December 5. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
181 
contrary, it is relieved and strengthened, and seizes 
upon the new pursuit with vigour and avidity. 
L have now fixed the studies for the third night in 
the week, and the next is Thursday. For this night, I 
would, by way of change, advise the study of Botany 
and Chemistry. The first is indispensable; and the 
latter scarcely less so, or, at all events, it is a very useful 
study. I mentioned that botanical works should bo 
read and studied the first night in the week; but mere 
reading the books is not all; the plants themselves 
must be studied. There are many systems of Botany. 
The one easiest to be understood is that formed and 
published by Linnaeus. It would take up too much 
space to describe fully the principles upon which that 
system is founded, but I may just mention that all the 
plants in existence, Linnaeus has arranged in twenty- 
four classes ; and the parts of fructification, or the parts 
that produce seeds, afford the rules by which each plant 
is placed in its proper class. Thus, if a plant has one 
anther and one pistil, it is placed in the first class and 
order Monandria (711011, one; and andria, a man); and 
Monogynia (man, one; and gynia, a woman); terms taken 
from the Greek language; and all plants that have such 
parts, in such a number, are placed in that class and 
order; and the next class has two of these, and so on to 
the eleventh class ; the remainder having some peculiar 
arrangement of these parts, the rules for which will be 
easily found in the books that treat on the subject. 
The best book in the English language to study this 
system is one published by the late Sir James Smith. 
This book should be had, if possible; and, also, a good 
Dictionary. Tiie Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary is a 
very useful one, and only costs, ready bound, eight 
shillings and sixpence; but, if it can be afforded, the 
student should procure also Loudon s HortusBritannicus ; 
but the cost of that work, with all the supplements, is 
a guiuea-and-a-balf. When this system of Botany is 
thoroughly understood, and the student, by comparing 
every plant, is able to refer it to its place, and give it the 
right name, he may then procure Dr. Lindley’s very 
excellent work, named Introduction to the Natural 
System of Botany. This study is a very delightful one, 
and will be a pleasing recreation from severer studies. 
Chemistry must not be neglected ; but as it is a 
higher study, the youth had better not attempt it till he 
has attained a knowledge of the sciences I have recom- 
meuded already. Indeed, it had better not be entered 
upon before the young man is twenty years of age ; 
although, if he has an opportunity of hearing lectures 
on the science, he should, by all means, embrace it. 
And if he has a chance to read any work on the subject, 
it will be well to take that opportunity also. 
T. Appleby. 
(To hexonlinued.) 
PECULIARITIES IN FRUIT-GROWING. 
Few persons, who have travelled beyond the precincts 
of their own immediate neighbourhood, but must have 
noticed the different modes of performing many of the 
most' common operations of every-day life; and it is not 
unusual to draw some inference, either good or bad, 
regarding the “ new way ” in which the operation is 
done. Unfortunately, it too frequently happens that 
the spirit of condemnation prevails over everything 
else, so that we too often see that all other places or 
methods are decried without the shadow of a trial. 
This is more especially the case with those whose 
education has been humble, and, probably, the dis¬ 
position selfish. With them it is not unusual to 
condemn all other ways of thinking or acting, but 
their own. 
On the other hand, there is sometimes a want of steadi¬ 
ness or stability in the individual who runs away after 
overy novelty that presents itself, and condemns all that 
he had ever attempted before; whereas, he really has not 
had the patience and perseverance to tost the novelty. 
This state of things is not confined to those who follow : 
any particular pursuit, but is seen in all; and it 
would be difficult to say whether the prejudiced party, 
or the volatile one, is most to blame. 
There are, and, we hope, a great many, who avoid both 
extremes, and look on things as they really deserve to 
be looked upon, and have sufficient discernment to see 
the faults or utility of any plan as soon as they become 
acquainted with its details; and have industry and 
enterprize enough to put it in practice, if they approve 
of it. 
Now, we all know that gardening affords as many 
instances as any other calling of certain modes of per¬ 
forming the various operations being only known in 
the locality they take their origin from, and though, in 
some instances, certain peculiarities of the place may give 
rise to these features, the number of such cases are very 
few indeed ; and we may infer, that their more general 
adoption is owing to other causes than their being un¬ 
suitable to the district. Now, amongst the peculiarities 
of treatment which many things in the gardening way 
receive, in different districts, that of pruning the trees of 
smaller fruit stands prominently forward, as being one 
in which practice differs widely; and it is only fair to say, 
that it has undergone some changes the last twenty 
years. Let us take, for instance, Red Currants, and we 
shall see, that some twenty years since the habit of cut¬ 
ting them in to short spurs or boughs was more com¬ 
mon than it is now, since the defects of the plan have 
been so well known, which is this, that the fruit growing 
all together in such dense clusters, the individual berries 
have no chance to get sufficient sun and air to make 
them good, more especially those in the interior of the 
bunch, or tuft of bunches; even if they were as good, 
there is so much difficulty in gathering them without 
bruising, that the system is objectionable on that account 
alone; and for Currants that are expected to keep some 
time, it is obvious the plan is very much in fault. But 
there are many other features in small fruit growing 
and pruning, that have a sort of district notoriety, ex¬ 
cept so far as it may be, now and then, shaken by the 
innovation of some one more curious than his fellows, 
who attempts a different mode or way of acting. One 
of these cases came under my notice lately. It was in a 
district remarkable for producing large crops of small 
fruits; and the soil, I might observe, was dry, though, in 
texture, it could hardly be called “ light,” the subsoil 
being stony; and, in fact, the surface was well mixed 
with stones, both large and small as well. Drainage, 
here, was pei'formed by that best of all agents “ Nature,” 
and grass, and cereals, and all light crops, suffered much 
in a dry, hot summer; however, I may add, that most 
fruits did remarkably well, and orchards of large extent 
abounded. 
There was nothing decidedly striking in the peculiar 
mode in which they treated their trees in the pruning 
way, but they adopted the somewhat singular plan of 
heaping up a mound of earth around each plant; and 
as the ground generally consisted of a mixture of large 
Apple or Pear-trees, with Currants and Gooseberries, the 
whole being planted in rows of five or six feet apart, 
the same in the row; it is needless to say, that the 
respective mounds could not be very large, but they 
were generally cut up as high as the ground would allow 
of, consistent with its beiug' dry all over at the proper 
time. Now, in describing this practice, it must not be 
confounded with that of planting fruit-trees on raised 
mounds, which some do in situations naturally wet or 
heavy; for I beg to observe, that the trees I mention 
were planted on the level ground, and their roots put in 
