386 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Mabgh 22, 1859. 
thing else most suitable. Where is your feeding cistern ? Is it 
above the level of the pipes ? In your ease, if you have no feeding 
cistern near the boiler, and the pipes rise to the highest point 
where they enter from the boiler, and decline to the extremity, 
you might have an open cistern at that extremity, and an air 
pipe likewise at the highest point. The air pipe should always 
be at the highest point. But, supposing you feed your boiler 
independently of the pipes in the house, and from a higher level 
than these pipes, and the pipes are all close throughout; then, in 
your case, it wovdd be advisable to have two air pipes, one at the 
highest and one at the lowest point. If your pipes rose gradually 
from the entrance into the room to (he farther extremity, one air 
pipe there would be sufficient, and the circulation would be more 
rapid than when it declines. When they thus decline, there 
should be an opening at the highest and lowest points. A small 
hole drilled, and a stout gas-pipe soldered on, and standing several 
feet above the pipe, close to the wall, out of the way, are all that 
is necessary.] 
RECORDS OF THE BUDDING AND LEAFING OF TREES. 
Forest Trees. 
Name. 
Field Elm 
Wych Elm 
Oak 
Lime 
Sycamore 
Horse Chestnut 
Common Poplar 
Occidental Plane 
Oriental Plane 
Hawthorn 
Hazel 
Walnut 
First ap 
pearanceof 
leaf-buds. 
In 
leaf. 
Fruit Trees. 
Hardy Shrubs. 
Divest¬ 
ed of 
leaves. 
Name. 
iS 6 } Hardy 
Cherry 
Peach 
Plum 
In i 
bios- ltipe. 
som. 
Name. 
First in 
blossom.! 
Lilac 
Privet 
Honeysuckle 
Mountain Ash 
Syringa 
Laburnum 
Acacia 
Yellow Broom 
White Broom 
THE SEA30NS. 
Grain. 
Birds of Passage. 
A" In When 
r«.' c “-- !cut - 
Name. 
Arrival 
Depar¬ 
ture. 
Wheat 
Barley 
Rye 
Oats 
Xuckoo 
Swallow 
Night in- 
:j gale 
Fieldfare 
Redwing 
Hawfinch 
Crossbill 
Wood¬ 
cock 
Thebe is a great desire upon the part of meteorologists, of this 
country, to obtain returns of the budding and leafiug of forest 
trees ; blossoming and ripening of fruit trees ; blossoming of 
hardy shrubs; when grain is in flower, in ear, and time of cut¬ 
ting. Now, amongst your many readers and contributors, no 
doubt many may be found who would take up this subject; and 
in so doing they wovdd benefit the agricultural interests of this 
country to a large extent, since the more such knowledge is 
diffused, the better shall we be prepared to adopt suitable pre¬ 
cautions in unfavourable seasons. 
I enclose a form, adopted by the British Meteorological Society, 
for such returns. Apologising for taking up your valuable time. 
—G. V. Veenon, Old Trafford, near Manchester. 
THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN.* 
The man who makes six Pear trees grow where one grew 
before, is entitled to greater honour than that historical individual 
who produced tw o blades of grass where only one grew before. 
For many years Mr. Rivers has directed his attention to the 
cultivation of miniature trees. He took his ideas, as he informs 
us, from the French ; whose successful treatment of this branch 
of gardening so impressed him, that he was induced to introduce 
the system into England. With what success Mr. Rivers has 
done so, is now pretty well known from the numerous instances 
wherein it has been adopted ; hut the practice is very far from 
being so universal as it ought to be. The culture of fruit Trees 
in this country is quite in its infancy, and wo say so deliberately. 
There never has been one tithe of the trouble taken with fruit 
trees a3 there has been with plants. The}' w'ero planted, they 
grew ; if they bore, they were allowed to stand, and if not they 
were cut down ; and those that were allowed to stand, stood till 
their heads were grey with moss ; but no pruning at root or top, 
no manuring, no trouble, were taken with them. They were left 
to stretch their long, bare, brawny arms over ever-so-much 
ground, and their roots as far under it, to the exclusion of every¬ 
thing else but itself. In return for all this room, it produced a 
few fruit at the extremities of the branches. But when trees are 
cultivated, or “ educated,” us the French say, they amply repay 
the care bestowed on them. Did anybody ever hear of an un¬ 
fruitful tree in a miniature orchard? (barring the seasons). Any 
tree may be made fruitful by proper management; but when left 
to itself it lapses into a state of nature. It is to teach how to 
educate fruit trees that Mr. Rivers has written “ The Miniature 
Fruit Garden,” and therein we have results of his labours, and 
the fruit of his experience. There can be no doubt that the 
practice of growing all fruit trees, either as pyramids or dwarf 
bushes, and systematically pruning the roots as well as the 
* The Miniature Fruit Garden; or, the Culture of Fyramulal and 
Bush Fruit Trees; with Instructions for Root-pruning, Qc. By Thomas 
Ilivers, of the Nurseries, Saw bridge worth, Herts. London : Longmans, 
1859. 
branches, are the proper and only method for a garden. 'Standards 
are only applicable to orchards ; and we hope to see the day when 
there will not bo a standard tree in a garden. 
We feel the greatest possible difficulty in selecting an extract 
from Mr. Rivers’ admirable littlo book, where all is equally in¬ 
teresting ; but by way of showing how intelligibly the subject is 
treated, we print the following :— 
“riTBAMLDS ON THE PEAK STOCK. 
“ There are some dry, warm, shallow soils, more particularly 
those resting on chalk or gravel, which are unfavourable to the 
Bear on the quince stock ; it is difficult to make them flourish, 
unless great, care is taken in mulching the surface, and giving 
them abundance of water and liquid manure in summer, lu such 
soils pyramids on the pear stock may be cultivated with but littlo 
trouble. 
“To those who wish to train them as they should grow, one- 
year-old grafted plants may bo selected, which may be managed 
as directed for young pyramids on the quince stock. If trees of 
mature growth are planted, they will require the treatment re¬ 
commended for pyramids on the quince stock, as regards summer 
pinching. There is no occasion, however, to make a mound up 
to the junction of the graft with the stock, as the Bear does not 
readily emit roots. Annual root-pruning is almost indispensable 
to pyramids on pear stocks in small gardens; and it will much 
facilitate this operation if each tree bo planted on a small mound 
—the roots are then so easily brought to the surface. This 
annual operation, which should be done in November, may be 
dispensed with in soils not rich, if the trees are lifted biennially in 
that month and replanted, merely pruning off the ends of any 
long roots. Annual surface-manuring, as recommended lor 
pyramids on the quince, is also necessary, if the trees are root- 
pruned or biennially removed. 
“ It now only romaius for me to give some hints and directions 
as to the most eligible mode of root-pruning of Bear trees on pear 
stocks, which has been practised here with much success for 
