279 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 2, 1858. 
before stated in these pages, the varieties to which 
they belong are eventually worn out. Now, this state 
of things is owing, in a certain degree, to the some¬ 
what altered condition of the tree ; altered by cultiva¬ 
tion and improvement from the original wilding which 
successfully struggled for an existence, with the other 
denizens of the thickets to which it belongs. But fruit- 
bearing trees are also altered by pruning, as well as by 
other means ; and one or two extreme cases are worth 
noticing—they relate to trees grown on an extensive 
scale in this immediate neighbourhood—Filberts, and 
Black Currants. 
Pruning has always been a favourite theme with the 
theorist; and careful and judicious pruning has been 
one of tlio universal maxims which every one thought 
he was in duty bound to advise his neighbour; and 
prune, prune, cut away, has been insisted on by all 
who were entitled to give an opinion in the matter, 
until some ardent admirer of Nature stepped forth 
and energetically opposed the pruning of certain kinds 
of forest trees. Other friends of the fruit trees stepped 
forth, and put in a plea of exemption for certain 
descriptions of certain aged fruit trees ; consequently, 
a cheok was put on indiscriminate cutting and 
wounding. On the other hand, certain cases called 
for more than ordinary mutilation ; and the knife and 
saw were brought to act with great severity: the Grape 
Vine, for instance, being one of the cases in which ex¬ 
tensive amputations take place. But not more so than 
is tho case with Filberts in this neighbourhood; for it 
is not too much to say, that ninety-nine parts out of a 
hundred, of the young wood of each year’s growth, is 
cut out in the autumn, or early winter, during the 
process of pruning. 
I believe the Kentish system of pruning Filberts, 
was given in one of last year's numbers of The Cot¬ 
tage Gardener ; but, to those who may not have 
that number by them, it is right to say, that during 
the pruning process, all coarse strong shoots, from a 
yard to five feet long, are either pulled off by hand; 
or, when they form the end of a shoot, and it becomes 
necessary to leave on a few inches of their base, this is 
done by cutting off the shoot with a saw, and in as 
rough, haggled a manner as possible ; which renders it 
more likely, that the shoots that will proceed from it 
the next year, will be shorter and more fruitful in nut¬ 
bearing buds. A clean cut, however proper it may be 
for a Grape Vine, or almost any other tree, is here 
ignored as injurious ; and it is possible we might carry 
out tho principle in other things with equal advantage. 
I may also add, that Filberts are started at first, and 
afterwards cut so as to present a hollow centre, for the 
sun to shine into ; none of the branches at the extreme 
ends being more than five feet high; and in diameter 
from nine to twelve feet or more. Their appearance 
when pruned is far from being a pleasing object—so 
much being old wood. The only agreeable feature about 
them is, their likeness to each other; and, as there is 
often a large breadth at one place, the effect is a dense 
compact mass, in which old wood, gnarled and crooked, 
greatly predominates ; few of the spurs of young wood 
remaining, exceeding two inches in length. Ordinary 
observers would suppose that such a severe system of 
crippling a tree must, of necessity, shorten its exist¬ 
ence ; and I have no doubt it does ; but it certainly 
makes it more fruitful; and, what is of equal value, the 
fruit is much better than that grown on trees left to a 
state of Nature ; there being fewer of those abortive 
tufts of empty husks when grown in this way, than 
when the trees are allowed to grow large at will. 
Black Currants are such common things, that many 
people seem to regard them as unworthy of anything 
better than an out-of-tlic-way corner ; and any one is 
supposed to be able to cut them. Nevertheless, they, 
like many other things, deserve to be treated in a 
better way ; and, although it is said they thrive best 
in a damp shady place, they are very often found here 
in one of an opposite character, and do very well. They 
are extensively cultivated in the neighbourhood; and, 
a mode of treating them has of late years been much 
acted upon by many large growers, which is not much 1 
known, I believe, to the general mass of readers of this 
periodical. It is to plant the piece or block, at the 
rate of about 3000 plants to the acre; and after the 
second year, to cut down to the ground, or nearly so, 
each alternate plant; which, making a vigorous spring 
the following summer, bears excellent fruit the season 
after that, when its fellow is cut down. But, the bearing 
tree is allowed to stand three years before cutting 
down again ; which is one year to form shoots, and two 
years to bear fruit; consequently the tree cut down 
this winter, will bear in 1859 and 1860; and those cut 
down next year, will bear in 1860 and 1861. Thereby, 
all the trees will be in bearing one year, and only half 
of them the next. The better quality of the fruit is 
one of the reasons for so doing ; and we seldom see 
anything done on an extensive scale, without its having j 
a strong claim to utility : and I feel convinced this 
will be found to be so; otherwise, those now adopting 
it, would have relinquished it ere now, as the plan is 
not a new one. J. Robson. 
HISTORY OF BRUGMANSIA KNIGHTII— 
ORCHIDS FROZEN, YET UNINJURED. 
The poor doctor, my worthy friend, was sorely perplexed 
when he read, at my house, in the last number, “ that with¬ 
out an order from the Vatican he could not see the Experi¬ 
mental.” “If an order from Cardinal Wiseman,” says he, 
“ could do it, I think I could get one. But the Vatican! 
faith, I am nonplussed! Who would have thought Donald 
Beaton was a Roman ? By Dad, I would rather have taken 
him to be a Cameronian. But, nalocklish, Vatican or no 
Vatican, I shall see the Experimental, if I climb the wall, and 
inspect it by moonlight, yar soul!” And, you may depend 
on it, the doctor will be as good as his word; though how 
the poor little man is to get over the wall with his short legs, 
aldermanic protuberance, and short wheezy breath, I know 
not. I shouldn’t be surprised if he were found early some 
morning next summer suspended by the tails of his coat, and 
hanging from the top of the wall, like honest Baillie Jarvie in 
the Highland glen. Your answer about the Experimental 
naturally made him cross; so when he came to the Digitalis 
and Gloxinia dodge, he pished a good deal, and said, “ I 
hold with Oken, that anything that is not as dissimilar as a 
carp and a cat will breed; and if I had a good microscope to 
see the size of the pollen granules of the two plants, I could 
tell pretty surely at once. Hybridisation is in its infancy. 
Wait till I begin working the Orchids.” 
And, as you don’t know anything about the origin of Brug- 
mansici Knightii , I shall give it you ; for if you don’t know it, 
I suspect no one else in England does. This plant was raised 
by my neighbour, John Lyons, Esq., of Loddistown, to ■whom 
we are all much indebted for his valuable labours in horticul¬ 
ture, especially in the management of Orchidaccoo, of which he 
was the earliest and the most successful cultivator in Ireland. 
He told me himself that he raised it from seed; but from 
whence he got it, or came by it, he could not tell. He had 
lost the plant, and was glad to get one from me last summer, 
as it is very scarce. I have two large plants, and have sup¬ 
plied many friends with cuttings from them. But to return 
to its history. Mr. Lyons gave a plant of it, many years 
ago, to a Dublin nurseryman, who sent it to London for 
exhibition; it got there in a dilapidated state, and unfit to 
be shown. It was then bought by some one for a trifle; and, 
two years after, came out as Brugmansia Knightii. Now, I 
stand up for my neighbour; and say, that if all I have been 
told is correct , it should be B. Lyontis , and justice done to the 
distinguished horticulturist who introduced it, even late as it 
is. Late is better than never. 
And now, as we are upon Orchids, let me tell you of a most 
