178 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ December, 
sun ; tliis should also be taken with very great 
reservation. I am inclined to the belief that 
it is a mistaken idea, and that more evil than 
good results from the practice. Fruit which is 
fully exposed to the sun will often be found to 
be thoroughly ripe on the sunny side, and hard 
and green at the back; and in the great 
majority of cases, before the back becomes 
ripened, the front skin will have been pierced 
by insects, and thus opened to the influence of 
dews or rains, which soon cause decay, so that 
the fruit becomes useless for anything but 
tarts ; whilst, on the contrary, those fruits which 
are ripened under the natural protection of the 
foliage will always be found equally ripened 
all over, probably because the presence of the 
foliage prevents a too rapid evaporation of the 
heat absorbed by the wall during the day. 
As regards flavour and colour, which de¬ 
foliators assign as a reason for the practice of 
exposure, I have never been able to detect any 
material difference between exposed and pro¬ 
tected fruits—if there be any difference, I 
should be inclined to give the palm to the 
latter, as being invariably of an equal degree 
of ripeness all through; whereas, the former 
will have a titbit on the side next the sun, 
and an unripened back. Again, the delicate 
colour of the partially shaded fruit, being equal 
all over, looks better when dished up than the 
bronzed fronts and green backs of the other. 
I advise, then, that the manipulation of the 
trees when nailing-in the summer’s growth 
should be carried on without any special 
reference to the exposure of the fruit. In the 
coui’se of the operation, some will naturally be 
exposed and some covered over by the leaves, 
and no particular care need be taken either 
way ; but a clean, healthy, and abundant crop 
of foliage is absolutely necessary to the full 
and perfect development of the tree in all 
its parts—fruits as well as wood, and should 
not be sacrificed to a mistaken theory. 
Nature does not take any extraordinary means 
for the exposure of the fruit on trees which are 
not subjected to artificial restraint, and more¬ 
over, the finest fruit is generally found on those 
trees which have a healthy and abundant 
foliage. We have a sufficiency of restrictive 
measures to enable us to regulate the general 
welfare of the tree in the manipulation of the 
roots and branches. The removing of the 
foliage when it is in full action is bad policy, 
as it weakens the fruit-buds, and interferes more 
than is necessary with root-action. This is 
more particularly the case when a tree is very 
fruitful and inclined to bear large crops ; in such 
cases, the cutting-away the foliage is suicidal, 
for the great draught which the fruit then 
makes upon the roots renders it necessary to 
encourage as much foliage as possible, in order 
to assist the action of the roots, instead of 
retarding that action by its removal.— John 
Cox, Reel leaf. 
THE REV. G. JEANS ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
No. 
“ GwO HAVE now brought this essay to a close ; 
<c\ nb and beg to return my sincere thanks for 
OhlO the courtesy which has borne with 
its extension to a much greater length 
than I anticipated. The earlier papers, not 
from having had more care bestowed upon 
them, but from the nature of their subjects, 
are more complete than the later ones, nor 
have I omitted in them anything I intended 
to say. The same cannot be affirmed of the 
portions on auxiliary forms, and on the 
province of taste, because the principle being 
fully given, it was unnecessary to lengthen 
these letters still further by applying it to 
every case to which it is applicable. The 
observations on colour require a more ample 
apology; for having (with the exception men¬ 
tioned in the note) been drawn exclusively from 
the inspection of Nature, and that with very eon- 
IX. 
fined opportunities, they cannot claim to ex¬ 
hibit the completeness of a system. As far as 
they go, however, I have but little misgiving 
about their correctness. 
“ That I have made no mistakes in the philo¬ 
sophical elements of beauty in a flower is rather 
to be wished than expected, but I have taken 
the best means that lay in my power to make 
none. Neither can I be a competent judge of 
the extent to which I have succeeded in my 
original purpose, but this I hope may be con¬ 
sidered as proved, that the pursuit of the florist 
is as little to be branded as childish, and is not 
less rational as a recreation, than any other part 
of horticulture. I do not scruple boldly to 
avow before the most fastidious, that it is a 
pursuit not unworthy of a wise man, nor un¬ 
befitting a good one ; it is elegant, instructive, 
scientific, and full of results. And the reader 
of his Bible may see, and grow wiser by see- 
