i5»rs. j 
CHOICE NEW CARNATIONS.-TI1E CULTURE OF WALL-FRUITS—CIIAP. XVI. 
177 
CHOICE NEW CARNATIONS. 
[Plate 480.] 
# UR plate represents three varieties, the 
production of the well-known and 
veteran raiser—though young in years 
—Mr. Benjamin Simonite, of Rough Bank, 
Sheffield. Of these Mr. Dodwell remarks :— 
“ Mr. Rosenberg has caught and very happily 
delineated the habit, smoothness, and markings 
of these beautiful varieties, but the colouring 
in the chromoliths is not happy. Neither in 
the Crimson Bizarre, Samuel Barlow, or the 
Purple Flake, James Douglas, are the tints 
so bright as in Nature ; but this is rather a 
misfortune than a fault, for Nature is inimit¬ 
able in her colours. 
“ James Douglas (fig. 2), a Purple Flake, was 
sent out in the autumn of 1876, and in my collec¬ 
tion this year, as also in that in the charge of 
Mr. Douglas at Loxford Hall, was undoubtedly 
the finest of its class. Nothing could surpass 
its lovely bright purple, sparkling white, and 
decided markings; it was also of the largest size. 
“Samuel Barlow (fig. 1), as well as the 
Rev. F. D. Horner, are as yet in the raiser’s 
hands. The former, a noble Crimson Bizarre, 
follows the habit and character of J. D. Hex- 
tall, C.B., another of the fine varieties raised 
by Mr. Simonite, save that the purple or 
maroon of the bizarre is of deeper tint, and 
will, I am persuaded, be greatly valued when 
it is accessible to cultivators of these popular 
flowers. As shown in the plate, Samuel 
Barlow appears small, the figure having, I 
learn, been drawn from a late side-bloom, but 
this is not the case in Nature, the flowers seen 
by me having been of full size. 
“ The Rev. F. D. Horner (fig. 3) is a very 
brilliant Scarlet Flake, much in the style of a 
fine Sportsman.”—M. 
THE CULTURE OF WALL FRUITS. 
Chapter XVI.— The Apricot (continued). 
'^ANY cultivators inculcate a free 
y exposure of the fruit to the influence 
0 f and even go so far as to 
cut away wood and pinch off foliage, in order to 
render the exposure more complete. I am 
inclined to the belief that this practice would 
be “ more honoured in the breach than in the 
observance.” My opinion is that the practice 
of severe thinning and cutting away of the 
wood and defoliation in the summer cannot be 
too much deprecated, as it is a sure method of 
developing a strong late growth, which our 
climate- will not ripen sufficiently. The 
energies of the trees would, I believe, be far 
more wisely directed to the perfecting and 
ripening of a good supply of the wood and 
foliage of the first growth, than in forcing a 
strong late growth, which, for all fruit- 
bearing purposes, is worthless, and except that 
required for filling vacant spaces, would have 
to be cut out at the winter pruning. For 
the same reasons, I deprecate defoliation 
in toto , under the belief that the foliage is 
absolutely necessary to the perfect development 
of both fruit and wood buds, and that it is 
quite possible, when nailing-in the wood in 
July, to expose the fruit quite sufficiently for all 
No. 12. imperial series.— i, 
practical purposes, by retaining only the neces¬ 
sary wood to keep the tree well furnished : a 
trifle over here and there being allowed for con¬ 
tingencies, which would naturally occur to a 
practical man, and the remainder being either 
removed entirely, or cut back for spurs, as 
before advised. The exposure of the fruit 
should be made a secondary consideration, 
and by no means should any of the foliage be 
removed, since that has its natural functions 
assigned to it, and if these are interfered with, 
it is no wonder that we have to complain of 
unripened wood and abortive blooms. 
I am also of opinion that the frequent re¬ 
commendation to tliin-out the wood in the 
autumn, in order that the sun’s heat may assist 
in the ripening process through its exposure, 
should be taken with reservation, as I have 
been led to conclude, from observation, that the 
leaves play a more important part in the 
thorough maturation of the wood than is gener¬ 
ally supposed, and they should by no means be 
removed until their natural functions have been 
discharged, and the trees are ready to cast them 
off in due course. Then, again, as to the 
necessity or otherwise of taking extra pains to 
expose the fruit to the full influence of the 
N 
