no 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 14. 
circumstances, such kinds as those belonging to the 
Magnum bonum section (by which I mean, such as tbe 
Washington, very many of those bouncing American 
kinds, which possibly owe their origin to the old Egg 
Plum); such, I say, are apt to produce, here and 
there, huge bloated shoots, which, when neglected 
a while, assuming a somewhat perpendicular direction, 
detract much from the proper wood; and hence the im¬ 
portance of early summer dressing; for those shoots 
ought to be all rubbed clear away. Such must be re¬ 
moved totally in trained trees at the winter’s pruning, 
unless required to supply blanks, when they may he 
pruned back to half-a-dozen eyes or buds. Such may 
be the first proceeding with trained Plums, and now a 
regular and judicious thinning of superfluous spray may 
proceed; the extent to which this must be carried, of 
course, being dependent on the general habit and 
character of the tree, together with its previous treatment. 
In some cases, trees may be found so lean in con¬ 
dition, through over-bearing, or otherwise, that little or 
no knife-work has to be performed; in others, tbe trees 
are almost suffocated, as it were, and much resembling a 
Privet bush. The pruner, therefore, must proceed with a 
full consideration of these matters, and if he is at a loss, 
the best thing he can do is to examine closely a well- 
managed tree in some first-rate garden, and by a steady 
examination of such, he will soon acquire an idea of the 
amount and character of wood it is expedient to retain. 
Here I may point to the tying-down system, for which 
I am a strenuous advocate, having proved it to be appli¬ 
cable to most of our fruits, especially Pears, Plums, 
and Apricots. I have before stated in The Cottage 
Gardener, that where this has to be carried out, tbe 
maiu leaders ought to be trained at greater distances. 
If such has not been the original plan, and the party is 
desirous of pursuiug the tying-down principle, some 
re-arrangement of the leading shoots, and even some 
sacrifice, will be necessary. In this case, those leading 
branches which have become more unproductive of 
bearing-wood than others may be rejected, and a few 
thus removed, in order to provide the requisite distance, 
the remainder may be nailed in their positions, and 
then the tying-down proceed. The shortest-jointed wood 
must, of course, be selected, as in all other fruits, and 
in tying-down, let the operator not lay two side by side. 
li' it were possible to lay down a maxim which might, 
under all circumstances, be strictly adhered to, I should 
say, after tying one down at the extremity of the branch, 
select one placed about the middle of that shoot, and so 
on with the next, to the very collar of the tree. None 
of these shoots require shortening if properly selected, 
unless it be for the purpose of producing more shoots in 
naked portions, and this is seldom desirable. 
The Apricot. —The pruning of this so much re¬ 
sembles the Plum, that I need not enlarge on it here, 
and will, therefore, be somewhat brief. Apricots, like 
Plums, sometimes produce coarse breast-shoots; these 
ought to have been pinched in summer, and then 
there would be no occasion to counsel the winter- 
pruner as to their removal. Blanks must, however, be 
thought of, and, at times, it becomes necessary to reserve 
even such rampant subjects, for an improper shoot is to 
be preferred to a blank. Apricots do not require shorten¬ 
ing; indeed, as a maxim, they are better without it; 
still, cases arise in which the pruner should not be over 
fastidious. After removing gross and superfluous breast- 
shoots, observing to leave some short-jointed spray for 
tying-down, the pruner must examine the face of the 
tree all over carefully, and see if any summer shoots of 
a late growth, and, by consequence, of a barren cha¬ 
racter, shade the true blossoming spurs. The Apricot, 
when in a proper condition, produces, perhaps, more of 
what I may be permitted to term natural spurs than 
most of our fruit-trees; and although some kinds will 
blossom and bear on the young wood, yet, on the 
true spurs we must mainly rely; for blossoms from 
the young shoots most generally develop imperfectly. 
The pruner, therefore, must, with some precision, cut 
away cleanly all immature-looking spray which may 
tend to shade the blossom-buds and produce too much 
spray in the succeeding summer: this is important. 
These things done, a parting glance may be cast on tbe 
leaders, in order to see if there be one or two too many' 
(which is seldom the case), or whether, in the event of a 
large portion of wall being still uncovered, occasional 
pruning-back may be of service. 
Before concluding this rather brief and hasty paper, I 1 
may observe that in the pruning of breast-wood, in most j 
fruits under a training system, it is bad practice to 
“ spur back,” as it is termed, with the idea of producing 
abundance of natural blossom-spurs. That such are 
occasionally produced, I do not deny; but the necessity 
of being driven to rely on such argues, at once, errors in 
practice. If trees are properly attended to from their 
early training, it will be found that natural spurs will 
be steadily developed as the growth proceeds; that is 
to say, if the soil has been duly prepared, and the 
growth, consequently, uniform, and not in a fitful way. 
I have linked the Apricot here with the Plum on 
account of some identity in habit of growth, &c.; but 
the pruning of the Apricot is, perhaps, much better 
carried out in the middle or end of February than in 
November or December. 
R. Errtngton. 
MEETING OF THE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY.— Regent Street, Nov. 7th. 
I took a turn or two in the Borough to-day, before 
the meeting opened, and there I saw Dahlias in full 
bloom, in several of tbe gardens of Hospitals and 
Asylums, and far better-flowered Chrysanthemums, in 
open borders, than one sees a hundred miles out of 
London. I never before saw a full bloom of Dahlias 
and Chrysanthemums together, and probably I shall 
never see the like again. Carlton Gardens, at the bottom 
of Regent-street, are the most fashionable “gardens” in 
London, and there the Chrysanthemums were splendid ; 
or, at least, might be so, were they not tied broom- 
fashion by the housemaids; but Stephen Murphy had 
them quite as fine in his crowded back-yard beyond 
Astley’s. No flower stands the smoke of towns better 
than the Chrysanthemum, and the soot never seems to 
fall on them at all; or, perhaps, it may be from the 
universal dirty appearance of London, and from the 
horrid bad smells, that flowers look so gay, by contrast, 
and smell more strikingly than they do in the country. 
The Horticultural Society have changed the usual 
day in November. Instead of being on the first or 
second, as formerly, we had it a week later, and gained 
considerably by the change. I never saw the room so 
full and so gay, and of such thoroughly good things, in 
November; every table was crowded, and lots of plants 
had to be arranged round the room, without tables or 
benches. Her Majesty, and the Duchess of Sutherland, 
entered the lists, as such great ladies know how, and 
the Queen was as “ victorious, happy, and glorious,” as 
you would all wish her to be. Mr. Veitch went full tilt 
against the London trade, and, without breaking a lance, 
cleared the ground, right and left, and straight forward, 
to the post of honour. Mr. Robinson, gardener to 
J. Simpson, Esq., of Thames Bank, Pimlico, and Mr. 
Mocket, gardener to J. Alnutt, Esq., Clapham Common, 
two of the best Chrysanthemum growers in England, con¬ 
tested so closely with Pompones, that this Society actually 
pronounced that the cultivation of these flowers could 
hardly ho carried any farther. The Speaker of the 
