April 17.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
33 
shelter of a cool greenhouse, or a frame, from which the 
| frost can be excluded. 
The genus was founded on Gaultheria procumbens , a little 
; trailing evergreen under shrub, a native of North America, 
j where the leaves are substituted for those of the tea plant; 
i and the berries, which are succulent, are eaten, or steeped 
1 in brandy, and used as aromatic bitters. The berries of , 
Gaultheria shallon, another North American species, are also , 
eaten, and are said to be pleasant to some palates. The 
plant called Wax-cluster by the settlers in Van Diemen’s 
Land, is Gaultheria hispida, but as far as we are aware of, is 
not yet introduced to England. The berries of the Wax- 
cluster are snow white, having a grateful flavour, not unlike 
that of the best kinds of gooseberry. And the berries of i 
another kind of Gaultheria, called antipoda, a native of New 
Zealand, are said to be still more grateful. The subject of 
our present biography is from the Andes of Colombia, and 
we have one called fragrans, from Nepaul; so that Gaul- , 
theiia has a wide geographical range.—B. J. 
THE ERUIT-GAKDEN. 
Disbudding. — Once more we must return to this 
necessary procedure. If any especial memento were 
necessary to remind us of the rapid onflow of the stream 
of time, the recurrence of the disbudding season would 
suffice; for it really seems but a few hours since we last 
adverted, in a pointed way, to this subject, about a 
twelvemonth since. We must again crave the patience 
of our more knowing readers, whilst we enter into the 
details of this practice for the sake of beginners in gar¬ 
dening. 
Disbudding, then, signifies the removal of a portion 
of the young shoots from trees in a course of training, 
the retention of which would lead to confusion in the 
tree, and so obstruct the light, as to induce barrenness 
or disease. Now, a young beginner should learn betimes 
to distinguish between hearing wood and that which has 
a tendency to become barren, for on such a knowledge 
alone can this practice be safely hinged. 
There is a vast amount of difference in shoots from 
the moment they “ break,” as the bursting of tbe buds 
is technically termed. The wood of all fruit-trees, 
whether in leaf or out, may, for all practical purposes, 
be classified under three heads, viz. :—the luxuriant, the 
fruitful or moderate, and the weak. It is manifest that 
many connecting links must exist, for the strongest of 
what may be termed weak shoots, will, of course, trench 
on the moderate; and the strongest of the latter, in like 
manner, on the luxuriant; so that it is not possible to 
give a decisive and clear definition of either. The 
luxuriant, or gross, are, however, the most marked; for 
such, in most fruit-trees, evince a disposition betimes to 
produce side-shoots long before the young growth is 
completed. 
Such wood, points to a strongly impulsive root-action, 
and to great activity in the vital fluids, which, under 
such circumstances, are but too apt to produce greedy 
monopolists, which fatten at the expence of the bearing 
wood; and is neither less nor more than an effort of 
nature to enlarge the system of the tree; and, in gar¬ 
dening words, to throw the tree into a wild state, inimical 
to the production of the greatest amount of fine fruit 
in a given space. Such shoots, however, in practised 
hands, are capable of being made subservient to the 
purposes of high culture;—by keeping a check on their 
absorbing powers, they may be made to cater for the 
inferior branches; for they, doubtless, encourage the 
formation and extension of roots; and by their exten¬ 
sive elaborations produce accretive matter for the in¬ 
ferior portions of tbe tree. 
The beginner, therefore, should commence operations 
by making himself acquainted with this character of 
wood ; he may then study the weak class, which a gen¬ 
tleman accustomed to “ Change ” would perhaps term 
“ below par.” The latter class may be readily under¬ 
stood, for it possesses the very opposite characteristics 
of the former; so far from producing side shoots, it has 
scarcely energies enough to elongate with any sort of 
freedom ; the foliage also is diminutive and poor-looking. 
Now, betwixt these, the very antipodes of growth, 
must be sought out, what is generally termed by prac- 
ticals, the true or fruitful wood: that is to say, wood 
which has an immediate tendency to form blossom- 
buds. Such wood, although by no means so thick as the 
luxuriant shoots, is yet generally what may be termed 
stout: that is to say, compact in character, possessing 
liberal foliage, and, above all, being short-jointed. The 
latter circumstance, indeed, will almost of itself point 
out wood of fruitful tendencies in most trees ; for both 
the luxuriant and the weak are for the most part charac- 
racterized by a long internode, as botanists term the 
portion of wood between each two buds. Let it be 
understood, however, that there are here, as in most 
other cases, exceptions ; and we may point, perhaps, to 
the peach and nectarine first, as the best study for a 
beginner, and most illustrative of the points here 
explained. Next in order w.e may place the pear, 
then the plum, and next the apple, amongst our ordinary 
fruits; whilst occasional exceptions may be taken for 
such as the fig, vine, &c.; bearing in mind, as before 
observed, that short-jointedness is an almost universal 
criterion of fructification. 
The Peach and Nectarine will first claim the atten¬ 
tion of the disbudder; these come to hand about the 
middle of April in most parts of Britain, and require 
some nice handling. Where they bud freely, the first 
instalment of disbudding may consist in merely removing 
obvious superfluities. For instance, where several young 
shoots are crowded together in a space evidently too 
small for their full development, there can be no harm 
if the tyro removes some two or three, which, possessing 
inapt characteristics, as heretofore explained, and press¬ 
ing keenly on each other, bid fan to create contusion in 
that portion of the tree. We advise this as a matter of 
caution to the uninformed in such matters, being quite 
aware that our regular practitioners would not hesitate 
to proceed a step further. And here a digression must 
be pardoned, as to the general principles on which dis¬ 
budding ought to be founded ; and which, although 
taking the character of an afterthought, is at any rate 
part and parcel of tbe business—as a matter of time we 
mean. It is a long and well-attested fact, that no tree 
or plant, not even an apple or a pear, will bear to be 
divested of a considerable amount of leaves at any 
period, without giving the most convincing symptoms 
of tbe effects of injudicious meddling. The evil effects 
of a heavy and sudden disbudding, irrespective of the 
functions which nature lias assigned to the leaves of 
plants or trees, has been frequently pointed to in 
previous papers, and involves a doctrine ot indisputable 
character. We will, therefore, not at this time travel 
that ground over again, but merely repeat tbe warning; 
and again repeat, that it is quite correct; that it is 
important, and that it has a bearing on most of the 
subjects of the vegetable kingdom. 
In the Peach and Nectarine, when growing freely, 
there is always a host of jolly-looking sprouts to be 
found, starting almost at right angles from the wall. 
Now, your fructiferous shoots are by no means so 
assuming; such are for the most part content to follow 
then - ancestral guides, and to bend willingly to the 
wall, with the freedom with which we have been told 
our poor cavalry horses have done to the bayonet on 
the battle-field. These would-be-branches, if permitted 
to reign unmolested, would speedily render the surface 
of the wall, in profile, a mere coppice; need we add, 
that such would be incompatible with tbe permanent 
