890 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February 20, 1892. 
Two classes of trees are cultivated for general 
stock at Madresfield—one is the orchard standard, 
as suitable for hop or grass lands ; the other is the 
dwarf open bush, for select plantations. Planters 
as a rule desire extra strong large trees, but Mr. 
Crump considers this a mistake. He prefers younger 
trees of some two or three years old, as moving 
better, whether they be standards or dwarfs. When 
planted on grass land Mr. Crump thinks it a good 
plan to leave the stems untrimmed for a few years, 
as the stems thicken and they are better able to 
dispense with stakes; it is a cause of great labour 
staking trees, and if neglected and the trees are blown 
about by rough winds, irreparable injury is some¬ 
times done by wind chafing the bark, causing canker, 
etc. Really Mr. Crump's paper well deserved the 
criticism passed upon it by the Earl of Derby, the 
chairman of the Conference, that it was one of the 
best and most practical he had ever listened to. 
-—J-- 
PRUNING ROSES. 
The mild weather experienced throughout^ the latter 
part of January, and early in February, will soon 
cause many Roses to start into growth, especially if 
in somewhat sheltered situations, and throughout 
the Southern Counties. This will doubtlessly cause 
many to think of pruning their plants; indeed, only 
to-day I noticed more than one group of Roses in 
villa gardens that had already been pruned, it is not 
that I consider the time has come for this impor¬ 
tant operation that I give these few notes, but to warn 
others against too early pruning, and at the same 
time give them an outline of how to do this, so as to 
.secure a maximum amount of good flowers. 
The middle or end of March is a good time to 
prune the “ queen of flowers," but no set date can be 
given. The seasons differ so much, and this, with 
the sheltered or exposed situation that the Roses 
may be growing in, must be taken into consideration. 
Some years February and March are quite winter 
months, while at others they have such a spring-like 
character that one naturally gets much forwarder 
with all such work as pruning. For the Tea-scented 
and Noisette classes, I consider the middle of April 
quite soon enough, unless the situation be very warm 
and favourable. There is no gain—rather the 
reverse — in pruning too early. One only gets pre¬ 
mature growths, that are almost certain to receive 
severe checks from spring frosts. Early growths 
often receive such a sharp check towards the end of 
May that the first crop of flowers is practically 
spoilt. Later pruning will avoid a great deal of this; 
besides it is the growth that comes on rapidly and 
without any check that gives the finest flowers. It 
is really surprising how very quickly such growth 
will overtake that started earlier, and which has 
probably been checked by cold nights or a morning 
frost. Early pruning is often to blame for the mal¬ 
formed and green-centred blooms one meets with 
early in the Rose season. The principal cause of 
these is cold ungenial weather while the flower buds 
were swelling. This causes them tc bind, and so 
the flower grows in the centre only, and eventually 
bursts into a bad shape, and with the green core of 
the bloom showing. 
There has been such valuable additions made to 
the climbing Roses during the last few years, that I 
intend giving the first part of this paper to them. 
When properly and rationally pruned, these are the 
most floriferous of all Roses. But if pruned as is 
too often the case, they, are decidedly “ shy.” 
Many persons, amateurs in particular, prune all 
classes of Roses alike. This is an error, because 
almost every class has its own characteristics and 
peculiarities. All strong growing climbers require 
very little pruning indeed at this time of year, pro¬ 
vided they receive proper attention during the 
summer. This consists of removing as much of the 
wood that has flowered as is possible without cutting 
away the long growths of the current summer. It is 
these long maiden growths that will bloom so freely 
the following spring. When what may be styled 
the “ summer-pruning ” has been attended to, the 
only need for the knife at this time is to remove the 
weakest side growths and any immatured points of 
the strong and vigorous shoots made during the past 
summer. Too often these shoots are shortened in 
rather severely, under the impression that they are of 
rampant and wasteful growth. When one bears in 
mind that it is the characteristic of these strong 
growlers to flower from almost every eye of such 
shoots, it will easily be understood what folly it is to 
remove more of them than can be helped. No other 
part of the plant will flower so freely ; and if as 
much vigour as possible is thrown into the long 
growths during the summer, large crops of good 
flowers are sure to result, provided the wood gets 
thoroughly matured This is the only way to grow 
these Roses to perfection, and the same idea must be 
carried out whether growing on walls or used for 
pillars and arches. 
