105 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. May 21, 1850. 
bug. The best, cheapest-, aud safest remedy is strong 
glue water, or a strong steam from fresh dung. If lire 
insects have got to the roots, that v ill not destroy them ; 
aud, in fact, the most economical plan, whenever they 
have got such hold, is to destroy the plants, and thon 
wash the whole place with water as near the boiliug point 
as possible, and fresh plaster and paint the whole place, 
and get a fresh clean lot of plants. If a few bugs lodge 
in a cranny of brickwork, or other opening, all the labour 
of cleaning the plants will go for nothing. 
So much for general culture. Now for our correspond¬ 
ent’s tank case. It will be seen that we do not think 
anything will be gained by growing the plants in pots 
exposed to sun and air. The tank is in the middle of the 
house; and we would, therefore, recommend a modifica¬ 
tion of the plan shown in page 22(1 of the last volume, 
No. 537. He may either place a pit or a frame above 
his tank, and either eighteen inches in height, or fifteen 
inches might do. The top of his tank might then be 
covered with four or six inches of clinkers, or brick bats, 
and a plunging medium of tan, or even sawdust above. 
Slides at the sides might let out heat and moisture from 
among the clinkers, or a thin half-inch board might 
separate the outside wall, or frame, from the plunging 
material by one inch and a half or so, which would save 
the outside wall if of wood. In this opening water could 
be poured at pleasure down among the clinkers, which 
would give any amount of vapour at will. A narrow 
board, two inches wide, laid along this opening would 
prevent the vapour and heat rising to any great extent 
when you wished to throw more heat and moist vapour 
into the plunging material. Under some such arrangement, 
we have no doubt he will be able to grow Pines well in 
his span-roofed narrow house, and be moderately suc¬ 
cessful with Vines and stove plants besides. Though he 
might in these circumstances succeed by growing them 
in a bed of soil, yet if he have not had much experience in 
this branch of gardening, we would advise him first to 
master their culture in pots, and at any rate to keep 
them in pots until the plants approach the fruiting state. 
Plants in pots are more easily managed by the inex¬ 
perienced. H. Fish. 
THE CAUSES OF BARRENNESS IN CERTAIN 
FRUIT TREES. 
So many aud singular phenomena concerning the prin¬ 
ciple of fructification in our garden fruits have presented 
themselves during my long acquaintance with gardening 
pursuits, that it is well worth while to examine them, in 
order to ascertain if there arc any facts bearing on future 
progress. 
That the knowledge of a disease is half its cure, is 
an axiom which I think few will feel disposed to deny ; 
certainly not an intelligent and experienced gardener. 
There can be no question but that many au ingenious 
mind delighting in gardening, yet unpractised and inex¬ 
perienced, has sighed in secret for a key to open out 
those anomalous singularities in the vegetable world 
which appear, at first sight, to lie beyond the ken of man. 
But it would seem that when these difficulties are scruti¬ 
nised in earnest by experienced and observant eyes, they 
lose half their importance, and the hitherto-mysterious 
becomes at last “familiar as household words.” 
As fitting subjects to illustrate the matter, I may take 
the Pear, Apricot, Apple, Plum, and Peach, to begin 
with. 
The Peae. —It is a fact with which gardeners are per¬ 
fectly familiar, that old and barren Pear trees may be 
made to bear exceedingly well on the extreme points, if 
such be carried over the wall, and trained reversely on 
the other side ; and the fact, doubtless, first suggested the 
idea of reverse training, saddle trellises, and other arrange¬ 
ments tending to the same end. This naturally raises 
the inquiry—What is the reason that old Pear trees are 
so apt to become gradually barren, and yet continue in 
health? In examining this case, I would have it borne 
in mind that our ordinary modes of training are quite 
artificial: Nature recognises no set mode. We have next 
to inquire what is the character of old Pear trees in a 
state of nature. Here we shall find that although an 
old orchard Pear tree will, in some parts of the kiugdom, 
produce thirty, and more, bushels in one season, yet the 
great body of the fruit is produced mainly oh the ex¬ 
tremities. NowyThc main boughs of such trees will ex* 
tend from thirty to- forty feet; and let any person examine 
the portion between the junction joint and the extremity, 
and either nakedness or a lot of barren spurs will be the 
result. It might here be argued, that had these trees 
received annual pruning such would not have been the 
case: but this is so disputable a position, that I do not 
think it worth while to enlarge upon it. One fact I may 
here point to of importance in this question—grafts of any 
decent bearing kind inserted in those barren portions will 
bear famously for a few years, and afterwards gradually 
merge into that barren condition which so much perplexes 
us. It is, therefore, pretty evident that it is no fault irl 
the circulation or dispersion of the sap in those portions 
of the tree, but from a tendency in the tree by nature 
to push on the fructifying principle towards the light, 
whereby grafts taken from the extremities of bearing 
trees possess a very different property, in this respect, to 
succulent and adventitious shoots taken from the fruit- 
deserted portions of the main branches. Another point 
may be here noticed. The first ilow of spring sap rushes 
to the extremities first; and the side-buds in the barren 
portions complained of are comparatively neglected until 
these monopolising extremities are glutted. The conse¬ 
quence of all this is, that the extreme portions are much 
in advance of the others through the earliest part of the 
season, or, in other words, have a longer period for matu¬ 
ration; for most of the impulse which takes place in the 
lower portions of the branches is weeks later than that 
at the extremities. From all these circumstauces, we 
may rest assured that it is almost impossible to continue 
Pears in a full bearing state to a great age. The pruning 
knife is, in general, an enemy to fruitfulness when there 
is very much demand for its use ; but, of course, there is 
no dispensing with it entirely. We should, however, so 
limit the roots, that the labours of the knife may be 
reduced to a minimum. 
TnE ArKicoT.—This tree may be made to produce 
natural spurs throughout the w hole of the branches by 
good management. It i3 seldom we meet with a case of 
barrenness through lack of spurs, unless the trees are 
gross, and breast-shoots are allowed to prevail. Bad 
crops are chiefly attributable to defective blossoms and to 
spring frosts. Nevertheless, I have seen many cases in 
my time of Apricots growing too exuberantly with the 
watery breast-shoots of summer untrimmed, unstopped 
until nearly autumn. Here is, at once, a cause of barren¬ 
ness. I know of few trees, the would-be blossom-spurs 
of which so ill bear a cold shade, which such shoots 
assuredly produce. 
AVhilst I am writing about Apricots, I may just 
advert to that awkward circumstance, so well known, of 
whole branches of established trees dying with little or 
no notice. This has puzzled alike both theoretic and 
practical men. But I would here ask, How is it that we 
seldom or never find subordinate shoots thus decay ing, 
or, let us say, younger branches ? My opinion is this : 
(and I believe I have expressed it before in The Cottage 
G-aedekee) —the Apricot bole, or main branches, do not 
enlarge or thicken, as most other fruit-bearing trees; 
they look what is practically termed hide-bound, when 
compared with similar parts in Apples, Pears, Plums, 
Cherries, &c. The sap vessels, therefore, become tightened 
by early induration of the woody parts, and constriction 
or contraction of the vessels places certain branches in a 
