103 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
November Jl. 
I 
be searched with this dressing: and it should he repeated 
at an interval of a couple of days or so. In addition to 
; all this, the storing suggested for the vine will so purify 
the walls, shoots, &c., that it is pi-ohable not even the 
eggs of the insects will escape. It was the neglect of 
such extreme precautions in former days which caused 
such a hubhuh about red spider, &c. In tliose times it 
was counted nothing extraordinary to see houses under 
good gardeners of the day overrun with this terrible 
liest; hut now, woe to the credit of a man of any 
! standing in his profession who looks coolly on whilst 
these insect tribes are committing their devastations. 
1 It happens very fortunately that sulphur, which is 
antagonistic to the red spider, is so likewise to that 
terrible scourge of the vine, the Oidium Tuckerii, or 
vine mildew: this is, indeed, a fortunate thing. If the 
' Peaches have not been pruned it must he done instantly 
' if for eai’ly forcing, of course before dressing, and 
I great care must be taken in this operation. We may 
1 hero take occasion to dissipate a serious error, a garden¬ 
ing mesmerism, which is totally unworthy of the day we 
live in; and that is, the impression that every shoot of 
the Peach mmt be shortened back. This is consummate 
nonsense; and the error has arisen 'from the want of a 
due consideration of the different degrees of ripeiiess 
attained by in-doors and out doors Peaches as we com¬ 
monly find them. With regard to the latter, it is very 
generally necessary to shorten them on account of the 
immaturity of their points; hut with the house Peaches 
the same reason is not, or ought not, to be jiresent; and 
the chief reason for shortening in-doors, consists in its 
tendency to keep the lower portions of the tree well 
furnished. 
Peaches and Nectarines, of some age, and which have 
been tolerably hard-worked, are very apt to he minus 
wood buds except at the terminal point. We have 
frequently seen shoots, which were studded with blossom 
buds from the base to the extremity, preserving but one 
wood hud at the very point. Now, it is obvious to any 
one, that to prune this shoot at any point is to destroy 
it; and this is not all. Trees of this character rejoice 
in having their leading buds unmolested: they sustain 
more lively action in the tree than mere secondary 
shoots; trees of this habit being below the medium 
point of luxuriance, and requiring in general some 
stimulus to keep them going. Let, therefore, common 
sense prevail in this matter; do not shorten any shoot 
of a doubtful character; rather leave it to nature. The 
best wood of all is that which is studded with triple 
buds, from the base to within a few inches of the apex. 
These triple buds are almost invariably a wood hud in 
the centre, and a blossom bud on each side; and are 
indicative of that happy medium of strength which at 
once points to well-balanced habit and to a high degree 
of fruitfulness. 
Vines and Peaches, in pots or tubs, must undergo a 
similar ordeal to those planted out, before forcing; and 
greater caution still must be exercised over the pruning 
of pot Peaches. If fermenting materials are at work in 
the houses, we woidd make up one portion milder in 
character, by introducing a good body of tree leaves 
amongst the warm material, and securing a steady 
bottom-heat of about 00° to 65°; in suoh the Vines, 
Peaches, Pigs, &c., in pots or tubs, might be plunged 
for awhile. 
Strawberries. —Although some persons must needs 
introduce these in November, or even earlier, in order 
to have them ripe by the end of February, or beginning 
I of March, yet not one of these ever dreams of success, 
that is to say, of Strawberries not only red, but 
actually fit to eat. However, we will not step out of 
our way to check the progress of science and the refine¬ 
ments of luxury, inasmuch as such recreations have, at 
least, a wholesome tendency. For, although the gar¬ 
dener may be occasionally troubled with the nightmare 
whilst his Strawberry blossoms are setting, or, rather, 
making an etfort to do so, bis conscience may all the 
time have a mere sinecure oifice of it. Nevertheless, it 
is a pretty-well recognized fact, that few gardeners 
attach any mighty importance to Strawberries intro¬ 
duced whilst the days are shortening. To those wlio 
choose to do so, we beg to suggest the use of a frame 
or pit for awhile; not that there is any magic about such 
structures, but that in them the two great desiderata 
as to Strawberry commencement are most generally to 
be met with, viz., ])roximity to the glass, and a little 
warmth without the smell of fire, and, in addition, those 
genial gaseous emanations which mere fire and water 
can never supply equally to sweet fermenting materials. 
In such a structure, plunged in a body of fermenting 
materials, which is merely suspected of containing a 
little warmth—say 60°—the Strawberry plants may take 
first lessons in tbe art of forcing. Here, with an atmo¬ 
spheric temperature of 50° to 55°, they may remain 
three weeks, or, indeed, until the blossom-bud first 
becomes manifest, wlien they will do with more wmrmth, 
always keeping them near the light and ventilating 
points. Like Hutch bulbs, bowever, about which our 
good friend Fish could tell a pretty tale, it is of no use 
talking of schemes and appliances if the bud has not 
been well organized in the preceding summer. As our 
sage ancestors used to say to hot-headed young folks 
who were o’er hasty to get married, “ as you make your 
bed so you must lie,” so may be said of the Straw¬ 
berries; if tbe bed is not well-formed, it matters not 
whether pit or house. 
In putting by our “ Gillott ” for a few days, we may 
just observe, that all forcing stores, such as Vines, 
Peaches, Apricots, Figs, Cherries, Strawberries, &c., 
whether in pots or tubs, must have protection imme¬ 
diately at their roots, if not hitherto afforded them. 
Plunged above tbe ground level, on dry ground, and 
their branches covered in very severe weather with a 
little clean straw, they will be in a position to introduce 
to a forcing process at any time. Trees in pots, thus 
situated, cannot afford to lose what few roots they 
possess; and, it must be remembered, that in pots 
above the ground level they are in a most defenceless 
state: they love not the every-day fluctuations of a 
changeable November and December. 
R. Erringtox. 
SCARLET GERANIUMS. 
Some time since, I made a promise to our correspon¬ 
dent, “Devonian,” that I would find out for him all that 
was necessary to know about the new Scarlet Geranium, 
The Amazon, of which ho himself spoke highly. He 
wanted a good selection of them for planting against a 
high wall, where they live out the winter witli him in 
Devonshire, with a slight protection. When I was at 
Clapton, the other day, about the packing for long 
voyages, the first plant I inquired about was The 
Amazon, and I find it is a horse-shoe variety, and tbe 
very best of all scarlets, for a wall, or for tbe centre of 
a very large bed of them, or for making Sfiecimen 
plants ten or twelve feet high, as Mr. Macintosli has 
them at the Duke of Buccleuch's gardens at Dalkeith, 
near Edinburgh. If “ Devonian’s ” border is good. The 
Amazon will reach the top of his wall in four years, or 
five at the farthest. All this I can vouch for, from my 
own experience, for I have grown The Amazon for 
eight years, and I have described it in The Cottage 
Gardener long since. Mr. Cole, now gardener at 
Oldford, near Birmingham, was the first man in England 
who saw this Geranium. In 18i:!, he pointed it out to 
me among a lot of seedlings, from the Shnibland Scarlet 
alias Smith’s Emperor. I'roni that day to this it has 
