192 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
for strong heavy soils. This is quite enough for all practical purposes, because 
moisture may be retained by mulching, and a stimulus, when necessary, given 
by superficial applications of manurial matter, which will have the effect of 
encouraging the roots nearer the surface, and thus bringing them more within 
the influence of the heat of the sun, which is an important consideration, since, 
to maintain a control over the branches, it is necessary to have the roots also 
under control, and this can only be effected by root-pruning and surface cul¬ 
tivation. No tree, which is subjected to an artificial management of the 
branches, is more unmanageable or unproductive than one the roots of which 
are deep down in a cold subsoil, and thus far removed from the sun’s influence. 
This idea is further corroborated by the consideration, that the roots and 
branches act upon each other in both a reciprocal and sympathetic manner, 
and that any injury, or threatened injury, done to the one, has an immediate 
counteracting influence upon the other; and because, by severing a branch from 
a tree, or by cutting off a root, we do inflict an injury, w r e may safely conclude 
that the defoliation and manipulation of the branches consequent on pruning 
operations act upon the roots, and, by a parity of reasoning, root-pruning acts 
upon the branches, and hence it is evident that upon the perfect comprehension 
of this reciprocation, the successful application of the principles by which 
practice should be regulated is influenced. 
Now this comprehension, or knowledge of the principles of this reciprocal 
action, is not intuitive, nor is it to be acquired second-hand from any written 
observations, because it varies so much under different circumstances, that 
nothing but a constant habit of observation on the part of the manipulator 
can enable him to detect that the balance between the two is not equal. It is 
from knowing this to be the case, that I cannot lay claim to be anything more 
than suggestive in my remarks, and I would not, if I could, save young 
gardeners the trouble of proving and thinking for themselves; there is too 
much knowledge of that sort already within their reach, from which too many 
imbibe the false notion that gardening may be learned from books. Not so; 
books are indispensable, but practical experience in the knowledge imparted 
by books is of infinitely greater importance. 
John Cox. 
THE CULTURE OF CUCUMBERS IN WINTER. 
Cucumber-growing during the spring and summer months in structures 
properly adapted to the purpose, such as are to be found in most gardens, is, 
indeed a very simple affair; and during the autumn and winter months it is so 
as compared to what it was in former days on the old dung-bed system. To 
have a supply of fruit throughout the year is now a very easy matter. To have 
plenty of Cucumbers from November to February’, the seeds should be sown 
early in July ; they should not be sown later than the middle of the month. I 
believe when people fail in growing Cucumbers during the winter, it often 
arises from their sowing the seed too late, and having weak delicate plants to 
go through the short dull days. I need hardly remark that Cucumber seeds 
sown at any season should be plunged in heat; when sown in July, and put 
into bottom heat, they will soon be up. The young plants should be potted off 
singly into small pots as soon as they are fit, and they should be plunged in a 
steady bottom heat; they should be shaded in the heat of the day until they 
■will stand exposure to the sun without flagging. In a week or ten days they 
should be shifted into larger pots ; they should then have all the light and air 
possible in fine weather, with a steady 'bottom heat. In about a month from 
