March 0. 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 
419 
For rigs, small breed. 
For Iloi’ses ........ 
:189 
For Poultry. 
77 
10 
0 
For Pigeons . 
s 
0 
0 
For Tmplements used in the Preparation 
of Ground . 
28 
0 
0 
,, Cultivation of Crops . 
29 
0 
0 
„ Harvest Crops and preparing 
for Market. 
57 
0 
0 
„ Preparation of Food for Stock 
29 
0 
0 
,, Miscellaneous . 
10 
0 
0 
For Collections of Implements . 
29 
U 
0 
For Plans and Models . 
10 
0 
0 
For New and Improved Implements .. 
10 
0 
0 
190 
TU58 10 0 
WHAT SHALL WE DO TO SECUEE A CEOP 
OF EEUIT? 
What can be done, and what ought not to be done ? 
are important questions to others besides gardeners. 
That we have 2 )assed, or nearly so, an extraordinary 
winter, will he at once admitted; and, as in philosophical 
matters, effect must follow cause, so it will be found that 
such irregularities must produce a corresponding effect 
on our fruits. It may be fairly expected that where 
trees are young, and soils rich and favourable to a late 
root-action, trees will start into growth with a spongy 
kind of robustness, much at variance with the habit 
that produces plenty of good fruit. And why? Simply 
because, under the circumstances, there would be a 
much later and more copious absorption, quite averse 
to that degi'ee of solidity in the wood, which gardeners 
term ripeness, and without which a high amount of 
productiveness cannot be obtained. 
I have little doubt that numberless young trees situ¬ 
ated thus have had root-fibres in activity through much 
of the winter; indeed, in moving a Peach-tree lately, I 
was rather astonished to find evident sigirs of the active 
principle in the finer fibres; and in removing surface- 
soil to top-dress bush-fruit—an annual practice with me— 
I found a regular net-work of “ sponglets” encasing the 
soil at about two inches below the surface; thus evinc¬ 
ing, in a threefold way, their sensibility to the coaxing 
conditions of a soft and mild winter, their partiality to 
atmosperic influences, and their fondness for nestling 
their finer fibres in a generous surface compost. 
If our remarks as to luxuriant trees be right, they 
would seem to urge the imjiortauce of a little extra root- 
pruning, if injudiciously omitted in October. There 
are those who talk about lifting or transplanting in¬ 
stead, as being a much more fashionable procedure, 
and who say that it is a very different thing in principle 
from root-pruning. These are nice distinctions indeed : 
“ tweedledum and tweedledee.” If the fate of our mil¬ 
lions of fruit-trees in Great Britain depended on such 
niceties, involving so much labour and, of course, ex¬ 
pense, it would be time, I think, to leave the culture of 
fruits to our foreign friends, and to roly only on im¬ 
portations. 
When a tree is root-pruned, many roots and fibres 
are ruptured by the spade, the points of which are 
knifed after by good root-pruners; and what but the 
same occurs when a tree is taken up and replanted ? 
excepting, that in this over-officious tampering a consi¬ 
derable amount of galling takes place on the tender 
skin of the roots, the mischief of which it is not easy to 
calculate when the trees are any size or age. This fact 
seems to have been overlooked. To transplant a tree 
through necessity and of choice are two very different 
affairs. If a tree is in a badly-constituted soil, or the 
soil exhausted; if the soil be too wet, or the tree too 
fond of producing suckers, transplanting, or what our 
northern brethren call “ lifting,” may be resorted to 
very fairly. I am as old a root-pruner as any in Eng¬ 
land, the first, I believe, to insist on the propriety of 
the practice, and I have root-pruned in many hundreds 
of cases, but I have never yet seen any evil conse¬ 
quences worth noticing. The chief thing has been a 
liability to fungi, or scale, on the bark for one summer, 
or until the active gi'owth again commences. But this 
is soon got over, and is just what occurs through tem¬ 
porary poverty in some animals; they become infested 
with vermin for awhile, which a generous diet, and a 
good currying or two, will soon disperse. 
This, however, is not the chief matter I wish to press. 
I must now refer to protection and retardation. Some 
will think it strange that two principles, which appear in 
antagonism at first sight, should be brought into action 
by the same medium; but so it is, and no marvel. It 
is an old saying, that “ what will keep out heat will 
keep out cold.” When canvass, or other moveable 
covering, is jdaced before the trees during sunshine, it is 
a retarder; and when placed before them on a very 
severe night, it is a protector. 
I would here wish to observe, that it is worth while 
considering what character a material for protection 
ought to possess, and what is the gravest fault charge¬ 
able on coverings; for, although I am assured it is the 
abuse, and not the in'oper use, which lies at the foot of 
this, yet it will be well to provide for the worst. The 
most serious charge, we believe, is that termed “ drawing," 
a gardening technicality with which most of our readers 
are by this time acquainted. Drawing is a weakening; 
inducing a weakness; or, in other words, a tenderness in 
the unfolding buds. Everybody who has gardened a 
little with a common cucumber frame knows well, that 
any choice pets which have been coddled in such a 
structure during dark weather acquire a lengthened, 
weakened character, and must be removed to the open 
air by degrees, and with much caution. “ Drawing,” 
then, in fruit-buds, is similar in a degree. To obtain a 
material which will bear little neglects occasionally is 
the desideratum, it would appear; for although it is no 
part of the duty of a public adviser to advocate neglects, 
it is one to provide for them when they occur. 
I have observed, in former papers, that I have for 
more than twenty years used canvass, a material much 
like what is called “cheese-cloth,” but manufactured 
specially (I believe) for protecting purposes. This 
article has been patronised by Sir Joseph Paxton, inas¬ 
much as Mr. Hulme, who has furnished us, has told me 
of considerable demands from Chatsworth. Be that as 
it may, it is a good thing until we meet with a cheaper 
article, for I have little fault to find with it on principle. 
Now tins canvass may he had so close in texture that 
the sun’s rays may be entirely subdued, and it may be 
had so open, that distinct gleams in sunshine may pene¬ 
trate at regular intervals; and apertures that will admit 
distinct gleams of the sun, will, of course, permit a very 
free circulation of air. 
I have now (after these preliminaries) to advise the 
use of a well-twisted, open-meshed canvass, or other such 
material in preference to one that is close-meshed. The 
difterence is considerable, as I have proved. It must be 
remembered, that our late spring frosts, as far as the 
matter of frost is concerned, act much more in a per¬ 
pendicular direction than horizontally; and, moreover, 
what comes sideways, although frost and a south-east 
wind combined, may, as far as my experience goes, be 
left out of the question for ^R’actical purposes. 
With good broad copings, and a canvass of the above 
description, properly used, I will engage to secure a | 
crop of fruit six years out of seven. I had almost said j 
