THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 29. 
106 
established in their second pots, inure them by de¬ 
grees to the cool atmosphere of a cold pit or green¬ 
house, and in May, when the dahlias are planted out, 
choose a rich south border, and plant out your Leo- 
notises, sheltering each with a few boughs for 
awhile. As soon as they begin to grow freely, stop 
their points, and afterwards supply them liberally 
with liquid manure. Any time in August, during 
dull or showery weather, take them up and pot them, 
using a rich compost, and, as soon as they are estab¬ 
lished in these pots, place them in a sheltered place 
facing the sun, or in a cold pit, giving abundance of 
air, and they will soon flower profusely. 
THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 
Pruning. —In our last paper we spoke of the order 
of business through the winter, and adverted in those 
remarks to pruning; we now turn to its principles. 
In doing this, it will be well to take an analytical 
survey of the subject, which embraces a variety ol 
objects, under various circumstances. In the first 
place, we may consider pruning with reference to 
situation, and object, or character of the tree; and, 
secondly, with regard to kind. The first will com¬ 
prise the following:— 
1st. Orchard trees. 
2nd. Rough espaliers, or dwarfed standards. 
3rd. Trained espaliers. 
4th. Wall or fence trees. 
5th. Fruit-trees in houses. 
6th. Rush fruits. 
It will be tire better course to remark on these 
successively, and what we cannot finish in this 
]taper must stand over. Before entering upon the 
subject in detail, it may be well to request our more 
inexperienced readers to bear in mind that, whatever 
other reasons may influence the pruner’s art, the free 
and equal admission of light to all parts of a fruit- 
tree must be considered at all times as powerfully 
influencing the mode of pruning pursued. 
Pruning Orchard-trees, —These, in general, con¬ 
sist of the apple, the pear, the plum, and the cherry. 
Orchard Apple-trees .—The form of these being 
of only second-rate importance, the thinning out of 
the branches must have reference, as before observed, 
to the promotion of a free circulation of air, as well 
as of light. Most of our readers have, no doubt, 
observed how superior the apples are on the ex¬ 
tremities of the boughs, as compared with those in 
the interior, or crowded parts, of the tree. This is 
owing, principally, to the influence of light; it must, 
however, be admitted, that a greater amount of 
elaborated sap always seems to be concentrated in 
those parts in most trees, that is to say, in the two 
and three years’ old wood. Another and powerful 
reason exists for thinning out even limbs of some 
size in apple-trees. Every tree has an uphill life 
and a downhill one, if we may be allowed to bor¬ 
row a phrase. When those trees pass the meridian 
of their strength, the sap flows more sluggishly 
through the branches and back to the roots ; the 
active reciprocity between root and branch pro¬ 
gressively declines, and hence the total decay of 
some shoots, and the partial decay of others. 
Now, the decaying shoots will, as long as sap re¬ 
mains in them, produce fruit of an inferior kind— 
fruit which is generally the first in the fruit-store 
to engender the destructive fungus we have before 
alluded to. This fruit, then, is generally worthless, 
and is not only of no use, but a positive damage 
to the trees; inasmuch as its maintenance draws on 
the hard-taxed resources of the parent tree, already 
overworked. From the moment, then, that decay 
of this kind is perceived, a gradual reduction of the 
expenditure—as our political friends sometimes say— 
must take place: whole shoots, nay, whole limbs, 
will at times have to undergo amputation. As it is 
not necessary to dwell as much over the common 
orchard tree as the trained one, about once in two 
years may suffice. After the reduction of whole 
limbs (when really necessary) is accomplished, some 
knife-pruning should succeed; and here the knife 
must follow, in a small way, the same premonitory 
symptoms which guided the movements of the bill¬ 
hook on the same. Where a pressure of business 
exists, this kind of work may be reserved for hard 
frosts ; or even whilst snow is on the ground the 
thinning may be carried out. It may, indeed, be 
considered as ordinary woodman’s work. 
Orchard Pear-trees. — The habit of the orchard 
pear is very different from that of the apple. The 
pear will become stunted by age, but seldom cankers 
after the manner of apples. There is a kind of 
“wearing out” in pears which corresponds to the 
“ wearing out,” as it is termed, in the apple. It is, 
however, much more limited in character, and occurs 
in the main with trees which have been under a 
course of artificial treatment for a long period; such 
are the old Brown beurre, the St. Germaine, &c. 
Our old orchard pears, therefore, require, and receive, 
but little pruning; although we have no doubt that 
a judicious thinning out, in order to throw sun¬ 
light through the tree, would be found of consider¬ 
able benefit. 
Orchard Plums are somewhat limited in kind. In 
some of our northern counties we find abundance of 
damsons; some in the ordinary orchard, and many 
in the hedge-rows sorrounding the garden of the 
cottager. The common Muscle plum—the kind so 
much used for stocks by the nurserymen—is grown 
in some parts; and the Orleans may be met with in 
some quarters. Plums are, however, by no means 
prevalent in orchards; and we must, therefore, dis¬ 
miss them for the present with a brief remark. The 
only one which carries a real importance is the old 
damson, and little pruning is necessary for these. 
The amount of light in our climate is quite sufficient 
for ordinary plum culture, it would appear; this is 
manifest, as to the damson, by the evenness of the 
sample, whether on the north or south side of a 
damson-tree; and the more tender plums being so 
rarely handled as ordinary orchard fruit, we need 
scarcely advert to them. The damson, then, which 
we for the present take for our type, will require 
a little thinning out when passing the meridian 
of its strength — and but little. It must be re¬ 
membered that these fruits are very liable to 
suffer from our spring frosts, for the plum family 
being rather excitable are somewhat early bloom¬ 
ers ; and it is not very unusual to see a damson 
tree in full bloom and covered with snow—by no 
means a desirable condition. Under such circum¬ 
stances, then, it happens most frequently, as it does 
with the gooseberry in our northern districts, the 
blossoms in the interior of the tree will set fruit 
when those on the principal blanches fail. A self- 
protecting power, then, of this kind, although it may 
cause the tree to look somewhat confused amongst its 
