92 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 6, 1894. 
are getting annually a fair crop of fruit, whereas 
before I was told that they never or very seldom 
bore any fruit, and that when they did it was only in 
a fitful way, a Pear or two here and there on a few 
trees, and some had never been known to produce 
any. These latter I found were two trees of the old 
Crassane, each tree covering a wall space of 20 or 
30 ft. They had been when first planted and trained 
well done, the side branches being at regular 
distances and well placed. One of these I grafted 
two years in succession, every alternate side branch, 
with Pitmaston Duchess, so that the tree is now 
producing fine fruit of this splendid Pear year by 
year. The other being a younger tree, as I thought, 
and certainly looked healthier, I let go on for a year 
or two to see if I could coax it into fruiting. It was 
of no use, however. I got a few Pears now and then, 
but nothing to repay me for the trouble spent on it 
and the wall space it occupied. I therefore set on 
and regrafted it entirely one spring with that other 
useful and always acceptable Pear, Doyenne du 
Cornice. This is now coming into bearing, and 
altogether I am satisfied with my treatment, for 
there is not one tree this year in the whole length of 
the wall that is barren. 
The bush trees were a more serious subject. 
They had been bought to be grown on the restricted, 
pyramidal or dwarf bush style, popular thirty or 
forty years ago, when they had been planted, but my 
predecessor not having been properly drilled and 
trained into that form of management had certainly 
restricted the trees by cutting of their tops every 
year ; thus, whilst not getting scarcely any fruit, he 
did succeed in giving an excellent crop ot flower- 
sticks. I was told that one or two of the trees had 
produced a few odd fruits now and then, but that 
some of them had never been known to fruit at all 
Well! that would not do for me ; and so, after much 
cogitation I determined to adopt very stern 
measures, and I set on and had them all root-pruned 
as soon as the leaves were at all ripe. Some time in 
October I thinned out the heads and regulated them, 
leaving the best wood in to form the foundation of a 
tree and waited developments. Very well, at this 
time, those who knew the trees in the old days can 
scarcely believe their eyes on seeing well-developed 
either round-headed or pyramidal trees carrying full 
crops every year and finishing these crops off well. 
I may be asked, but how did you root prune them ? 
To this very commendable question I might give 
that old one as to manuring. I root pruned them 
"with Brums, sir." Quite so, but how? I just 
studied each tree or bush and decided by my 
practical judgment how much root pruning it would 
stand or require to give the result I desired. Some 
trees were only partially root pruned, but the 
generality were done absolutely. One I know was 
done so absolutely that it died, but I could spare 
that, and as I found that it was a comparatively 
worthless one (Pius the IXth) I did not pull a long 
face about it. 
At the end of sixteen years I am quite satisfied 
with the result. I do very little top pruning. I like 
to encourage the formation of natural spurs by 
keeping them open in their branches, and I much 
prefer to take a branch out entirely than to shorten 
back. This shortening back only produces a mass 
of twiggy growths' which choke up the centre of the 
tree. My advice to a young gardener who comes in 
the course of his life experience into some such 
difficulty as I had to face, is to study it out, and 
then act decisively and trust the future. It may be 
thought that in this record of my experience the 
first personal pronoun is a little too conspicuous, 
and that the successes are too prominent and rosy. 
That may be, but as in life it is wise to remember 
kindnesses and blessings and to forget difficulties 
and injuries, so in gardening it is good to remember 
what has succeeded, and to think as little as possible 
of the difficulties that we have passed through. 
Those difficulties have had their influence in giving 
us exoerience, and the successes have had theirs too 
in making us go on more cheerfully to face in the 
future whatever hard and perplexing things we may 
have to meet. 
I confess freely, as every old gardener is only too 
ready to confess, that all through the sixteen years 
of upward struggle of bringing the trees into a state 
of fruitfulness, I had need of all the husbandman's 
patience; but then a gardener without patience is 
an anomaly. No man can be a gardener without 
patience, coupled with perseverance; it is the secret 
of his strength and success.— X. 
CHRYSANTHEMUM 
NOTES. 
Securing the Buds. 
