April 11, ISM ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
299 
will I do so again. Experience has proved to me that it is the worst 
possible practice. It you buy a two-year-old cordon from a nurseryman 
it will be bristling with buds to the base, and these trees are generally 
4 or 5 feet in length. Now take a foot or so off the leader, and note the 
result—two or three shoots at the end only, and a vacant space of 
18 inches or so without a spur or the prospect of getting one ; but leave 
the shoot whole, and the result is fruit buds and spurs to the base. To 
form good standards prune boldly back to form a good head, and the 
after pruning will merely consist of a thinning out of a shoot or so, so 
as to prevent the trees becoming crowded and obstructing light and air. 
Shortening the tips causes a thicket of growth and continuous work 
in thinning during the winter. I am now allowing all our bush shape 
and pyramid Apple, Pear, and Plum trees to grow at their own 
will after sufficient branches are formed to form a framework as it were. 
Fiuit buds are showing on shoots so left their whole length. It is 
extension pure and simple, and Nature is the best pruner by forming 
fruit buds, which is far better than the time annually wasted in the 
■cutting out of rods. Our would-be garden economists of labour should 
make a note of this ; they often commence at the wrong end, and arc the 
greatest wasters of labour. Mr. Shirley Hibberd was somewhat laughed 
at by the rigid pruners when he read his celebrated paper on fruit 
culture before the Society of Arts some ten years since, but time has 
proved that he was right. Mr. Simpson of Wortley has also laboured 
long to prove that pruning as it is understood by many is only a failure. 
We have several handsome trees of the scarlet-fruited Abler in the 
grounds here ; they used to be annually cut back because they made 
such strong growth ; but since they have been left alone they bloom 
and fruit well with very little increase of size annually.—A. Young, 
Abberley Hall Gardens, Stourport. 
HOT-WATER PIPES LEAKING. 
I CONFESS I was much astonished when reading the remarks of Mr. 
Bardney on page 282 , because they are in direct opposition to my ex¬ 
perience of leaks in hot-water pipes. 
Unfortunately for myself, cracks have occurred in the pipes more 
than once in two or three years, and generally ]ust at a time when least 
desired. I repeat what I said, page 241, that less leaking of water takes 
place when the pipes are cool than when they are made hot by driving 
the fire to maintain certain temperatures. IIow this is contrary to Mr. 
Bardney’s experience I cannot understand, and if I did not know him I 
should be inclined to say he was “ having me on.” Cracks in the mains 
are genera 1 ly lengthwise, seldom across the pipe, that is assuming the 
crack takes place in a part of the pipe which is clear of cross walls or 
any other obstruction, and is often caused by the uneven casting of the 
pipe, as they vary in the thickness of iron. I say emphatically that the 
leak in the pipes, especially in the main, is much greater when the 
pipes are hot than when they are cold ; the heating of the pipes causes 
expansion, hence the greater the escape of water. When the pipes are 
cooling the crack returns to its former size, thus reducing the space. I 
once had experience of this in a forcible manner. The flow pipe 
of the mains, laid in a trench at the back of the potting shed, from 
which branched other pipes to three vineries, burst on the top of the 
pipe in the sand line, the crack being about 6 inches long. During the 
day, when no fire heat hardly was needed, owing to a sufficiency of sun 
heat, nothing beyond a small drip of water came from the flaw in the 
pipe. Over the fractured pipe we bound some rough string and white 
leal, sufficiently tight and close to stop the leak, thinking then we were 
all right and should have no further cause for trouble ; but, when evening 
came, and a temperature sufficient for a house of Muscat Vines in bloom 
had to be maintained, necessitating sharp firing, we quickly found the 
water escaping, until a constant stream was the result, this coming out of 
the pipe with some force ; as the necessity for pushing the fire abated, the 
leak abated also. If the increase of the leak was not due to the expan¬ 
sion of the metal, thus opening the space of the fracture, what was it ? I 
can assure Mr. Bardney that instead of my placing the cart before the 
horse, it is he who has “ yoked ” them in the manner he asserts.—S. H. 
EARLY RHUBARB. 
I CRAVE a little space in your columns on the above subject. 
