THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 29. 
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I 
practice, of Platform Planting, we used to shorten 
j every shoot annually of all those intended to make neat 
! hushes. Now, however, we do little that way; the trees 
i make such compact and short-jointed wood, and grow 
with such steadiness, that little pruning is necessary. 
; Still, those who have rambling trees, producing twigs 
; lit for flower - stakes, must do something, they must 
shorten them ; a work, however, better done by pinching 
: in growth-pruning time. Root-pruning should, by all 
I means, be resorted to at the same time, but as we shall, 
; in a week or so, give a chapter on Root-culture, we 
pass it by for the present. Dwarf-standards will require 
regular thinning-out of the young spray annually in 
those parts where it appears crowded and confused; 
especially removing cross shoots, and so managing the 
pruning-knife, as to throw the whole tree into a sort 
of punch-bowl character during its earlier stages. With 
regard to shortening-back, that must depend on the 
character and strength of the shoots. It may be as¬ 
sumed, that nine to twolvo inches is ample length of 
young shoot, in fact, as much as under ordinary circum¬ 
stances can form spurs or the rudiments of spurs ; and 
to leave a greater length, would be to ensure naked 
portions in the trees, which, under a dwariing-system, 
ought not to be. Shortening, therefore, may be carried 
thus far; but, independent of this view of the question, 
another arises; — shortening must occasionally be re¬ 
sorted to in order to furnish blanks. 
Whenever the tree is incomplete in outline or sym¬ 
metry, a strong shoot should he drawn near that portion 
whilst young, and being pruned back to half-a-dozen 
buds, will speedily furnish the necessary shoots, more 
especially if all the superior spray be pinched in the 
early part of July, or when about eight inches in length. 
The pruning of fancy-trained espaliers should be all 
conducted during the growing season; indeed, the same 
ought to be the caso with all fruit-trees, if possible; but, 
we fear, somebody will cry, “ too busty.” This is a 
strange affair, to think that both principle and a sound 
economy join to recommend this practice, and yet how 
Jew can be persuaded to fall in with it. As to gentle¬ 
men’s gardeners, we heartily absolve the majority of 
them; in old places in the country they are confined to 
a set number of hands all the year alike, and frequently 
half of them worn-out on the estate. They can neither 
change them as to number or quality, and the amount 
of such material being pared down to a minimum point, 
the gardener not unfrequently goes about with “ one 
hand tied.” So that when amateurs talk of the vast 
advantages of the regular gardener, they are very fre¬ 
quently grossly mistaken. Now, a wise economist 
| should know, that one day’s labour in July, is fairly 
j worth three in January, and as to winter or “ rest- 
pruning ,” when it is considered that it is but a repairing 
of former errors or omissions, what nonsense appears 
on the face of this policy. However, we must offer 
advice about trained espaliers, to those who cannot j 
agree with us, or follow out these suggestions. 
Whatever prescribed lines it is intended the shoots ' 
should proceed in, a shoot should be laid on as soon 
as possible, if only a temporary one. It sometimes hap¬ 
pens that such shoot must be strained in an indirect 
or oblique direction, at variance with that harmony of 
form sought. So let it be, but watch the summer 
developments, and seek one more eligible; which, 
secure from the finger-and-thumb operator, is to succeed 
llie crooked one a-head, if needs be. This, of course, 
must take place during the earlier stages of the trees. 
11 is seldom that trained espaliers require much short¬ 
ening; we would in general avoid it. If, however, the 
shoot is more than a foot in length, we would reduce it 
to that as a maximum; but, as before observed, trees 
on our platform plan will need little knife-work. All 
breast spurs must be looked over, and succulent shoots 
removed, clear to their base; it is nonsense reserving 
the base of such shoots in the vain hi pe of producing 
natural spurs. Shoots of moderate growth, proceeding 
from a portion of the spurs, and not direct from the 
stem, may have an inch of their lower portion reserved 
to draw strength to the spurs: the produce of this, 
however, must be pinched when three inches long. All 
strong succulent wood, springing from the chief stems 
low down, should be pruned close away. 
R. Errington. 
BEDDING GERANIUMS. 
The improvement of our present race of Bedding 
Geraniums may well be said to be one of “the most dif¬ 
ficult problems of the day,” and to make good the asser¬ 
tion, I go on to describe more of them which are | 
perfectly barren on the pistil or female side, although j 
most of them yield pollen, which, to all appearance, i 
seems good enough. Rouge et Noir is the last one I 
mentioned, and one called Touchstone is the only other 
variety, in the same section, with which 1 am acquainted. 
That variety also is barren, though with apparently 
good pollen. Oliver Twist was driven out of the garden 
by Touchstone, and the latter, in its turn, had to give 
way to Rouge et Noir. 1 never tried the capacity of 
Oliver Twist for seed, and I forget if it yields pollen. If 
it will seed, 1 am almost certain it will cross by the pol¬ 
len of Lady Mary Fox, although not exactly of the 
same breed. Oliver is the nearest in affinity to it of 
all the sorts now under cultivation. Here, then, we 
have one chance, though a slender one, of breeding in 
the section of Lady Mary Fox, but I see no hope for us 
in the case of Rouge et Koir, except by returning to 
some of the wild species. 
Sidonia is a very fine bedding variety, with large 
striped flowers, shading from pink and lilac to a lighter 
ground. It strikes freely from cuttings all the season. 
The stems are so fleshy that the plant may be kept dry, 
like a scarlet geranium, from October to March. I have 
known it kept that way tied in a ball of dry moss, with 
a plant of Fulghlum, the finest of all the wild species, 
and the brightest scarlet of the whole tribe, therefore 1 
would have no hesitation in recommending these two to 
intending emigrants to Australia or New Zealand, or to 
those who send plants to their friends in those parts, 
provided they are packed close in dry sawdust or moss, 
and sent off not later than the end of November. The 
only fault I have to find with Sidonia, is that it is of a 
delicate constitution, and will not answer but in very 
sheltered situations. As cut flowers, ladies are more 
fond of Sidonia than any other sort, and gardeners often 
have to keep a large stock of it, merely for cut flowers. 
It does not stand much heat or confined forcing, but it 
comes in very early in the season, under the same treat¬ 
ment as the tea-scented roses. I forgot to say of Unique 
and Rouge et Noir that, with a little management, they 
might be had for ten months out of the twelve for cut 
flowers. T’rom 55° to (10° of heat will not distress them 
much in forcing. Sidonia yields abundance of pollen, 
and yet is absolutely barren. I tried moro varied 
experiments with it than with any other plant, and 1 do 
not think it is possible for any one to seed it, and, what 
is almost as bad, I can hardly guess what its parents 
were. It is, probably, one of those extreme crosses which 
some people call nudes, but in such families as sport 
freely, like the geranium, I have no more faith in mules 
than I have in asses, yet I would exchange a good 
donkey, if I had one, with any one, for the secret of 
seeding my favourite Sidonia. 
Moores Victory, though not a bedder, belongs to the 
bedding class, and to the section of the Oak Leaves, or 
Quercifoliums. It is an extremely pretty one for cut 
flowers and in small nosegays, but for large ones the 
