274 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I April 3,13«6. 
killed. Cherries as usual are well furnished with buds, which were 
not forward enough to be injured. Plums are very thinly set with 
buds, but much of this scarcity is due to a plague of bullfinches, 
hundreds of which were killed in this district. Pears are excep¬ 
tionally floriferous ; in fact I wish there was much less bloom on 
the trees, and this stronger. No injury has accrued to it, and the 
Jargonelle will soon unfold its very fine showy trusses of flowers. 
Apples again are most abundantly clothed with fruit buds, never 
more so probably, and all being well there ought to be no scarcity 
of fruit next autumn and winter. Bullfinches have simply ruined 
the majority of unprotected Gooseberries, and Bed Currants 
have not wholly escaped, while every Medlar bud appears to have 
been taken by these pests.” 
From Hertfordshire comes this report:—“ Gardening prospects, 
like farming prospects, to which they are closely related, are very 
uncertain of realisation, but still it is pleasant to have them good. 
Taking the Apple first, as of primary importance, I may safely say 
that we shall have plenty of blossom, even more than last year, 
though we had a great deal then. I do not think the Apple buds 
too forward, but they are distinctly swelling, amongst them such 
excellent sorts as Duchess of Oldenburg, Warner’s King, Cox's 
Orange Pippin, Lord Derby, Northern Greening, Hawthornden, 
Ecklinville Seedling, Devonshire Quarrenden, Keswick Codlin, 
Lord Suffield, and Mere de Menage, which is usually shy here. 
Plums rank next in importance, and I think, as far as profit is con¬ 
cerned, they are more remunerative than the Apple. We have a 
capital collection, and generally succeed in securing heavy crops. 
The Victorias are very full again ; Black Diamond promises as 
well as ever, but this Plum is rather erratic in its temperament. 
I think it requires a lighter soil than the generality of Plums. 
Here (Herts) it is one of the most profitable grown ; the individual 
fruits are as large as duck’s eggs, and the crops enormous, but I 
am familiar vith a large quantity of really good trees about 
four miles from me that never yield a crop, while the Victoria 
flourishes well. Pond’s Seedling is also very good, but the fruit 
will not stand the wet. Oullins Golden, Green, and Rivers’ Early 
Transparent Gages all promise splendidly. Early Prolific is very 
full. Magnum Bonum, Orleans, Coe’s Golden Drop, and Cox’s 
Emperor are all looking well. Pears are rather uncertain here, 
but this year we have a splendid show of bloom. The bullfinches 
have been very troublesome this season, particularly in one garden. 
A great living naturalist has said recently that these birds are 
Nature’s own pruners. Such pretty little pieces of sentiment are 
picked up with your feet placed cosily in front of the fire, and a 
book about the pets in your hand. What a boon to the gardener ! 
He has only to leave the trees alone, and allow the bullfinches to 
do the pruning. Whether the birds are Nature’s pruners or not, I 
prefer to do my own pruning or thinning the buds, as the case may 
be. I have lost the whole of the buds of Louise Bonne de Jersey 
from some young trees. Williams’ Bon Chretien, Duchesse 
d’Angoul^me, Pitmaston Duchess, Beurre d’Amanlis, and Easter 
Beurr4 are looking exceptionally well. Peach and Nectarine trees 
are covered with expanding blossom. I have only just had the 
trees nailed to the wall. H.ile’s Early Peach was in full bloom, 
but I do not mind knocking some buds ofE when nailing, provided 
I can retard the opening buds, for I consider every day later is a 
day safer. Gooseberry, Raspberry, and Currant bushes I cannot 
say much about, but the leaves are breaking freely on the Goose¬ 
berry bushes. I have only one Apricot tree, and that does not pay 
for the space occupied. As I said before, these prospects are not 
much to go by. for we have much to encounter and contend with 
before we see any signs of the fruit crop of 1890.” 
THE PRUNING KNIFE. 
There is no necessity for giving a definition or the history of 
this useful instrument, but as there are two sorts in the market, 
the good and the bad, the young gardener should take pains to 
secure the former, if possible, and keep it in good working order.. 
