1877. ] 
VILLA GARDENING FOR AUGUST. 
183 
are most plentiful, and of the finest quality, this disease is not so general, and it 
is comparatively less destructive than in localities where apricot-culture is a real 
difficulty. Where there is much lime and chalk in the soil, this fruit seems to 
thrive best, and we often see very old trees in such positions yielding heavy crops, 
almost every season. The roots are found firmly embedded in the soil; the 
annual growth is very small, both as regards root and branch, and pruning is 
practised to a very small degree, only simply because there is little to cut away. 
I have lifted trees which were dying off piecemeal, and replanted them above the 
level of the surrounding ground, ramming the soil firmly in as planting went on, 
especially under the roots, before they were stretched out into their permanent 
positions, and good results have followed. A quantity of brick rubbish mixed 
with the soil seems to suit the trees well. Stones are not at all objectionable, as 
they seem to increase fibre, and prevent the feeders running out like thongs, which 
pump up much more water into the branches than is necessary, increasing pith, 
and preventing the ripening of the wood. In trees thus circumstanced growth 
begins early, and is followed by the dying off branches, rendering the trees per¬ 
manently useless. 
Last season we planted a number of young apricots, and this year, to carry 
out some alterations, a number of the trees had to be lifted. They were re¬ 
planted, as before, into firm open soil, and the growth, though not so rank as 
those which were not lifted, is firm ; there is little pith, and the foliage is fine, 
and very healthy. I have faith in commencing to lift trees early, and doing it 
periodically, so as to prevent rank watery growth, and keep the pith at a minimum. 
It is better to have the walls covered by a slow process than to have rapid 
growth, which brings the trees to a premature end.—M. T. 
VILLA GARDENING FOR AUGUST. 
T. SWITHIN has been true to the tradition which surrounds this historical 
personage, and his anniversary was celebrated with showers of refreshing 
rain, which have inaugurated a grateful revival in Nature ; there is the 
smile of a beautiful freshness on every plant and tree and flower. 
The Ch'eenhouse .—What have we in flower at this time of year in an ordinary 
greenhouse ? There are show Pelargoniums^ conspicuous among them being such 
fine varieties as Triomphe de St. Maude, Heroine, Bob Boy, Duke of Cambridge, 
Empress, and a few others. As soon as they go out of flower, water will be 
withheld, and the plants stood out-of-doors to ripen their growth. Early in 
August cuttings will be taken off and put into store pots, six or nine in a pot; 
the plants shaken out, the long roots cut away, and then repotted in a smaller 
sized pot than that in which they were previously growing, using a soil made up 
of yellow loam, dung, leaf-mould, and rough silver-sand. Fuchsias, which are 
staple decorative plants at this season of the year, may be kept on blooming freely 
by picking off all decaying flowers, and giving occasional doses of liquid manure. 
Calceolaria-s,QQdi should be sown without delay; the seed germinates surprisingly 
quick when sown in an ordinary seed-pan, and kept cool and moist. 
There is nothing like properly maturing the wood of ordinary greenhouse 
