. If the plants are allowed 
to be dried at root every one of these rcotlets will P er, f b > ® D<J th ® 
plants will suffer in consequence. On the other hand, the roots 
will continue increasing with great rapidity if the soil is kept in a 
