1874. ] 
GARDEN WORK FOR OCTOBER. 
237 
My own views are very strong in favour of close-training. I have generally 
observed fruits ripen earlier and of larger size when touching the walls. But 
the most important feature in recommending close-training is, that of warding off 
late spring frosts. , Walls absorb a considerable amount of heat through the day, 
whenever the sun shines upon them, and are consequently giving it off at night, 
so that the surface of a wall is at a higher temperature than is the atmosphere 
at an inch from it, where we will suppose tlie trained shoots upon wires to be. 
From the rarilied condition of the air, the heat, as it becomes free from the solid 
surface, radiates quickly upwards through the space between the branches and 
the wall, which acts as a channel for the current of air to have free egress. 
As some gardens are much more favourably situated than others, it is no fair 
criterion, when we hear of a crop of fruit being saved in certain places by 
adopting this or that means, while in others within a small radius of the same 
locality the crop has been lost through not adopting the same plan. The one 
place may be under the hoar-frost level, while the other was above it. There¬ 
fore, the only sure and certain way of arriving at clear and decided results, 
would be to test the two systems upon a wall having the same aspect, with 
the soil and everything else corresponding, and on the same sort and variety 
of fruit. 
This is an experiment that the walls of the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
Gardens at Chiswick would be well adapted for, and where, also, an impartial 
record of the result would be given. The spring is the trying season for British 
gardeners, and with such frequent disappointments, it is well to know the paths 
to success.—J. Webster, Gordon Castle. 
GAKDEN WOKK FOR OCTOBER. 
FLOWERS. 
Cj|''^LOWER-GARDENS will now. be past their best, more particularly the 
A , flowering portion of the occupants, and before they suffer from frost, 
all the choice half-hardy plants should be lifted and placed under pro- 
tection. The scarce sorts of Pelargoniums and the variegated-leaved 
varieties, if potted up singly, removing a portion of the foliage, and 
trimming them into form, will be found to establish themselves soonest if plunged 
in bottom-heat for a short time ; and where this convenience will admit of starting 
the plants in heat, it is certainly the best plan. As most amateurs with but little 
convenience are desirous of wintering Pelargoniums., &c., in cold frames, I would 
remark that thorough dryness in the interior, which must be promoted through 
perfect drainage, must be ensured to obtain anything like success, and the plants 
and cuttings must be thoroughly hardened by free exposure as long as it can be 
done with safety. Pelargoniums may be wintered successfully in boxes, maintained 
in a dry and dormant state, in situations from which frost is excluded, removing 
the foliage, and packing the soil firmly about the roots. 
As soon as the flower-beds become unsightly, they should be cleared at once, 
and planted with bulbs and other spring-flowering plants ; and as all bulbs delight 
in a generous treatment, it is important that the manure should be thoroughly 
decomposed and incorporated with the soil, for when the roots are placed in con- 
