64 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ Makch, 
Another slovenly practice I have also many times observed, is that of men 
when thinning, disbudding, stopping, pruning, or nailing fruit-trees, treading-down 
the edgings of the borders, and putting everything out of shape or order, instead 
of making use of two light boards to stand on. These boards should be about 
5 ft. or 6 ft. in length, 1 in. thick, and 10 in. or 12 in. wide, with three little 
ledges nailed across the under-side, one in the middle, and one within 3 in. or 
4 in. of each end, for the convenience of moving them easily with the foot or 
hand as the work proceeds ; and they should always be taken away to the tool- 
house with the ladder, when the work is done, and swept clean, so as to be dry 
and ready for next day’s work. 
How often, too, are we obliged to observe digging and trenching performed 
in the most slovenly, unworkmanlike manner ; two men placed to perform it on 
narrow slips and borders where there is only room for one man’s strength, the 
clods allowed to tumble over on to the walk, and the weeds, leaves, and rubbish 
left in the edgings for another person to clear up!— James Barnes, Exmouth . 
COTONEASTER FRIGIDA. 
« R. SAUL, of Stourton, has recently (Florist 1874, 279) called attention, 
, and very properly so, to the beauty of Cotoneaster Simonsii. I supple- 
efiSl) men ^ inviting attention to the Cotoneaster frigida ,—not indeed 
V§S as being so useful for game coverts as the one Mr. Saul mentions, because 
it grows too high, while its habit is quite different, it being a deciduous shrub, 
while C. Simonsii is an evergreen. Nevertheless, for ornamental groups in parks, 
or in a mixed shrubbery in the pleasure-ground, planted in a conspicuous place, 
I question if C. frigida is equalled by any other berry-bearing shrub, at the time 
when it is at its best, that is, from September till the beginning of December. 
The berries, which are of the deepest and most brilliant red, are produced in 
great profusion, but when they are fully ripe the birds take them, or they would 
remain to be serviceable much longer. At this place there is a very nice natural 
rock-garden, leading down to the water, with a bank on each side of it. A plant 
of this Cotoneaster is growing on each bank, with other ornamental things, and 
when it is in fruit it is so conspicuous at a distance, that those unacquainted with 
its appearance are quite puzzled to imagine what it is. A better knowledge of 
its highly ornamental qualities would, however, convince all such persons that it 
is a shrub not to be lost sight of, and quite worthy of a prominent place in all 
pleasure-ground arrangements.— Thomas Record, Vinters Park, Maidstone. 
PLUMS FOR A NORTH WALL. 
OME readers of the Florist and Pomologist may be interested to know what 
Plums are suitable for a north wall, for it happens in many gardens, large 
and small, that north walls are not made the best of. Five years ago, 
such was the case here, and we planted three trees of Rivers’s Early Pro¬ 
lific and two of Rivers's Early Favourite Plums, Both these have proved, for 
