275 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 2, 1858. 
but, in England, it has baffled all our skill for the last 
five-and-twenty years. About twenty years back, 
every one with a stove had his trial with JBugainvillcea, 
and failed most completely—I among the rest. You 
j may, therefore, suppose that I made use of my in¬ 
formant’s gardening knowledge; and it amounts to 
this—“We have been all wrong with it.” The same 
treatment as with a Fig border ; the same temperature 
as for a Passion-flower; and the same pruning as for 
a Peach, are the three great points, according to this 
lady ; her own scarlet Passion-flower being in a house 
which is never hotter than 50° by fire-heat, and seldom 
more than 40° in winter. All this agrees so closely 
with Mr. McLaren’s account of this plant, that I 
would strongly advise another trial with it. Such an 
old plant cannot cost much. Let a young plant of it 
be liberally treated the first year, in order to get up 
! a framework as soon as possible. A front pillar in 
the warmest end of a warm-kept conservatory is the 
right place for it after that; and the three kinds 
could be inarched on one plant, to save room. 
No one in England could, flower lieaumontia grandi- 
Jlora twenty years back : and it is more difficult to 
manage than Bugainvillsea ; but now it has but to be 
put in the right way, and in three years it will bloom 
most freely. One step too fast, or a false one, will 
keep the Beaumontia back for years ; and it may be 
the same with Bugainvillsea. “ The charming Bugain- 
villaea,with its large crimson, or rose, or violet-coloured 
bracts, gathered into cones like a Hop plant, is worth 
all the care and pains you can give it.” Yes, my lady ; 
and I shall not fail to put it in the right light. 
D. Beaton. 
HARDY FRUIT TREES IN FEBRUARY. 
'Spring approaches with rapid strides, at least, as 
concerns the opening business of the kitchen garden ; 
and, amongst other matters, all pruning and planting 
should be worked up within a week or two. There is 
every reason for carrying out these proceedings im¬ 
mediately : indeed, in most well-regulated gardens 
| they are already performed; and such, if left over 
i until the last, are sure to impede the regular spring 
business of cropping, &c. I have so frequently before, 
in these pages, explained the principles of pruning, 
that there is little occasion to go into a minute detail 
: now; but, at the same time, as a guide to the inex¬ 
perienced, I may just advert to a few of the chief 
, points to be observed. 
Peaches and Nectarines. —The wood of these is 
so well ripened, in consequence of the long and 
genial summer we have had, that in some cases there 
will be little occasion for shortening, on account of 
immaturity. Still, it must be remembered, that 
shortening i3 generally of importance, in order to in¬ 
duce the trees to fill well with succession-wood. Care 
should, however, be taken in shortening, to prune 
back to a proper bud, or, rather, generally a cluster 
of buds. There are three very distinct characters 
of buds to be met with on the Peach. 1st. The single 
wood, eye, or bud. This will generally be found ter¬ 
minating the extremities of healthy shoots ; and a few 
more such generally at the base of the shoot. 2nd. 
The double eye, or bud. These, in pairs, are generally 
a pair of blossom-buds. 3rd. The triple eye, or bud. 
Such are generally composed of one wood-bud in the 
centre, and a blossom-bud on each side. It will not 
do, therefore, to prune to No. 2. Sometimes shoots 
may be found on old and hard-worked trees, full of 
such buds, and they point, in my opinion, to the 
decline of the tree. No. 3 is the favourite character 
of bud with the practical gardener; and, indeed, 
when the shoots are well studded with those, the tree 
is generally in excellent condition. In thinning-out 
Peaches, &c., care must be taken so to shorten what I 
have always termed nursery or succession-wood, that 
such shoots may have no fruit. These must be re¬ 
garded as reserved especially for the production of 
succession shoots, to provide against the possibility of 
blanks. The shoots to which I allude, are those placed 
lowest down, in the angles formed by the side branches, 
from any given bough or principal stem, of which 
there are generally several on every well-grown tree. 
These, being pruned back to three or four eyes or buds, 
produce young succession-spray of good character, 
provided every fruit is stripped from them betimes, 
lor these I never allow to bear out. 
Pears. — I may just observe, that the past summer 
has been so genial, as to Pear wood, that every 
portion of the young wood is as brown as a berry ; 
little or no green or raw-looking points to be seen. 
There will, therefore, need less shortening than usual; 
but, of course, the usual attention as to thinning- 
out, &c. As to what gardeners, in former days, termed 
spurring back, that is to say, leaving about half an 
inch of all the young spray over the trees, under the 
idea of their producing true blossom-buds at their 
base, it is just about as wise a procedure, in my 
opinion, as expecting a stumped-down Willow stool 
to produce catkins or blossoms. It is better when 
trees get somewhat naked, as to their main shoots, to 
tie down some short-jointed, stubby, young twigs on 
their naked portions. 
Plums. —T1 icre is not a very great difference be¬ 
tween the treatment necessary for Plums, and the 
Pear. The Plum should not be suffered to become 
too gross ; root-pruning is, therefore, sometimes very 
beneficial. Gross shoots which have not been pinched 
back in June, may, unless required for filling vacant 
spaces, be pruned clear away. Plums answer ex¬ 
ceedingly well by the tying-in system of young ripe 
spray, as described for the Pears, especially when the 
trees get a little worn. 
Cherries. — These, in general, need little knife 
work. As for the Morello , I have a man at this time 
nailing and training a north aspect of Morellos ; and, 
according to the old practice, he prunes out what he 
finds superfluous, or naked, and hard-worn, as he 
proceeds ; and this is, perhaps, the best mode. The 
larger Cherries need little pruning ; if neglected in 
summer, there is generally some foreright shoots that 
need cutting back to about an inch or more ; for these 
produce spurs for blossom at tho base of the young- 
shoots. 
Bu8ii Fruits. —The pruning of these is so generally 
understood, that I need not go into details concerning 
them. I strongly advise all who wish to have full 
crops of fine Gooseberries, and such bushes as may be 
gathered in half the time of ill-pruned bushes, to re¬ 
move almost every particle of young spray from the 
interior, and thus cause the whole bearing effort of the 
bush to be directed to those portions well and equally 
exposed to the light. It is astonishing how much less 
trouble, and how much finer and larger the fruit on the 
exterior becomes, by this practice well carried out. 1 
may hero point to tho propriety of giving them a slight 
surface dressing: this is very necessary where the 
trees are hard-worked, or not over strong. Any coarse j 
manure, if only three or four spadefuls, will prove of 
much benefit, both at present by imparting its virtues 
to the soil; or, in summer, by averting droughts, and 
screening tho surface roots, and coaxing them up ; and 
is very congenial to tho habits of the Gooseberry. The 
same may be said of the Black Currant: no plant 
answers better to a surface dressing, although only 
rotten weeds and a little manure mixed, than this. But, 
