90 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 
summer slioots obstruct the ripening of the wood ; now 
this is a point of so much importance in all dwarfing 
systems, that it shall be our constant aim to keep it 
continually before the readers of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener. Some persons may think that to hardy fruits 
the question is immaterial; hut we say that it is 
most ‘material to all fruits that are in a course of 
training, and has more to do with economy of space 
ultimately than many persons are aware of; to say 
nothing, for the present, of the fruitfulness of the 
trees. 
Insects. —Such being the case, therefore, it becomes 
all parties at the present crisis to do all they can to 
secure the welfare of the earliest formed leaves, or 
what remains of them. To accomplish this, we re¬ 
commend universal diligence in hand picking, in 
order to rescue such foliage from the depredations of 
caterpillars and various insects, which are sure to 
infest them. It is now time to make diligent search, 
and this must not he done heedlessly. We have 
known apricot trees in which nearly the whole of the 
leaves were infested with caterpillars; and we have 
seen clumsy or heedless pickers tear olf the leaves by 
wholesale, in order to accomplish that great disidera- 
tum with the idler or lounger, “ the saving of trouble.” 
These leaves, then, be it known, need not by any 
means be destroyed during the operation; a little 
ordinary care will uncoil them, and expose the in¬ 
truder to the fate he deserves. Care must he taken 
that all those caterpillars which fall to the ground 
during the operation be destroyed before they crawl 
away, which they will shortly do if left awhile. Our 
remarks here apply to the apricot, a fruit so valuable 
that it is scarcely possible to take too much pains with 
it in this respect; for, as before observed, everything 
depends on the preservation of the foliage as to the 
pro 'uction of blossom for the ensuing season. 
A similar process must be observed with regard to 
pears, and indeed all our line fruits in a trained state; 
apportioning the amount of attention to the degree 
of importance they possess. As to apples, and the 
ordinary fruit trees, they will require some further 
directions, and to such we will shortly attend. 
Breast Wood.— This is a technical term given 
in common to the side sprays, or lateral shoots, 
springing from the principal leaders, whether young 
or old. These are at all times tolerably numerous, 
provided the trees he in a healthy state; but this 
season they will be unusually abundant, in conse 
quence of the small amount of fruit, and the check 
which the earlier formed wood has received. The 
management of this will require special directions 
adapted to each mode of training, and we will make 
a point of saying something every calendar for a few 
weeks on this head, taking hold of the subject ac¬ 
cording to the order in which the operation should 
be performed. For the present we merely otter re¬ 
marks of a generalized character. 
It will be obvious, on the slightest consideration of 
the subject, that it will be absolutely impossible to 
tie down or nail all the shoots which spring in trained 
trees; the whole tree would speedily become con¬ 
fusion, and light would be so much obstructed, that 
general barrenness would be the sure result. Again, 
it is well known that very severe disbudding is preju¬ 
dicial to fruit trees if performed at once, and that all 
operations of this character must be performed by 
instalments. These two points being fixed in the 
mind, it is very easy to systematise the rest of the 
proceedings, for the only two questions that occur will 
be—How many of these shoots do 1 wish retained ul¬ 
timately? and how many will it be expedient to totally 
disbud? This settled in the mind, the sooner a small 
portion is removed the better; and in performing this 
operation, any of a doubtful character may have their 
points pinched off; indeed, it is not amiss to go over 
and pinch the mere point offmost of those shoots which 
have to be cut away finally; however, our remarks 
here are, as we observed before, only general; some 
exceptions will be necesary in the finer fruits, to¬ 
gether with a somewhat more cautious mode of pro¬ 
cedure, of which more shortly. 
Raspberries. —We adverted to the propriety of 
thinning out the suckers, in The Cottage Gardener 
for May 3rd. As the season has been so very back¬ 
ward, the operation will be thrown much later in 
most places. Raspberry suckers have at all times a 
tendency to travel away from the original stool or 
parent plant. This is inconvenient, as tending to 
break up that systematic equality in point of distance, 
(and, by consequence, free admission of light and air,) 
on which the flavour and size of the fruit so much de¬ 
pends. Let, therefore, those suckers be selected for the 
future crop which spring tolerably close to the parent 
stool, choosing those as bearers for the next year 
which are strong, but not gross; all the rest may be 
cut away or pulled up by the root, except where 
young suckers are required for a new plantation in 
the ensuing season, when, of course, an extra portion 
must be left. About four or five are amply sufficient 
for the next year’s crop, independent of new planta¬ 
tions. Those who want large raspberries for exhibi¬ 
tion purposes should at this period disbud a few 
canes of the Fastolf or other approved kinds. On 
looking over the canes, many inferior blooming 
sprouts will be found, which merely serve to obstruct 
light from the superior shoots: such may be at once 
rubbed away. One half of those sprouts which usually 
spring from the old cane will suffice for a nice 
sprinkling for exhibition purposes. When the fruit 
is swelling, some liquid manure should be applied; 
and to grow exhibition fruit, a couple of suckers only 
to each stool should be left. 
Strawberries. —Those who desire clean fruit 
should take care to place some material under the 
blossoms, or swelling fruit, forthwith. We use clean 
and new straw. The plantation should be thoroughly 
cleared of all weeds previously. We have before ad¬ 
verted to watering; we again repeat, that no fruit is 
more benefited by watering during the swelling 
process than the strawberry: of course this has been 
attended to before now. Let us advise our friends to 
persist, when necessary, until the moment that the 
first strawberry in the garden begins to turn colour, 
when the water-pot must at once be laid aside. 
R. Eriungton. 
THE ELOWER-GARDEN. 
Pillar Roses. —Agreeably to the intimation given 
in the last number, we now proceed to give lists of 
the best kinds tor the purpose, naming a sufficient 
number ot each class, so that our readers may have 
plenty to choose from, however large their gardens 
may be. As most nurserymen keep these now in 
pots, they can be had at any time of the year, and 
removed with perfect safety: the only care hi plant¬ 
ing being to break the pots gently, and give a good 
watering at the time, repeating it frequently during 
dry weather. 
Though there are several vigorous growing roses 
amongst the Provence, Damask, and French kinds, 
yet they are scarcely lit for training up pillars ; we 