Having read with much interest the correspondence on that point, and 
having to supply Rhubarb in quantity early and late, I have taken some 
trouble to find out the earliest and best varieties for use. The varieties 
I find best answer my purpose are Prince Albert and Salt’s Crimson 
Perfection for early supplies, Victoria and a few good seedlings for later 
work. I have grown several other varieties, but find they are not so 
good as those before mentioned. The earliest date I have ever pulled 
any outside was March 7th, some years ago. The variety Prince 
Albert I still have in the same place, and although covered with pots and 
litter, it was not ready for use on March 30th. The stalks are only 
about 6 inches long. I have tried different ways of protection outside, 
but find nothing better than large-sized Rhubarb pots with covers. 
They are handy for use, always clean and sweet, air can be given when 
necessary by tilting the lid. Placing them on early, well covering with 
dry litter to protect from frost, brings it to hand much quicker and 
better flavoured than using manure. In the quotation from the 
Royal Horticultural Society’s Journal it is stated Crimson Perfection is 
synonymous with Prince Albert, and grown much for market. This 
must be a mistake. The true variety is very scarce; others are often i 
sold for it, as I know by experience. The true one is red through¬ 
out, nearly like Beetroot, and when cooked is a splendid colour. It is 
much liked here, better, indeed, than any other, and visitors often 
inquire where it can be purchased. It does not grow out to 
large crowns very quickly, and requires generous treatment, which 
it well deserves. When well grown I do not know any other 
variety to equal it. Messrs. Veitch of Chelsea had it at one time. 
Some years back there was a small red variety in cultivation amongst 
cottagers and others, called Early Red, very quick, but not to be com¬ 
pared with the Rhubarb of the present day. Possibly this may be the 
one mentioned by “ Yaxley Vicar.” The soil here is a sharp light loam, 
subsoil stony, and substratum Kentish rag on a high hill due south, and 
much sheltered by timber trees.—\V. Divers, Wierton House Gardens , 
near Maidstone. 
DAFFODILS. 
Three miniature forms of Daffodils, all varieties of Narcissus 
Pseudo-Narcissus, are depicted in fig. 47, and are interesting as showing 
that gradation in size is alrrnst as marked a character in some Daffodils 
FIG. 43.— A BEAUTIFUL DAFFODIL. 
as variation of form. The difference between minimus and some of the 
giants of the Trumpet Daffodils is surprising, and if mere size were any 
criterion it might be thought they were distinct species. 
In fig. 48 is represented a variety of Narcissus that seems somewhat 
puzzling to the authorities, though it is undoubtedly beautiful and 
distinct. Mr. Hartland sends us a bunch of flowers, and remarks that 
it is “ the Sabini of the old masters and the Wm. Wilks in error of the 
new.” There is some resemblance to the variety Wm. Wilks, as shown 
by Mr. Barr, and some think it identical, but the crown of the latter 
variety is a shade or two lighter in colour. The variety Sabini is an 
interesting one historically, but as figured in the “ Botanical Register ” 
t. 762,1823, it is quite distinct from Mr. Hartland’s flowers, which are 
more attractive in all respects. N. Sabini was sent from the Oxford 
Botanic Gardens by Mr. William Baxter to Mr. Sabine in 1818, and 
this, with others, was presented to the London Horticultural Society. 
Mr. Walker and other growers state, however, that there are several 
varieties in cultivation under this name. In Mr. Hartland’s Sabini the 
perianth is creamy white, the divisions broad and rounded, the corona 
deep gold somewhat inflated and frilled at the mouth. 
WASHING THE ROOTS OF YOUNG VINES. 
This practice is new to me in planting young Vines, neither do I 
think it is necessary, except in cases where the roots are affected with 
fungi. It is a mistake to suppose that young Vines cannot be planted 
by removing the soil from their roots and spreading them out thinly 
over the border without causing so much damage to them as to prevent 
their free growth. I consider the plan of spreading out the roots 
thinly in the border a better one than planting the Vines with the roots 
coiled up around the sides of the ball of soil, and in the middle as they 
grew when in pots, for the rea-on that when the roots are spread out 
