IOC 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
C July, 
quite endorse what he states regarding the two 
systems. Early sowings come in as quickly, 
give stronger plants, and yield better crops than 
those raised under glass. The only advantage 
of raising Peas under glass (and that by no 
means a secondary one) is their safety from 
mice and rats. All sorts of come-at-able means 
are adopted to secure good crops of early Peas. 
The best I have ever tried is, to lay two inches 
of half-rotten tree-leaves over a firm surface of 
ground, equal to the size of a two or three-light 
frame ; on this space scatter two inches of 
rich light soil—rotted turfy loam suits well; 
sow the Peas thickly in rows, cover them over 
with fine soil, place the frames over them, 
and give abundance of air, but exclude frost 
and heavy rains—a little of either of which, 
however, does no harm. When the Peas are 
through the ground, let them grow almost as 
if they were in the open quarters, using the 
lights only when absolutely necessary. 
The Peas should be thoroughly hardened to 
bear the weather, and planted out before they be¬ 
come drawn or matted. The ground in which 
they are planted should be in ridges exposed 
to the weather ; plant the Peas between the 
ridges, using fine warm soil to cover the roots 
in the process of planting, the soil being placed 
nicely up to the collars of the plants. Stake them 
immediately after they are secure in the ground, 
so that they may have protection. 
This is a much better method of raising 
early Peas than sowing them in tiles, pots, &c., 
for allowing the roots to become matted or 
pot-bound tells greatly against them ; and 
raising them quickly in heat or in the absence 
of plenty of light and air is very injurious to 
their future progress and success, and does 
nothing to forward the crop.—M. T. 
THE BARK OF FRUIT-TREES. 
« HE most touchy park of a tree is cer¬ 
tainly the inner bark. It is there and 
there only that the welding of the scion 
with the stock is effected, and whether the 
junction be that of one twig with another twig 
(grafting), or with a single bud (budding), it is 
still a dealing with the bark. As the sap rises and 
falls, the buds are, so to speak, suckled, and follow 
the lead of the terminal growth, thus becom¬ 
ing two natures married, as it were, into one. 
Forgetting the crab or other stock from which 
the new leader started, the graft grows into an 
Apple-tree, and the stock is enslaved, and kept 
to labour in the dark, fostering this foreign 
child, whose affairs it had taken over when the 
inner bark enabled it to ride upon the back of 
the crab stock. 
So much for the inner bark. The outer 
casing of bark, however, seems to be quite 
overlooked now-a-davs in dealing with fruit- 
trees, especially gum-bearing trees, and al¬ 
though Apple and Pear-trees may do fairly well 
with very indifferent pruning, it is not so with 
Plums and Cherries. Who has not seen these 
latter with a cluster of gum the size of an egg 
exuded from an old wound, where a branch has 
been cut off, or of which a half or a third part 
of the tree has died away with little warning, 
leaving an unseemly gap on the wall surface ? 
Even the Damson, hardy everywhere, and usually 
patient of cutting, yet feels the butchering 
knife and saw among its limbs and fruitful 
twigs, leaving plenty of wounds, without the 
salve to heal them—I do not mean the dab of 
paint put upon the place where the limb was 
sawn off, but salving all over the bark, from 
the ground well up into the forks of the tree, 
for the outer bark has its work to do as well 
as the inner bark; and it is so easily got at, 
that the wonder is it has ever been left alone. 
The very eating of the outer bark by hares and 
rabbits tells that there is virtue in it. 
At the collar we find the change, for there 
the light and air begin to act, and the bark, 
hard and horny, seems idle ; but it is not so. If 
we examine the roots, we find that they, too, 
have an outer bark; but it is a moist one, and 
unlike the dry bark of the stem and branches, 
it is always moist, for dryness to the root-bark 
would be death; and water is so essential to 
the development of tissue, that we shall do 
well to halt, and see if aught can be done to 
supply the moist medium. 
However, on looking over some old books, to 
see if ringing and other violent means had 
been successful in those days of cutting, I 
stumbled upon Forsyth’s work on Fruit-trees, 
and there I found the following paragraph in 
the postscript:—“ I apply a mixture of cow- 
dung and urine only, made to the consistence 
of a thick paint, with a painter’s brush cover¬ 
ing the stem carefully over. This softens the 
bark, which peels off during the following 
winter and spring, and is succeeded by a fine 
smooth new bark.” There is, elsewhere in the 
volume, the celebrated mixture for the wounds, 
Ac., of fruit-trees, for which Mr. Forsyth got 
