September 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
and pleasing, but either of the other primary colours 
hy themselves—yellow or light blue—would not he 
endured. 
Nature seems to point out the importance of red 
as an imparter of warmth and cheerfulness—for God 
intends it to he “ a happy world after all ”—hy the 
almost numberless varieties of its tints that are ob¬ 
servable. Of 4200 flowers known to gardeners, it 
will be seen from the following list that they decrease 
in number nearly in proportion as they depart from 
the primitive and most lively colours. 
White 
- 1194 
Green - 
154 
Red 
- 923 
Orange - 
58 
Yellow 
Blue 
- 951 
- 594 
Brown - 
18 
Violet 
- 308 
4200 
It deserves a passing comment that in nature the 
colour and form of the leaves belonging to any plant 
are invariably those which either harmonize or con¬ 
trast with its flowers better than any that human 
taste could suggest. Could any one devise more ap¬ 
propriate foliage for the rose or the camellia ? 
We have been asked to refer to some generally ac¬ 
cessible picture by Yanliuysum, and the only one in 
a public collection which we can remember is, or was, 
for it is long now since we saw it, No. 121 in the 
Dulwich Gallery. Its colours, we think, will be 
found to be particularly harmonious, and where those 
which would otherwise contrast harshly are intro¬ 
duced, yellows and whites are, if we recollect truly, 
judiciously introduced to soften the discord. 
With these few desultory remarks we shall cease 
from further comments upon this subject, doing so 
the more readily because promised some observations 
upon the same topic from the pen of a master. 
THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 
Root Pruning. —In our last we adverted to the 
general policy of root pruning, and promised details 
adapted to the varied circumstances under which the 
fruit cultivator is placed, from the suburban town 
gardener, with his single pole of ground, unto the 
proprietor of the noble demesne, or even the com¬ 
mercial gardener. The latter class, indeed, so con¬ 
trives matters in general that he avoids the necessity 
for much pruning of this kind; his mode of planting 
is not liable to mischances. In the first place, his 
soil is of a character that little preparation is neces¬ 
sary; his subsoil also is of a genial character; or, in¬ 
deed, but for these two points, his profession would not 
prove by any means of a remunerative character. 
It must be understood, therefore, that in writing for 
the amateur and the cottager, we write with the full 
impression that they labour under greater difficulties 
than the before-named parties; neither possessing, in 
the main, so good a situation, nor so much skill. 
Thus persuaded, then, we will proceed. 
Root pruning, as atpresentpractised, may be thrown 
into two divisions, viz., periodical root pruning by 
system, and root pruning through necessity. The 
first has been called into notice by Mr. Rivers, of 
OOl 
ool 
Sawbridgeworth, the eminent nurseryman, who, in' 
deed, as we think, may be considered the originator 
of the system, or, at least, its greatest advocate. Of 
the other, root pruning through necessity, we must at 
once be egotistic enough to claim the merit—if merit 
it be—of keeping the subject warm, and of continually 
bringing it before the public for the last twenty 
years. The first kind we have never practised, and 
can say little about; we, however, apprehend it is not 
generally needed by, or adapted to, the majority of our 
readers, who rather, it may be presumed, aim at off¬ 
hand plans less tedious in character. 
By root pruning through necessity, then, we merely 
mean the inducing a fruitful habit in fruit-trees which 
are of too gross a character; such may arise from 
other causes than mere richness of soil. An apple, 
naturally of rampant growth, may, by being grafted 
on a stock of great powers (or, rather, of strong vital 
action and capacious sap vessels), prove too gross 
even on soils of moderate fertility; whilst one of 
delicate habit, grafted on a weak or imperfect stock, 
may prove too weak even to make sufficient young 
shoots on the most powerful soils. The question of 
stocks for grafting is a very broad one, and too broad 
and too digressive in character to discuss now: it will 
receive attention in due time. To proceed: the same 
remarks apply to all other fruits, and, after all that 
has been said, written, or practised, we are persuaded 
that these things are as yet in their infancy. There 
is, perhaps, more room for real progress in fruit cul¬ 
ture than in any other branch of gardening; and it 
is to be anticipated (according to the common order 
of things) that the writer of the fruit article in The 
Cottage Gardener of half a century hence will smile 
heartily at our present lucubrations. So be it; we are 
but links in a chain of which that very learned per¬ 
sonage above alluded to will, no doubt, consider him¬ 
self as the terminating one. 
As preliminary remarks, it may be observed that it 
is not very convenient to the classes to whom we 
offer advice to take up and replant a select lot of 
fruit-trees which have been planted some four or five 
years, and which, instead of producing the owner 
abundance of fruit, have produced nothing but twigs. 
Cases like this, therefore, call for a plan which will 
cause but a small amount of labour, and, at the same 
time, assuredly give confidence that immediate bear¬ 
ing shall be the result: such, then, is root pruning. 
We must now take into consideration the different 
circumstances under which we find fruit-trees ; for it 
is not expedient to apply the same mode to all. The 
modification of the system is not so much dependent 
on kind as on circumstance. Those trees which are 
growing on marginal borders, and which frequently 
are connected with flower culture, cannot be reached 
in the excavating process with equal ease on every 
side. Supposing, however, the flowers, or it may be 
vegetables, to stand in a line parallel with the walk 
or line of trees, the roots may be at least reached on 
two sides—those, we mean, at right angles with the 
walk, or general line of fruit-trees. Here, then, they 
may be attacked, and our practice has always been to 
excavate a trench as deep as we can discover the 
least trace of a fibre : indeed, we generally go deeper 
(more especially if we think the tree possesses tap 
roots), for whilst the trench is open it is comparatively 
easy to search by degrees beneath the very bole of the 
tree, and to cut away all those which have penetrated 
into ungenial soil. We do not lay so much stress on 
a jirecise depth for the roots to ramble, as on the cha¬ 
racter of the subsoil; although we do think that wher¬ 
ever ripening of the wood becomes a matter of import- 