The very strong growing Hybrid Perpetuals should 
be treated in much the same manner, the only differ¬ 
ence being that these are always best when pegged 
down- In fact they make the best of Roses for 
bedding purposes. Why I advise the pegging down 
of these kinds, is the much greater tendency they 
have to break into growth from the top portions of 
the shoots compared to those of the Tea-scented and 
Noisette classes. If the Hybrid Perpetuals are kept 
in a horizontal position, they will break from almost 
every eye and carry a large quantity of flowers; 
while, if the same shoot had been left growing in a 
more or less perpendicular manner, it would in all 
probability have borne from three to five flowers 
only% The strong sucker-like growths from the base 
of the plant, and which will shoot up every summer, 
should have the same care taken of them as I 
advised for those of the Teas and Noisettes. 
The medium growers, of both Teas and Hybrid 
Perpetuals, may be pruned in the manner usually 
adopted—that is, cutting them back to within three 
or nine inches of the point they were previously 
pruned to. The simplest rule for this section is to 
prune them according to their strength, cutting the 
weakest growers back much harder than those of 
strong and robust habit. 
Weaker growers—such as Louis Van Houtte, 
Horace Vernet, and Xavier Olibo among the H. 
Perpetuals, or Comtesse de Nadaillac, Souvenir 
d'Elise, and Grace Darling among the Teas—should 
be cut back much harder than Duke of Edinburgh, 
General Jacqueminot, or Mrs. John Laing of the 
first named class ; and Marie Van Houtte, Madame 
Lamberd, and Anna Olivier among the last named. 
A great deal more depends upon the pruning of 
the plants than many would think to see the uniform 
way in which some prune all classes of Roses It is 
these persons who complain of the shyness in flower¬ 
ing that many climbers and strong growers are taxed 
with, when the fault really lies with themselves. 
All Roses, of whatever class they may be, will 
flower freely in proportion to their strength and the 
amount of wood they make, if properly pruned.— 
Experience. 
PARCELS POST AND 
GARDEN PRODUCTS. 
In your leading article last week you draw attention 
to a recent meeting of farmers at which the employ¬ 
ment of the Parcels Post was advocated for the 
transmission of farm and garden produce. I see 
many great objections to this mode of transit 
generally, as in the case of eggs and ripe fruit 
especially, for unless most carefully packed break¬ 
ages in transit would arise, and the Postal authorities 
would soon be on the war-path for the prevention of 
damage to other parcels. Then the want of 
knowing how safely to pack, of having wood boxes 
at hand, being within easy reach of a post-office, and 
other difficulties crop up; besides in many of the 
country districts a rural postman has to walk very 
long distances night and morning, and is allowed no 
conveyance, so that in common mercy to him he 
need be spared heavy packages. 
In a contemporary recently, I advocated tha 
formation of centres in districts with a simple plan 
of collecting produce and conveying to eligible 
markets. I live in Warwickshire, and I have some 
knowledge of the surrounding counties and rural 
districts, and I know how very difficult it is in large 
towns like Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, 
Stafford, Crewe, and other large central beehives of 
labour, to obtain supplies of fresh Strawberries and 
other fruits, and to whom a supply of nice, fresh- 
gathered Marrows and Peas is a luxury almost beyond 
reach. These large towns have to depend upon the 
greengrocers and fruiterers for their supplies, pro¬ 
cured through the markets after long journeys very 
often. 
In th: rural districts last year there were thou¬ 
sands of bushels of Damsons, Plums, Pears, Apples, 
&c., which could easily have been collected and sold, 
had there been an organization at work; and for 
want of it, a great deal of the fruit was wasted. 