There is more in this than at first appears, for a young gardener’s- 
success may depend very largely upon the possession of a good 
knife, the condition he keeps it in, and his skill in using it. We 
might give numerous illustrations, but will confine ourselves to on&. 
or two which will suffice to show the advantage of possessing a 
sharp knife and the evils which may arise from the use of a dulh 
cutting one. Let us suppose our young gardener sent, at this 
season of t’ae year, to re-stake some young Melon plants. He begins- 
sawing away at the old ties with his bad cutting knife, and in 
doing so the matting has cut into the tender stem perhaps sufficient 
to completely ruin a plant that has taken two months of anxious 
care and stratagem to raise it, or it may be the bruise is slight and 
goes unnoticed until the fruit arrives at the last swelling stage,, 
then all at once the plant gives out. Such misfortunes may occur 
from canker alone, but the bruise given to the tender stem when 
trying to cut the matting with the blunt knife may have been at- 
least the exciting, if not the sole cause of the evil. Then who- 
shall estimate the number of cuttings ruined every year through 
being made with a blunt knife, and the consequent loss and dis¬ 
appointment ? It is no small matter for a gardener to possess a 
bad cutting knife, whether the fault lies in the knife or its possessor,, 
and the young aspirant should spare no pains to remedy the evil. 
Great and important matters are always sufficiently exciting in 
themselves to secure our continuous attention, but the apparently 
small matters are apt to become the “ weak links in the chain,” 
and since our true worth is proportionate to the strength of our 
weakness, these are the points which demand our greatest atten¬ 
tion if we wish to excel in gardening or anything else. 
But the man who possesses a good knife and has mastered 
its uses in every detail is of no mean order, whatever may be his 
“social position,” for his knowledge of plants individually and 
collectively is great. This man’s theoretical studies and practical 
applications have been long and arduous, and we can only attain 
to his position by a like process. 
But even such men as these are not always able to act up to' 
the standard of their knowledge, since the plants they would with 
advantage operate upon are not their own, and since the owners of 
these plants from want of practical knowledge are often unable, 
to comprehend the gardener’s arguments for pruning certain plants, 
he has to be content to keep his knife in his pocket and from year 
to year have unsatisfactory plants under his care. Circumstances 
such as these are calculated to diminish a gardener’s zeal and to- 
lead to general carelessness, since it more or less ties his hands 
and stifles his ambition. There are times, however, when the 
gardener, by examples and explanations, will gain confidence, and 
in most cases it will only require steady application and time 
to gain permission to use his knife to his heart’s content. 
Now his time has come, and his promises to those lanky, bare¬ 
stemmed Camellias, Orange trees, and other plants-—to those sickly 
wiry-looking Azaleas that have been carrying heavy crops of 
flowers the past ten years, will soon take practical shape, and as 
soon as he starts his vinery, or has plenty of heat and moisture at 
command, these plants will bear a close resemblance to an old 
Apple tree prepared for grafting. Some would be dubious about 
these smooth-stemmed Camellias ever growing again, but an inspec¬ 
tion in three months’ time may tend to caution them against 
limiting the powers of Nature. With a due regard to atmospheric 
and root conditions, it is wonderful what a judicious use of the 
knife will do for them and other hard wooded plants in two years- 
From objects to be shunned they will have become thick well- 
shaped bushes, and a credit to all concerned. The intelligent use 
of the knife has saved the life of many a plant, and hundreds have- 
died through the want of it. 
The gardener who has mastered the use of the knife will also- 
know not only when to use it but when to avoid using it, and how 
to prevent having to use it. There are few good things in this, 
world but what may be abused, and the pruning knife forms no 
exception, and so it happens that many people continue pruning 
their trees, especially fruit trees, without having any clear idea 
why they do it or how it should be done. They get very few 
flowers or very little fruit, as the case may be; but then that is not 
the fault of the pruning, for how are trees to be kept within bounds 
except by cutting off all the summer shoots ? besides, their fathers 
pruned in the same way. Happily, instances of this sort are be 
coming less every year, and the majority are realising the fact that 
the roots must either be restricted or frequently pruned in all 
cases of formal training, especially if that training does not allow 
of the full development of the tree. To allow a thicket of shoots 
to grow on a fruit tree simply to be cut off at the end of the 
summer is not only a waste of time and material, but a strong 
invitation to sterility, disease, and death. 
The above remarks, of course, apply principally to fruit trees, 
but there are certain Roses and other flowering plants that must 