The main object in view when taking the crown 
bud is to procure large and substantial blooms, 
either for show or decorative purposes. Most 
varieties show this early, or crown bud, in August. 
Much, however, depends upon the time at which 
the cuttings were struck. The crown bud may be 
easily distinguished from its appearance. Below 
the two leafy appendages, or bracts, which it usually 
carries, several growths will be made. These 
should be rubbed off so as to throw the full vigour 
of the plant into the work of developing these early 
buds, if fine large flowers are expected. 
For market purposes many varieties like the 
Salters, Elaine, Lady Selbourne, Jeanne d’Arc, and 
Fair Maid of Guernsey should be allowed to develop 
these growths, afterwards rubbing out the small 
buds they bear, and leaving only the central and 
terminal one, for if all are allowed to open, the 
flowers will have but little substance, and will soon 
fall when cut. These remarks do not apply to the 
Pompons, which are generally grown for their free- 
blooming qualities. My opinion is that two-year- 
old plants are the best to furnish cut bloom for 
market. They generally throw stronger shoots and 
more of them, and thus one can afford to take all 
crown buds, a fine lot of bloom resulting ; whereas 
the quantity of flower obtained from the crown buds 
of a cutting (unless exceptionally well grown) 
scarcely pays. 
Let those who doubt the efficacy of this system of 
culture try a few two-year-old plants, of sorts like 
Avalanche, Val d’Andorre, Mons. Bernard, Alfred 
Salter, and Wm. Robinson. Strong plants of these 
are capable of carrying from eighteen to twenty-four 
blooms each, and varying in size, from as large as 
the top of a cup, to as big as an ordinary sized 
saucer. For blooms of this kind one can always 
command a fair price either cut or when sold upon 
the plant. Besides, it does a grower infinitely 
greater credit to turn out such specimens as these 
than it does to sell those obtained by other sys¬ 
tems of treatment. 
Although this way of growing Chrysanthemums is 
hardly known amongst hundreds of market growers. 
I am quite sure that there is a future before it, If 
given a fair trial it will be sure to give satisfaction, 
providing suitable varieties are selected. — J. G. 
Pettinger, Strawberry Dale Nursery, Harrogate. 
--*-- 
WINTER ROSES OUTSIDE. 
Roses at any time are most welcome, especially 
during the dull months of the year, when they are 
to the great majority almost forbidden luxuries, as 
being without the means of growing them under 
glass they cannot well afford to pay the price asked 
for cut flowers; but still in the majority there are 
very many possessors of small gardens, and some 
wall space sheltered possibly by over-hanging leaves j 
where at least two varieties of Roses might be 
planted with a fair prospect of their presenting their 
possessors with a few presentible buds up to Christ¬ 
mas in ordinary seasons. The old monthly common 
blush China is one of them, and in reference to this 
I may remark that having frequently gathered 
beautiful buds of it long after Christmas from 
plants on a north wall, I have every confidence in 
recommending it to the notice of intending planters 
whose accommodation is of the limited descrip¬ 
tion. 
The other sort I have in view is the Gloire de 
Dijon, possibly far better known than the old China, 
though the latter was introduced half a century 
before the " Glory ” was raised. This in addition 
to being one of our earliest out-door Roses is one of 
the latest. Buds of it just opening if gathered 
during the winter and placed in a warm room often 
develope most beautifully, and have a chasteness and 
refinement about them which is wanting sometimes in 
flowers of this variety gathered during the summer 
months. I have seen it flowering beautifully as a 
pillar rose a few miles North of London at Christmas 
during a mild winter, and flowers of it are sometimes 
gathered from the open quarters in Nurseries very 
late in the season, but these ought when they can be 
had to be cut just as they are beginning to expand, 
because the continual dampness in the air causes 
the outer petals to decay. This universal favourite 
with the protection of a wall, will seldom fail to pro¬ 
duce at least enough flowers to warrant its being 
called a Winter Rose.— W.P.G. 
