102 
THE FLOUTST AND POMOLOGIST. 
JOTTINGS AT EXHIBITIONS. 
At a recent meeting of the Floral Committee some very handsome varieties 
of Sparaxis were produced by Messrs. Yeitch & Sons, of Chelsea. They had 
been received by them from the Continent under the name of Ixia sp., and had 
been simply grown in a cold frame. They are of great beauty, and should they 
become distributed, will be great favourites, as they deserve to be. At the 
same meeting was shown, by Mr. Watson, of St. Albans, one of the tricoloured 
varieties of variegated Geraniums, named Miss Watson, the leaves being green, 
deeply edged with yellow, and having a striking zone of crimson. It appeared 
a very desirable variety. 
At a recent Saturday Show a collection of Apples and Pears in a wonder¬ 
ful state of preservation, was sent by Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth. As show¬ 
ing they are “ good keepers ” at least, a list of the varieties may be advan- 
tageousl}?’ appended. Apples: Cockle Pippin, Betty Geeson, Forge, Belle 
d’Angers, Lamb Abbey Pearmain, Mela Carla, Rhode Island Greening, Bax¬ 
ter’s Pearmain, Reinette Diel, Newtown Pippin, Dominiska, and Pearson’s 
Plate. Of Pears: Colmar Van Mons, Morel, Madame Millet, Easter Beurre, 
Beurre Bretonneau, Beurre Perreau, Bellissime d’Hiver, and Bezi Mai. 
On the third Saturday in April there were exhibited at South Kensington, by 
Mr. William Miller, of Combe Abbey Gardens, Coventry, four “bunches of 
Lady Downe’s Grape, which were cut from the Vine on the 9th of April, 
having been hanging ripe since the 1st of September last, thus being preserved 
for a space of nearly eight months. Many of the berries were plump and full, 
and the colour good. With them were also shown some bunches of Foster’s 
White Seedling from pot-grown plants, which had fruited in a Pine-stove in 
a continuous high temperature. The Vines were placed in the stove about the 
1st of December, having thus fruited in a little over four months. 
R. D. 
LIFTING FRUIT TREES. 
Although the practice of, removing fruit trees with the view of limiting 
growth and inducing fruitfulness is not new, having been advocated by Mr. 
Rivers for many years past, and extensively adopted, yet the following system 
detailed by Mr. George Lee, of Clevedon, near Bristol, in the last Part of the 
“ Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society,” differs materially from that 
recommended by Mr. Rivers. The account of it given in that publication is of 
considerable interest as showing how even large fruit trees may be removed 
with safety and advantage, and we therefore extract the particulars, with but 
slight abridgement, merely adding that Mr. Lee has frequently given proofs of 
his success as a cultivator, in the fine samples of fruits which he has more than 
once exhibited at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Shows. 
“The soil is cleared off in a circle round the tree, 5, 6, 8, or more feet in 
diameter (according to the height or size of the tree), down to the roots ; a trench 
is then dug sufficiently deep, three-fourths or more round, leaving only about 
two or three roots on one side undisturbed. The trench is dug round with a 
spade to cut off any roots which may have gone beyond, and the soil is worked 
from between the roots into the trench with a fork (this should be done with 
some care not to bruise or cripple the roots), and thrown out of the trench with 
a spade as it becomes full. In this way you get with comparative ease at any 
roots which may have gone perpendicularly, and are able to dig sufficiently deep 
to get them up long enough to turn horizontally, which is of great importance, 
