178 
THE FLOIUST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ DliCEMBER, 
produced by lifting and root-pruning—they will 
invariably throw off any fruit which may set 
upon them, yet they will be found to be the 
best stamp of wood for keeping the trees 
supplied with a healthy and fruitful growth. 
If, in regulating the amount of fruit which 
is taken from a tree, we ought to be guided by 
its strength and luxuriance as to its capability of 
bringing it forward of good quality, so must 
Ave also take all these same points into con¬ 
sideration when we are called upon to deter¬ 
mine the amount of strong growth which 
should be laid in. It is as necessary, in train¬ 
ing, to avoid over-crowding Avith Avood, as it is 
to avoid over-cropping with fruit, yet at the 
same time, a margin should always be left in 
each case,—in fruit, for the dropping of those 
which fail to stone, and in the shoots to secure 
sufficient to keep the trees well furnished, and 
to give the operator a choice of Avood when the 
growth is regulated at the Avinter pruning. 
There are cases in which it may become 
desirable to attempt the renovation of old and 
favourite trees, which have become exhausted 
and enervated by fruit-bearing for many years, 
in Avhich case the operator Avill have to look 
closely on both sides of the question ; and in 
deciding, he must be guided by the amount of 
innate vitality in the tree as it stands. If 
there is a good supply of shoots, which indicate 
vigour, springing from the centre Ioav down, 
and near to the general starting-point, it may 
be worth while to head back the tree to such 
growth and make a fresh start. In that case, 
it Avill be advisable to cut the branches off 
clean to the groAving shoots Avhen the tree is 
quite dormant, and as a further precaution to 
paint over the cut; and then to remove all the 
surface soil of the border down to the roots, 
and supply its place with a rich and generous 
compost, for it is in these later stages of 
growth that stimulating manurial substances 
become a legitimate application calculated to 
reinvigorate the strength of the tree, and pro¬ 
duce a fruitful groAvth for some years. 
But if, on the contrary, the operator has be¬ 
fore him a tree with the best growth at the 
extremity of the branches, and the centre, near 
the starting-point, consisting of old and gnarled 
wood devoid of young shoots, by far the best 
policy is to root it out altogether, and then to 
trench up the ground 3 ft. deep, looking Avell 
to the drainage, to take the worst soil away, 
and replace it Avith virgin compost, and to 
replant Avith young, selected trees. 
Apricots are liable to much the same diseases 
as the Peach and Nectarine. As regards 
aphides, mildew, and red-spider, the same 
remedies are available, although they suffer in 
a lesser degree, OAving to the superior hardness 
of the AVood and the coriaceous nature of the 
foliage. At the same time, prevention is better 
than cure, and I remain quite of opinion that the 
painting of the Avails and Avood-Avork, as before 
recommended, Avill go very far toAvards re¬ 
ducing the attacks of these pests to a minimum, 
and also contribute very largely towards the 
destruction of that formidable pest, the leaf- 
roller.—J ohn Cox, liedleaf. 
BOMAEEA CAKDERI. 
3 MONGST the finest of our greenhouse 
climbers must be reckoned the species 
of Bomarea, of Avhich one new and 
very beautiful example is fairly represented in 
the annexed Avoodcut, from Mr. Bull’s Catulayue. 
We say fairly represented, because the figure is 
really as conrplete as the size of the page per¬ 
mits ; but that it does not do justice to the 
plant Avill be apparent, when Ave state the fol¬ 
lowing particulars of a specimen we recently 
saw groAving at Pen dell Court, Bletchingly, 
the seat of Sir George Macleay, Bart., Avhere, 
under the fostering care of Mr. C. Green, a 
gardener well knoAvn for his botanical pro¬ 
clivities, the stems had growir to a length of 
12 ft., Avith a diameter of three-eighths of an 
inch. This plant, which is planted out in a 
kind of corridor, the roof only of Avhich is 
glazed, has produced three of its cymose umbels 
of floAvers, on Avhich some 30 seed-pods liaA^e 
perfected, Avhile its full-sized mature leaves 
measure over eight inches long, by about five 
inches broad. The branches of the inflorescence 
(compressed, in our figure, OAving to the exi¬ 
gencies of space) naturally spread out, and in 
the case in questioir measured 2 ft. across the 
points Avhere the latest floAvers were expanded. 
The largest of the cymes produced about 40 
flowers, on eleven branches, Avhich respectively 
bore from three to four flowers, several of 
theirr having produced four each. The plant 
continued in bloom, as Ave learn from Mr. 
Green, for more than two months. 