LINDEN HOUSE, CARLISLE 
When recently visiting the collection of Orchids 
belonging to B. Scott, Esq.,at Linden House, Carlisle, 
I was much struck with the admirable condition 
which the plants are in, and the beautiful order in 
which everything is kept. The plants are in grand 
health, and amongst them are many fine things now 
in flower. Mr. Scott is certainly to be congratulated 
on so earnestly taking up the pleasant task of 
Orchid growing, and on the beautiful varieties of 
which his collection is composed, and which, under 
the practical care of Mr. George Accleton, the 
gardener, is a great credit to both. 
The Cattleya house contains some good plants ot 
Cattleya Mendeiii, C. Trianae, C. Lawrenciana. 
Some fine pieces of Cattleya aurea, showing well for 
flower ; Cattleya gigas, several fine young speci¬ 
mens; Cattleya Mossiae, good pieces; and C. 
Gaskelliana Maud Scott. This last-named is an ex¬ 
traordinary fine variety. The sepals and petals are 
long and broad, white, shaded with rose, with a light 
coloured border near the ploins. The lip is a rich 
deep purple, shaded with violet, with an orange 
throat and a deep white margin beautifully crisped. 
Amongst the Cypripediums the following are now 
in flower :—Cypripedium tonsum superbum (this is 
a grand form, having a dorsal sepal very broad and 
petals beautifully spotted), C. Harrisianum "nigrum 
(a fine specimen carrying several of its dark, beauti¬ 
fully varnished flowers), C. Harrisianum superbum, 
C. hybridum, C. villosum (some distinct 
varieties of this were present), and a well-flowered 
specimen of C. calurum, C. Spicerianum, and about 
100 other varieties will soon be in flower. 
This class of Orchids is much favoured by Miss 
Scott who takes great interest in their cultivation. 
There is a fine specimen of Brassia verrucosa which 
had a number of spikes of flowers and Epidendrum 
prismatocarpum, showing well for flower. I noticed 
also a fine specimen of Oncidium Papilio majus. 
In the cool Orchid house there is a fine lot of 
Cypripedium insigne, several varieties of the same 
showing well for flower and a quantity of Odonto- 
glossums Alexandrae, Pescatori triumphans, 
Hallii, Rossii majus, and many others. One 
O. Alexandrae is a very beautiiul large-flowered 
variety, very heavily spotted, and carrying about 
twelve flowers on a spike. Not only were the 
Orchids in good health, but I noticed the stove and 
greenhouse plants were all thriving, and the whole 
place beautifully kept up.— H. F. Tracv. 
MULBERRIES. 
Next to the Cedar, perhaps, there is no tree which 
confers greater distinction upon an old-fashioned 
garden than the Mulberry. Having regard to the 
luxuriance of their growth, the picturesqueness of 
their appearance, the richness of their fruit, and the 
readiness with which they adapt themselves to our 
climate, it is a little surprising, says a writer in the 
Evening Standard, that Mulberries are not more 
frequently planted by the modern gardener. But 
there is a fashion in arboriculture, as in other less 
important pursuits, and delightful as they are on a 
lawn, or in a quiet corner of the orchard, the trees 
of this family have long ceased to be the objects of 
particular notice. Of course there are still to be 
found some noteworthy specimens, which have come 
down to us by inheritance, and for which we are 
mostly indebted to the labour and care bestowed 
upon the ancient monastery gardens. One historic 
tree flourished for centuries in the Old Monks' 
Garden at Canterbury, and some others of patri¬ 
archal age have long been objects of interest at 
Oxford. Another remarkable tree used to stand in 
the Garden of St. James' Priory House, near 
Bridgnorth, in Shropshire, which at four feet from 
the ground measured nearly ten feet in circum¬ 
ference, In spite of its situation in a considerably 
higher latitude, this was rather larger than the 
famous Mulberry tree at Bourg-le-Roi, in Southern 
France, which is known to be above 250 years old, 
but whose circumference a yard from the ground 
is only nine feet. 
Another Mulberry of great size was cut down a 
few years ago in the grounds of the old Jacobean 
house of Floore, in Northamptonshire, which was 
certainly as old as the garden which it adorned. 
These, and indeed most of the ancient Mulberry 
trees found in similar situations, were planted and 
