352 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 5, 188?. 
consistent with. i: law and order." Thus, with regard to the size of the 
truss, I am no advocate for one consisting of fifteen or sixteen pips, 
however effective they may appear to the ordinary observer. I do not 
think there was one of these large trusses in the Exhibition that had not 
one or more pips that wer epassee, and so gave an appearance of dead¬ 
ness to the blooms. On the other hand, I cannot call that a truss of 
Auricula in which tlin-e are less than five pips of an edged variety, or 
seven of a self, and yet in many of the winning stands there were 
flowers with only three pips, and these just the remnant of the truss, 
the footstalks of the others being plainly visible when they 
had been cut away. I think that it would be well in future that the 
old-established rule should be adhered to, and no edged flowers shown 
with less than five pips or seifs with less than seven. 
With regard to the exhibitors, it will be seen that although this is the 
southern section of the National Auricula Society, yet the northerners 
take the lion’s share, and the absence of the collections of the Rev. F. D. 
Horner, Mr. Barlow, Mr. W. Bolton, Mr. White, and Mr. Potts would 
have made a very serious gap in the Show. These collections must have 
been more or less aided by fire heat, and as an old Auricula grower who 
might this year celebrate his jubilee of Auricula growing, I can never 
believe that it is good for the show varieties, and fancy that a good deal 
of the roughness which one could not fail to notice was attributable to 
this cause. Mr. Douglas maintained his position as a southern grower, 
but he was certainly not up to his usual form, while the absence of such 
growers as Mr. Simonite and Mr. Llewelyn made a most appreciable gap 
in both the amateurs’ and growers’ exhibits. Mr. Turner’s plants were 
small and below the mark, owing to the very satisfactory reason that he 
had sold all his large plants. 
With regard to varieties, there were some very noticeable facts, thus 
Prince of Greens (Traill’s) was shown in a form which I think few have 
seen it in before. The premier prize plant of Mr. White of Newcastle- 
©n-Tyne was a beautiful one ; it had eleven pi t s, and although one or 
two were a little past their best, it was very fine. Being such a large 
flower, it can bear a large truss better than some others ; but even here 
I cannot but think that if it had been a little more thinned out it would 
have made a handsomer truss. George Lightbody was nowhere up to the 
mark ; the best was one in Mr. Douglas’s stand of twelve, but generally it 
was rough and out of character, a clear proof of the unfavourable cha¬ 
racter of the season. The Rev. F. D. Horner (Simonite) is evidently estab¬ 
lishing its character as a fine addition to that scarce section the green 
edges; so scarce, at any rate at this Exhibition that in the class for 
single plants Headly’s Green obtained a prize, although wanting in some 
of the most necessary qualities of a good Auricula. Acme (Read’s) is 
another flower which has fully justified all that was expected of it, and 
bears out what I remember to have said of it some y ears ago when I 
saw it with Mr. Jonathan Booth at Manchester, that it was the best 
white edge in growth ; nor have I seen anything since raised that can 
be compared to it. There are some which are classed among white 
edges, but in which the white is a very disputable matter, as it merges 
so often into grey. Another flower that came out remarkably well this 
year was Traill’s Beauty. It is a very uncertain flower, being sometimes 
the beauty and sometimes the reverse ; but it was shown on Tuesday 
very frequently and in very good condition. Like all Auriculas it is 
deficient in some one point, and the eye lacks brightness. It is, how¬ 
ever, a large and bold flower, good on the stage, and a very vigorous 
grower, and produces offsets very freely, so that it is everybody’s flower ; 
others are the flowers only of a select few, who do not mind giving their 
guineas and half-guineas for a new variety, which, after all, may prove 
no better than some they have already in their collections. Heroine 
(Homer’s) is, I think, the finest self we have—at any rate, of its colour. 
The smoothness of its petal and the richness of the colour combine to 
make a very lovely flower. It gained the Second prize in the single 
specimen class, and deservedly so, the first being taken by Mr. Douglas 
with a seedling Sir W. Hewitt, a flower of great promise. Topsy, which 
was so well shown last year, was out of the running this season. Colonel 
Taylor, too green edge, which has been so often well shown, although 
we can all see its defects, was only represented by one specimen if I 
recollect rightly ; and thus, I suppose, the Auricula, like other florists’ 
flowers, has seasons which are favourable to one variety and unfavour¬ 
able to others. 
I say little on the subject of seedlings, although it is very interesting 
to see how many persons are engaged in the delightful occupation of 
Auricula .growing, and I do so for these reasons. In the first place, 
however interesting they are to the raiser—and nothing can be more so, 
although it requires a very impartial judgment to pronounce on one’s 
own productions—yet, as they are very slow to increase, it must be some 
years before the general public of Auricula growers have an opportunity 
of adding them to their collection. One might give a very interesting 
description of Douglas’s Abbe Lizst, or Horner’s Magpie, but it is the 
raisers themselves who alone for some years to come will have their 
enjoyment. Thus, although an enthusiast about Auriculas, I have not 
added as yet to my collection such flowers as Rev. F. D. Horner, Con¬ 
servative, or Sylvia. Another reason is that the character of seedling 
(lowers is very uncertain, perhaps less in the Auricula than in many 
other florist s flowers ; but still there is uncertainty, and the delay that 
must take place before these flowers can be generally distributed may 
perhaps shatter some reputations, although it may confirm the good 
opinions of others. In this branch the northerners are, as in others, far 
ahead of us in the south. Messrs. Horner, Pohlman, Walker, Simonite, 
Barlow, and Bolton form a goodly phalanx of raisers, represented mainly 
in tae south by Mr. Douglas; and the careful and more scientific manner 
in which hybridising is carried out nowadays would, one would think, 
result in something good, but all raisers have to recollect that it is very 
difficult to beat such flowers as George Lightbody, Acme, Prince of 
Greens, and Lancashire Hero. 
