THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, May 26, 1857. 
119 
Whenever we have time we ought to follow step by step 
the growth of the young shoots, so as to nail them according 
to their strength, the place they occupy, what they are in¬ 
tended for, and with respect to their relation to the other 
young productions; but, as before said, the cultivators are 
too much engaged to take such minute precautions. 
This being the case, the greater number of them allow 
the young shoots to grow promiscuously until it becomes 
necessary to put an end to their disorder. They then pro¬ 
ceed to make a general summer nailing, which is usually 
done between the middle and end of June. As the nailing 
goes on, all the nails used in training the principal branches, 
and in the winter nailing, are pulled out, in order to use them 
afresh. This proceeding gives freedom to the branches, which 
sometimes remain in their places. It also economises nails, 
prevents the tree from being galled, and some of the fruit 
from being injured by nails pressing against them. It often 
happens, especially in young Peach trees, that in training 
them after the winter pruning a sufficient inclination cannot 
be given to the principal branches for fear of breaking their 
bark at the origin of the branch. If that be the case we 
unnail the tree in order to bring these branches down to the 
proper place, which can be done with greater ease when 
they are rendered more flexible by the flow of sap. Under 
these circumstances the main branches are not always strong 
enough to support the secondary branches loaded with leaves 
and fruit; therefore, before completely unnailing the tree, 
they must be tied to each other, at a foot from the stem, 
with strong osiers, to prevent them from splitting. The 
bark of the main branches should be protected from the 
pressure of the osiers by a piece of cork. Even in old 
trees, where all the principal branches after being unnailed 
would remain in their right position, it is still advisable to 
support each of the two main branches by one or two nails 
and shreds. It is of course understood that all the ties of 
a tree on a trellis, which were made at the winter nailing, 
must be cut as the summer fastening proceeds. 
In this operation all the young shoots which are situated 
towards the extremities of the principal branches, and those 
on the fruit-branches, are nailed or tied in the right direction, 
at proper distances, and without confusion. In summer 
nailing we always begin at the upper part of the tree, anc, 
work downwards. 
The summer nailing produces the same effect on the 
young shoots that the winter nailing has on the fruit- 
branches, according as more or less freedom is allowed them. 
Therefore, if it is desirable to increase the growth of a 
young shoot, we give it greater liberty in nailing. 
After having first nailed the upper parts, which are always 
further advanced than the lower, by reason of the natura' 
inclination of the sap to ascend, there are cases where we 
leave all the lower parts at liberty during ten or twelve 
days, thereby increasing the strength of these parts, anc. 
equalising it with that of the upper shoots. 
During the winter pruning it is sometimes necessary to 
remove superfluous eyes; and, during the summer nailing, 
pinching, disbudding, and summer pruning are requisite 
operations.—( Horticultural Society's Journal.) 
EFFECT OF DAHLIAS ON BEES. 
“ A correspondent says he does not know whether those 
who treat on the subject of bees are aware that the cul¬ 
tivation of the Dahlia is incompatible with the success of 
the bee-keeper. For many years he was very successful with 
his bees, having upwards of twenty hives yearly, and, of 
course, abundance of honey; but from the time that he com¬ 
menced growing Dahlias the bees declined, and he has at 
last given up those useful insects altogether. They become 
intoxicated by feeding on that flower; many of them he 
found dead in the blossoms, or lying on the ground under¬ 
neath, and those which got home formed little or no 
honey.” 
I have copied the above paragraph from a recent weekly 
newspaper, and I am so struck with the correctness of it 
from facts observed by myself that I venture to ask you to 
give the apiarian readers of The Cottage Gardener an 
opportunity of reading it in your present impression. I have 
myself had as many as fifteen hives in my garden in a sea¬ 
son, and perhaps half a dozen Dahlias only; but for the 
last two or three years my hives have dwindled to three or 
four in a season, while iny Dahlia roots number something 
like a hundred. It never occurred to me, until I read the 
above, that the increase of the latter caused the decrease of 
the former; but the facts recorded so exactly agree with what 
I noticed last autumn that I am quite convinced of the cor¬ 
rectness of the statement. This discovery rather vexes me, 
being fond of both bees and Dahlias, and feeling loath to 
sacrifice one for the other. I, however, hope that a British 
Apiarian Society will shortly be established, and that the 
subject I now submit will form one of the first for its 
consideration. 
I will this season again plant out my Dahlias, and watch 
carefully the effects of the flower on the bees, and commu¬ 
nicate the result to you if you think the subject worthy of 
being noticed in your paper.— Senoj. 
A NOTE UPON SAXIFRAGA MUTATA. 
By the late Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert, F.H.S. 
At p. 49 in the 1st No. of the Journal of the Horticultural 
Society I have an account of the finding of the Saxifraga 
mutata on a low mountain near Thun, and its subsequent 
treatment. I was obliged to my kind friend, Mons. C. 
Fischer, for pointing out that rare plant to me. The two 
plants of which I had tied up the roots in a ball of moss, 
placed in the mouth of a pot filled with moss, and set in a 
pan of water out of doors, in June, 1845, had remained 
untouched in that situation till both plants began to flower 
at the commencement of this month, July, 1846. The 
strongest is seventeen inches high, having a branching spike 
of flowers with twenty-five branches, each of which has 
from nine to four flowers, or under. It can thus be culti¬ 
vated without any difficulty in moss, placed so that it can 
at all times suck up water. Saxifraga cotyledon, the beautiful 
