1882 .] 
WISTARIA SINENSIS FLORE-PLENO.-ECONOMICAL DRESSING FOR FRUIT TREES 
33 
WISTARIA SINENSIS FLORE-PLENO. 
[Plate 557.] 
¥ E are indebted to Mr. Anthony 
Waterer, of Knap Hill, Woking, 
Surrey, for the fine specimen here 
represented of this beautiful hardy 
climber, first bloomed at Woking in 1873. 
It was received by him from North America, 
having, it would seem, been introduced by Hr. 
Hall from Japan, where it appears to have 
originated. It is a very handsome plant, as 
Mr. Fitch’s drawing will show, and one which 
should find its way into general cultivation. 
In its principal features it resembles the 
well-known single-flowered type, which has so 
long been a favourite in our gardens, the stem 
being woody, the habit vigorous, the leaves 
elegantly pinnated, and the blossoms abundant, 
in long drooping well-filled clusters. It 
differs from this type in having the individual 
flowers made up of several series of roundish 
concave petals set one within the other, and 
forming a double rosette-shaped blossom, 
about an inch in diameter ; the colour is a 
lilac-blue, almost white towards the base of 
the petals, somewhat darker in the buds and 
in the undeveloped centres, thus very closely 
resembling the colours of the original plant. 
These flowers, as we learn from Mr. Waterer, 
when produced, as they freely are on plants in 
course of propagation, emit a most agreeable 
odour resembling that of violets to such an 
extent that the propagating house becomes 
filled with their fragrance. 
We have seen it stated that the plant is a shy 
bloomer, and that the flowers are diminutive, 
and wanting in colour. Such is not our ex¬ 
perience of the plant, the flowers we have seen 
having been, as we have described, fully an 
inch across, and of a bright clear colour, while 
in the hands of the propagator almost every 
graft has shown its raceme of llowers. True 
the young stock plants, when first planted out, 
have grown with extraordinary vigour, and at 
this stage and in this condition have borne but 
a sprinkling of their clusters of flowers ; but 
this surely was to be expected, since even 
young plants of the common sort, especially 
if they start away freely, have to put on 
something of the staid character of maturity 
before they yield much return in the shape of 
flowers. There can be no doubt that this 
double-flowered variety will do the same, as 
indeed Mr. Waterer’s grafted plants with their 
flowers from every bud afford a sufficient 
proof. We have, therefore, no hesitation in 
recommending this novelty for any position 
where a strong-growing woody climber may be 
suitably introduced, and we have no doubt 
that in due time it will repay its possessor 
■with a bountiful supply of its beautiful 
blossoms.—T. Moore. 
AN ECONOMICAL DRESSING FOR FRUIT TREES. 
e 7T FEW seasons since, in passing through 
'rh\ the department presided over by 
J\e) the Clerk of the Works connected 
with the Belvoir Estate, I remarked 
a man busily engaged in colour-washing 
one of the workshops, against which a large 
Pear and a Plum tree were trained. The 
trees, not being unnailed, received a very 
considerable coating of the mixture, in fact 
they were completely and purposely covered. 
Expressing some doubt as to the propriety of 
such a rough and ready application, the man 
assured me that it was done every year, and 
that the trees not only escaped injury, but 
were remarkably free from insects all the 
summer season. It was winter time when 
the dressing was applied, and I took due 
note of it, and obtained the particulars of 
the composition generally employed ; it was 
a mixture of cement, ochre, and soot, the 
latter substances being used to give a better 
tone of colour to the wash. 
The following summer the trees verified the 
account given to me by the workman ; they 
were perfectly healthy, and free from insects. 
The following winter season I determined to 
give some of my trained trees the benefit of a 
similar application ; a certain number of Peach 
trees were thickly smeared over, and the com¬ 
position had the good effect of closing many 
of the nail-holes in the wall, and killing the 
fly which had hybernated in them, and be¬ 
neath the loose plaster of the wall. May 
Duke, and Morello Cherries were also dressed, 
c 