Reference has been made to long rows of Damson 
trees by the roadside in Kent. In the Midland 
Counties, we too repeatedly see these things, and 
they go unmolested, and very lovely objects they are 
at the blooming time. 
What I want to see done is this. That either by 
private enterprise or the formation of a society, with 
a small capital, experiments may be tried by 
establishing central depots in Birmingham and else¬ 
where, with two or three active men with horses and 
vans or carts, to take certain districts within a 
radius of ten or twelve or more miles, and collect 
from cottages and farmers any produce they may 
have for sale, such as eggs, poultry, honey, good fruit, 
especially Raspberries and Black Currants, always 
in demand, any quantity' of fresh Green Peas, early 
Potatos, Mushrooms, home-made wines, and in fact 
any produce readily saleable, and pay for them on the 
spot. The collectors of course would buy at as 
reasonable a price as possible, and should have an 
idea of market value, and in a day a large breadth 
of country could be covered, and a quantity of fresh 
marketable produce be collected. I am perfectly 
sure of this, that a very ready sale would soon clear 
out the stock if sold at reasonable prices, for the 
desire to get fresh country produce is strong in 
towns. If a central shop or stores were obtained, 
the packing of surplus collected produce could be 
attended to and sent on to other towns. Agencies 
could easily be opened, and there is one establish¬ 
ment in Birmingham, a very large supply stores, 
which I have no doubt would be a ready customer. I 
instance Birmingham only as one centre. 
Very much is talked and written at the present 
time, and at political meetings especially, on the 
enormous advantages that will arise to the agricul¬ 
tural labourers by giving them more allotments and 
ground. There is a great deal of humbug about this, 
used I am sorry to say for political ends chiefly. I 
am a strong advocate for allotments and good 
gardens for cottagers, and I want to see good sani¬ 
tary houses for them at a low rental. Wages must 
always be governed by the state of the farmers and 
employes. Bad seasons crop up too often, and farm¬ 
ing has been a precarious and unprofitable occupa¬ 
tion for years. I am not going into the causes, and 
it is sufficient here to acknowledge the fact. But 
with such an organization at work about the country 
farmers would be benefitted by a cheap and easy sale 
of their produce, and would devote themselves to the 
production of produce which would find a ready 
sale and profit. The large numbers of cottagers 
about the country would gladly welcome such an 
agency for the sale of their spare produce, and in 
fact would readily adapt themselves to the further 
production of such things as they found were wanted 
and would put money into their pockets. My ideas 
may be thought Utopian by some—-they are not by 
me, for were I much younger and better off, I should 
try the experiment, for I know' so well that there is 
money in it. In this way the income of many a 
country cottager may be increased, and so their 
condition in life bettered. I think it a shame that 
we allow so much garden produce to go to waste as 
we do, and that good wholesome home-made wines 
are not within the reach of everyone. 
A good deal has been written about the superiority 
in flavour of home-grown Apples, and this is so. 
But in the country Apples are gathered and sold for 
what they, will fetch, or not sold at all. With 
central depots, Apples could be collected, stored and 
properly looked after and made to pay ; but although 
advancing rapidly in improved sorts and culture, 
we are lamentably behind generally in the 
storage and care of Apples and Pears during the 
winter ; and when making new orchards or planta¬ 
tions, only a few of the best market sorts should be 
planted, and several trees of a sort. A few sorts of 
good Pears that will bear early, as pyramids or low 
bushes, should also be grown, for good home-grown 
Pears are difficult to obtain in the shops in the 
Midland and Northern towms. Mushrooms, so ex¬ 
ceedingly easy to cultivate out of doors and in out¬ 
houses, when only a little fermenting material is 
wanted as a starting point, would be withinjthe reach 
of so many in the rural districts, and good Mush¬ 
rooms always fetch fair prices in the Midlands and 
North. Some of the finest later sorts of dessert and 
culinary Plums could also be grown, for fresh good 
