May 22.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
111 
ball with your hands, that the roots may the easier find 
passage into the fresh earth. At this time you may trim 
the plants, in order to reduce them to a regular figure. 
Such of them as grow crooked should have slender sticks to 
bring them upright. 
“ Their branches maybe pruned to form balls or pyramids; 
but then such sheered plants will not produce flowers, so it 
will be necessary to suffer a plant or two of each kind to 
grow rude for the use of their branches in nosegays, &c .; 
for it will greatly deface those that are sheered to cut off 
their branches 
“ As these Myrtles advance in stature they should 
annually be removed into larger pots, according to the size 
of their roots. When they are taken out of the former pots, 
the earth about their roots should be pared off, and that 
within side the ball must be gently loosened, then place 
them in the pots, filling up the sides and bottom with fresh, 
rich earth, and give them plenty of water to settle the earth 
to then - roots, which should be frequently repeated ; for they 
require to be often watered both in winter and summer; but 
in hot weather they must have it in plenty. 
“ The best season for shifting Myrtles is either in April 
or August; for if it be done much sooner in the spring the 
plants are then in a slow-growing state, and so not capable 
to strike out fresh roots again very soon ; and if it be done 
later in autumn, the cold weather coming on will prevent 
their taking root. 
“ In October, when the nights begin to be frosty, remove 
the Myrtles into the greenhouse; but if the weather proves 
favourable, they may remain abroad until the beginning of 
November; for if they are put in too soon, and the weather 
proves mild, they will make fresh shoots, which will be weak, 
and often grow mouldy in winter.” 
With the exception of omitting to direct good drain¬ 
age and rough compost, we believe the above digest of 
the culture of the common Myrtle is unobjectionable. 
Twisting the bottom of cuttings seems a novelty, but 
that and the use of a joint or two of the two years’ 
growth, was a common practice in Miller's time. 
Mi/rtus orbiculata, which led to this notice, is an ever¬ 
green stove plant, a native of the Mauritius, whence seeds 
were sent in 1824, and plants raised from them in Kew 
Gardens. “ Its flowering season,” says Sir W. Hooker, “ is 
November, when its Myrtle-like flowers, copiously nestled 
among the dark green foliage, exhale the most delightful 
fragrance.” It is about six feet high, much branched, and 
very smooth. Leaves nearly stalkless, roundish oval, leathery, 
margin slightly curved back. Flowers with four yellowish- 
white, round, petals; stamens very numerous; style awl- 
shaped, longer than the stamens. J. B. 
THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 
Peaks in Training. —Although much has been said 
of late in these pages concerning disbudding, we will 
not offer an apology for still pursuing the subject, 
inasmuch as the pear is a fruit of paramount impor¬ 
tance to thousands, furnishing, as it does, an item of 
the dessert, second only to the pine and grape, during 
the dull winter months, and the early spring. 
It is, doubtless, known to our readers, that it is not 
so well to pursue so severe a system of disbudding with 
j the pear, as with such trees as the peach, the nectarine, 
the apricot, and the plum ; and why ? Simply because 
the pear has in general a much greater tendency to 
burst into lateral, and, of course, immature and unfruit¬ 
ful spray. The sap vessels, it may be fairly presumed, 
are larger, or at least the impetus must be greater, and 
j it therefore evinces, under circumstances of luxuriance 
especially, a somewhat unyielding capacity, having a 
j constant bias towards assuming the character of a tree, 
i with scope to branch in freedom. Such facts must be 
familiar to many of our readers ; but we think it useful 
to point to them in order that those of the rising genera- 
! tion may become familiar with reasons as well as rules. 
What has been observed of the pear, however, only 
goes to show, that more restraint at the root, or a better 
and more perfect system of control, ought to be put in 
force—we mean as to the root action; for if unlucky 
horses break down the bounds of their pasturage, and 
commit trespass, we must put a clog on them, although 
they were not foaled with such an awkward appendage. 
Before detailing the kind of disbudding we consider 
necessary, then, let us advise all those whose pears are 
shooting too luxuriantly to open a trench, if possible, at 
the extremity of the roots, and even to cut a few of the 
extreme points away if the case is very urgent. The 
mere opening of a trench or cutting, as deep as the very 
bottom of the roots, and keeping it open for some weeks, 
is generally enough of itself to accomplish the end in 
view. We are aware that where the trained pears are 
planted in decorative situations, or parts connected with 
the dress grounds, such proceedings are resorted to with 
reluctance, as being unsightly, for so they are, and we 
fear that in such cases the advice here offered must fall 
through. These, however, are the exceptions which 
somehow beset every rule, and which we may, for the 
present, dismiss by observing, that ringing in such cases 
may be resorted to as a temporary expedient—not 
removing the bark, to which barbarous procedure we 
rather object, as being somewhat reckless, but simply 
scoring a ring or two here and there, according to 
the amount of luxuriance of the parts, which simple 
expedient will check the over keen impetus consider¬ 
ably for a few weeks. There are trees here which 
have been thus scored round four or five times in a 
season many years since, and on the stems of which 
may be counted well nigh a hundred such concentric 
scars, each one surmounted with the vegetable callosity 
peculiar to tree wounds, and which points to a descend¬ 
ing current, which in its arrest produces the enlarge¬ 
ment. We have never known any ill effects to arise 
from this practice, but, on the contrary, such trees will 
always become more fruitful. 
There is here a Marie Louise pear, of some fifteen 
years standing, composed of two main branches, each 
starting about equidistant from the bole, and about 
equal in point of calibre and amount of foliage. On 
one of these shoots originally had been fastened a label, 
attached by a piece of strong wire, and the latter, having 
become completely concealed by the spurs and shoots, 
has become imbedded by the increasing bulk of the 
tree. Now, this side has not failed for several years to 
produce blossoms in great abundance, whilst the other 
portion has been comparatively barren ; the ringed 
portion, moreover, always changes the tint of its foliage 
every autumn betimes, the latter becoming almost scar¬ 
let, indeed, the tint is admirable, whilst the other side 
continues green, or, at most, a dingy brown. How 
plainly this seems to point to enriched secretions, we 
need not here urge, and, also, what a bint it would 
seem to furnish to the hybridizer in his efforts to in¬ 
crease the flavour of fruits as w r ell as their fecundity. 
And now to the disbudding of the pear. No sooner have 
the trees ceased blossoming, than in healthy trees on 
free stocks, a lot of watery-looking and fast-growing 
shoots present themselves: such we would at once 
disbud, uuless needed to fill some allotted space. This 
will, of itself, communicate a check to the root, which 
will be of much benefit to the shoots left behind; it 
must, however, be done speedily, for if suffered to remain 
until a strong reciprocity has commenced between root 
and leaf, an amount of vigour will have been acquired 
which will not be easily subdued. It is not during the 
very earliest period of the trees budding that so many 
spurs (which for awhile are convertible into either wood- 
shoots or bloom-shoots) break their buds; it is after a 
lapse of some three or four weeks, and consequent on 
the cause just described. Such strong young spray, 