It will thus be seen that my estimate of the Exhibition, on the whole, 
is not a very favourable one, but I do not think any Auricula grower 
could have expected otherwise, and I am sure all lovers of the flower 
feel much indebted to those northern growers who managed to get their 
flowers up to London, and set so good an example of what skill and 
determination can do in the cultivation of this beautiful spring 
flower.—D., Deal. 
RENOVATING FRUIT TREES. 
Some time since I read with interest your leading article headed 
“The Beginning of Wisdom," which referred to the subject of hardy 
fruit culture in Kent. We have also many old unprofitable trees in 
the orchards of Scotland—viz , Carse o’ Gowrie and on the Clyde. 
There are three ways of improving these that I have practised with 
success, and which I would recommend—viz., root-pruning, top¬ 
dressing, and uprooting of practically worthless trees and planting 
young trees of better varieties. I will make a few detailed remarks 
on each if you may consider them worth a corner in the Journal. 
After I went to Lauriston Cas le near Montrose, as gardener and 
forester, I found a deficiency of good presentable fruit. The garden 
walls about 400 yards long and 10 feet high were well covered on 
both sides with beautifully trained trees, from twenty to forty years 
old. The subsoil was a stiff red clay much in want of draining. In 
July after stopping the young wood we lifted as many of the roots 
that were near the surface as we could of a few Pear trees that were 
to the top of the wall, but had never fruited. We cut the roots back 
to within 20 inches of the bole and gave them fresh soil. I considered 
it a good time to do so, as the roots may become healed up and fibres 
formed before winter. I had no fear of cutting them back, as there 
were plenty of downward Carrot-like roots left to support the trees 
until what were cut received a start. But we had other improvements 
in hand, so we had to leave the matter until October, when we went 
all round outside the walls and removed the soil above the roots and 
opened a trench all round, lifting as many of the roots as we could 
and cut them back to within 20 or 30 inches of the bole, leaving such 
as went right down to support the tree until fresh roots were thrown 
out in the turfy soil, which was freely used and packed firmly among 
the roots. Tongues were cut in the largest roots, and a piece of turf 
placed under them, which added to the supply of new roots. After 
being covered and well mulched they were lett for the season. 
In the following October we examined two of them and found the 
young roots so abundant that we considered we were safe to cut away 
the bottom roots. For that purpose we used a pruning iron with a 
long handle and a mallet, but we found the new roots were so soft 
that some of them by this operation were getting shaken away with 
pieces of the turf. So they were left for another year, and we treated 
the trees inside in the same manner, finishing by draining the whole 
garden 3 feet deep and 18 feet apart. When we cut the bottom roots 
two years after the first operation, a drain tile was laid below every 
tree from the wall to another drain in the border. A few flat stones 
were placed over the tile below each tree and fresh soil was added, 
with a mulching over all. Liquid manure from the farmyard was 
applied occasionally while they were making their wood, which was 
short jointed, with fleshy glossy foliage. 
Some years afterwards a few ladies and gentlemen who had just 
been round the garden came into one of the hothouses and said they 
had been admiring our crops of fruit. After remarking that our 
root-pruning had been a great success, they asked how much it had 
cost. My employer, Mr. Porteous, said “ It cost nothing, only two or 
three of the gardener’s outside men and some of the y^ung garden 
lads being employed fra week or ten days." I said we did not pay 
for the fresh sod or manure, but I believed it had paid 50 p r cent. 
We had larger crops and better quality, and it kept so much oetter in 
the fruit room. We had it quite fresh during May and into June, pre¬ 
viously it was gone in March. The trees were also covered equally 
with fruit, instead of having a few only at the top of the trees. 
If the trees are old and unhealthy, the soil wet and not drained, 
“ Invicta ” may be right. “ Professional ’’ may as well let such 
alone if he has more to do than he can overtake—viz., attending his 
carpet bedding, ribbon borders, and Chrysanthemums. “Invicta” 
may find the gardener who is also land steward, with men and horse 
under his care, best able to help unfruitful trees if they are healthy 
and not too old. If young trees were more cared for the first few 
years there would be less need of root-pruning, which leads to remarks 
on the orchard, which I should have taken first, being of more public 
interest than wall trees, but having said more than 1 intended I will 
leave these remarks for another time if you consider they would be of 
interest.— John McIntosh, The Gardens, Geilston, Dumbartonshir•. 
[Records of success and methods of achieving it are always 
