OCTOBER. 
213 
if an artificially-formed border had been laid down at one-fourth the expense, 
provided always that certain essential conditions, such as thorough drainage 
and a suitable compost, had been secured. It^ is just possible also that the 
great amount of knife-pruning, rendered necessary by the injurious effects of 
those'peculiar atmospheric influences upon the wood, may have contributed its 
share, as the Apricot is rather impatient of severe knife work in winter, and 
this is another reason why a sheltered locality should be preferred, or efficient 
protection secured, because by careful management in the summer training 
very little knife-pruning would be necessary, certainly none that need be 
injurious. 
Some trees once fell under my charge, which were very healthy and lux¬ 
uriant, but would not carry the fruit to perfection, and both soil and locality 
were considered to be inimical to a fruitful growth, and I found that they had 
been systematical ty pruned in the winter, and that their free growth caused this 
to be done somewhat freely, which, with such trees, was, as I have before 
shown, only calculated to perpetuate the evil of a strong woody growth, which 
would not carry fruit. On examining the border I found it as I considered well 
and properly made, and carefully drained. I therefore merely removed the 
surface soil, which, having been kept well cropped, had driven the roots down¬ 
wards instead of encouraging them to come upwards to the influence of the 
sun’s rays, which is an essential element in securing fruitful growth; I then 
filled up the border with a compost of fresh loam and decayed vegetable 
matter. It was necessary to thin the wood out pretty freely the following 
winter, but afterwards by steady and persevering removal of superfluous growth, 
and careful summer and autumn pinching-back, the woody growth was kept in 
proper subjection, and very little use of the knife was necessary; and by 
following the same system out in succeeding years, a fruitful growth was pro¬ 
duced which carried abundant crops to perfection, so much so, that in some 
seasons I took off in thinning from one tree considerably more than a hundred 
dozen, of fruit ; of course the trees were protected in spring, and a plentiful 
supply of water afforded, when necessary, at stoning-time. 
In another instance I obtained a like success by entirely lifting very large 
trees—say 20 feet by 12, and replanting after making# a new border. In both 
these cases the same effects were produced by nearly opposite practice. In the 
first the roots were influenced by manipulating the growth, and in the other 
the growth was checked through the necessary mutilation of the roots. 
Redleaf. John Cox. 
ON THE SEEDING OF CONIFERS.—No. 1. 
Araucaria imbricata. 
Now that our harvest is over and secured (and altogether it has been a 
glorious, fruitful, and prosperous season with us)—now that the mornings 
begin to get dusky, I am about to make some remarks on the time which some 
Conifers take to perfect their seeds, for I never can find leisure for writing 
while the days are long and the sun shines. 
Although the cones of Araucaria imbricata had been for several seasons 
remarkably fine here, it was not till within the last ten years that I was able 
to observe how long the seeds were in coming to perfection—that is to say, in 
becoming perfectly ripe. Since then, however, there has been an abundance of 
male catkins on the male trees. I may here make a digression to remark that 
the male and female trees of the Araucaria imbricata are distinct individuals. 
The male tree produces only male catkins, from 4 to 6 inches long when 
