1875. ] 
SCHIZOSTYLIS OOCCINEA. 
27 
to carry out one of the purposes for which it was designed, namely, to bear an 
abundance of fruit for the use of man. In doing this, it only obeys the univer¬ 
sal law, in seeking to reproduce its kind. This will not, however, take place so 
long as there is plenty of vigour in the tree, and plenty of food within its reach. 
Eventually, however, a period of stagnation must arrive, and the tree will at once 
set about performing its proper functions, and will bear fruit—sparsely, at first, but 
fine in quality, always year by year increasing the quantity, until at length comes 
one of those favourable seasons when the tree becomes overloaded with far more 
than it can bring to perfection, and as a natural consequence is considerably 
weakened, so that it is often three, four, or five years before it recovers strength 
sufficient to carry another large crop. Thus the seeds of decay are sown ; and 
those alternate fluctuations from fruitfulness to comparative sterility result in the 
consummation of another universal law, in consequence of which it becomes 
necessary to root it out, and plant afresh. 
Now it is by studying these natural tendencies of the tress, when in an un¬ 
restricted state, that we are enabled to take such advantage of them as to found 
thereon a system of artificial treatment which, without interfering very materially 
with them, shall yet bind them as it were to our will, and place such restrictions 
upon them as to enable us so to direct their mode of growth as to oblige them 
the sooner to yield up that produce for which alone they are subjected to the 
hand of the pruner and dresser; and by following up that practice judiciously, to 
maintain not only the power of producing, but also the continued health and 
vigour of the tree. This preservation of the balance between the two is indeed 
the great art of Wall-fruit culture. It is easy to throw a vigorous-growing tree 
into a fruit-bearing state, long before it would become so by nature’s exhaustive 
processes ; but in order to maintain it in health and vigour, we must go back to 
those first principles, as evidenced by trees in a natural state, and by checking 
the forward and giving encouragement to the backward tendencies, maintain 
that balance which results in a fruitful tree, having likewise a healthy and vigour- 
ous constitution, so that the fruitful condition may co-exist with the necessary 
strength to maintain it continuously.— John Cox, Redlecif. 
SCHIZOSTYLIS COCCINEA. 
’HINKING the above fine Caffrarian plant is not nearly so well known as it 
deserves to be, I ask to be allowed, through the medium of your pages, 
to say a few words in its favour, and if possible draw to it the attention of 
all those whose necessities oblige them to supply a large and continuous 
quantity of flowers, either in a cut or a growing state, from November until the 
end of January. As its name implies, the plant in question bears scarlet flowers, 
which appear on a spike after the manner of Gladioli, to which, indeed, the whole 
plant above ground bears a striking resemblance. The Schizostylis , however, has 
no tubers, but propagates itself by means of underground runners or stolons, 
which form themselves so rapidly that in a very short time an immense stock 
can be acquired. d 
