THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July G, 1858. 
j 201 
out summer shoots of Apples, Pears, Currants, Ac. 
These may be from twelve to eighteen inches in length. 
We make it a rule to cut none : the knife is held in the 
right hand, and the shoots caught quickly between 
the thumb and the blade, and broke over it; and an 
armful, or sheaf, is thus got, as soon as I can write 
one of these lines, or sooner. From six to twelve of 
these shoots are then taken in the left hand, and held 
by the soft points ; the fingers of the right hand are 
brought down through them, so as to remove all the 
leaves ; the soft points are broken over the knife, and 
thrown away ; and you have young shoots left of from 
twelve to eighteen inches long ; these are again 
broken over the knife, into pieces of from five to 
i eight inches in length, according to the length of peg 
| required. Each of these pieces is cracked in the 
; middle, but which almost invariably leaves a portion 
I of the wood and bark on one side unbroken : all you 
! have to do, is to place the two ends of this wooden 
j hairpin over the shoot to be laid, and thrust these 
ends dowm into the soil. 
Though I have mentioned these young shoots, yet 
we prefer, at an earlier period, "winter prunings of last 
summer shoots, of almost any sort of wood that will 
not crack quite through, wdien thus you attempt to 
break them in the middle. Apple, Pear, Hazel, Maple, 
any sort of wood, will do for this purpose,—such as 
; points of what are used for pea-sticks, but cut the 
preceding winter. If older, instead of cracking rather 
more than half in two, they will break, and therefore 
be of no use for this purpose. The economy of this 
mode, as respects labour and time, consists chiefly in 
breaking all the lengths over the knife, instead of at¬ 
tempting to cut them or point them. The ends have, 
therefore, a rough appearance, but they go easily 
enough into the ground, if it is as soft as a flower-bed 
should be. Sometimes these shoots are taken to the 
beds of the requisite length; but, more generally, the 
shoots, as long as they can be got, are taken there in a 
basket; the workman takes a few in his left hand, and, 
just as a shoot needs a long or a short peg, the shoot 
is broken over the knife, cracked in the middle, and 
inserted. The men who chiefly do this kind of work, 
say that they can get the wood, and do the work, by 
this mode, much sooner than they can do the work by 
the mat strings. Most likely Mr. Beaton’s assistants 
would do it quicker with the mat strings. I cer¬ 
tainly prefer these wooden, double pins myself. 
Observe, that much of the economy consists in no 
cutting or pointing. The late Joseph Knight, Esq., of 
the Exotic, showed me, that, in making small stakes, 
there ought never to be more than two cuts of the 
knife. Only wait to give one, or two, or more cuts to 
point these patent pegs, and farewell to all notion of 
laurels. Mr. Beaton’s mat-strings would at once reign 
triumphant. When breaking, instead of cutting, is 
I adhered to, and such shoots can be got without cost, 
then my present belief is, that this doubling of these 
short shoots is, altogether, the most economical and 
enduring for the season. Let it, at least, have a fair 
trial, and if any correspondent can 'furnish us with a 
better and less costly material, I will thank him for the 
hint, and be the first to adopt it. 
SUPPORTING FLOWER-BEDS. 
I find I must be brief on this. In sheltered places, 
many gardeners require no support, even for their 
Calceolarias, Petunias, Geraniums, and Salvias, &c. 
Jn exposed places, even after pegging, and when 
dripping weather had made the plants grow strong, I 
have seen the beds blown into wavy bundles ; and the 
bringing of them back was attended with great diffi¬ 
culty, and to the great detriment of the beds. To 
avoid this, I have seen the beds netted over with fine 
cord, supported at a requisite height, through the 
meshes of which the plants grew, and the wind had 
but little effect on them. As a more economical and 
homely medium, I prefer Spruce branches, full of little 
bits of spray, from which all the green foliage has 
fallen. Such little bits of twigs, owing to the resin 
they contain, will last several years. I generally apply 
them to Calceolaria beds, when planted, and the beds 
look a little rubbishy at first. The little branches, 
stuck firmly in the bed, soon get covered, and then the 
resisting medium to the wind is not seen ; even wiiilst 
it is seen, I am of opinion that its manifest utility takes 
away all idea of ugliness. Some low-growing Verbenas 
do not require anything of the sort, especially if well 
pegged dowm. But the stronger growing kinds, and 
almost all Petunias, even though pegged down, would 
not be at all secure in windy weather, without this 
staking the bed, as it were, with brushwood. Of 
course a little judgment must be exercised in doing 
this, as the branches should not be so long as to obtrude 
beyond the flow r ers, when the plants are about their 
best. Old brooms, or any other wood, full of spray, 
would also answer well enough, but I prefer the spray 
of Spruce, when it can be obtained. B. Fish. 
GBAND NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF BOSES. 
st. james’s hall, London, july 1. 
This new move, for a feast of Boses once a year, in 
London, has been talked about for the last twelve 
months. The first experiment of the Bose cultivators 
—their first exhibition—came off on the 1st of July, 
and was most successful, as far as “ the feast of Boses ” 
was concerned. Everything was managed by the 
florists ; and no set of men on earth can manage the 
details of a Show better than they can. 
The first person I spoke to in the Hall was Dr. 
Lindley, and if he was twenty years younger he would 
die a florist, as sure as fate. He was in ecstasies about 
this wonderful exposition of the Bose world, and said 
he could hardly keep his own Bose trees alive, much 
less look for Boses. The greatest wonder of all was, 
that the great Bose growers near London were within 
an ace of being thoroughly beaten by a young Nar¬ 
cissus from a distant province. 
Mr. Bivers put up a grand display, in his best style, 
for pot luck, to the admirer of Boses. For him to 
exhibit out of his own grounds is like coming down 
from the top of Olympus, and to compete in his own 
empire would seem to look like admitting a division of 
power; therefore, like Mr. Veitch and the Horticul¬ 
tural, his contributions were for the benefit of the 
new movement, and not for competition. 
Mr. Paul came out first-rate, and carried the highest 
award of the day, but only by the turn of a die, and 
being judged by florists, who stick to their last to the 
letter of their own law. Gardeners would have awarded 
the first prize to Mr. John Cranston, King’s Acre 
Nurseries, near Hereford. But to have won the 
second best prize at such a gathering, is of itself 
sufficient to put Mr. Cranston up into the highest 
degree in the peerage of the “Bose Court.” 
IVIr. Francis was only one degree lower than these ; 
but Mr. Lane, like the Doctor, has been so overtaken 
by the heat and drought, that he could not compete. 
Ihe large collections were put up in three Boses of 
a kind, with the Bose buds, and they numbered from 
100 to 125 or 130 blooms in each. The smaller col¬ 
lections of twenty-four kinds were made up of a single 
Bose of each ; and here Mr. Cranston was first, with 
the finest Boses ever seen in London, and some of 
them quite new,—as Lcdia, the largest Bose in the 
Hall, a splendid flower of a true rose-colour. His 
