672 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 24, 1893. 
If ever the British climate was redeemed 
from the frequent charge of being gloomy 
and miserable, a charge we have too often 
justified, it has been this year, when we 
have had some four months of the brightest, 
sunniest, most beautiful weather that could 
perhaps have been found in any 
country in the world. Nevertheless we 
can well have too much of a good thing 
and would now gladly hear of an abund¬ 
ance of rain falling in all parts of the 
country. 
adies as Gardeners. —The product of 
the Ladies’ Gardeners’ Association, so 
far as we can learn, does not seem to be a 
great success, a result we were quite pre¬ 
pared for, not from bias or prejudice of any 
sort, but rather because we have the fullest 
appreciation of the long and continuous 
service to horticulture it is absolutely need¬ 
ful to give ere experience and knowledge 
are gained. Ladies may have art tastes, 
but these perform little of arduous work ; 
and indeed so far as relates to taste, we 
have found too often good reason to con¬ 
test that assumption, as very much of 
woman’s work in horticulture has been 
found sadly wanting, at least from our 
practical view. 
But there are aspects of gardening in 
which women may, and do, labour with 
excellent knowledge, as every private or 
market gardener knows who has long em¬ 
ployed females in the performance of certain 
work, and found them most useful and 
capable. It is perhaps a most unusual 
thing to find a woman acting as Secretary 
of a Horticultural Society, but there is one 
such body in Middlesex that has a lady for 
its principal executive officer, and most 
admirably and efficiently does she discharge 
the duties of her office. 
In the rules for the government of the 
twenty acres of allotments furnished to the 
working classes by the go-a-head Corpora¬ 
tion of the town of Richmond, Surrey, it is 
stated that “ any man or women of not less 
than twenty-one years of age shall be eligi¬ 
ble to become a tenant of an allotment.” 
That marks a distinct advance in this 
direction and shows that a public body 
recognises the capability of woman to man¬ 
age an allotment. After all it is the hard¬ 
working women that make the best “ lady 
gardeners.” 
f ARPET Beds. —Whilst we have in the 
past commonly used this term in rela¬ 
tion to what are sometimes called mosaic 
or inlaid beds, there are other carpet beds, 
where the soil is covered with some dwarf 
creeping plant and from out of this carpet 
springs a series of tall plants, thinly disposed, 
and usually having a very pleasing appear¬ 
ance. Bur almost every type of bed has 
its season, and the present hot summer 
should be particularly favourable to carpet 
bedding of the mosaic form, for these are 
chiefly fashioned from tender plants, such 
as Alternantheras, which revel in warmth 
and colour up superbly under the great sun 
heat, whilst succulents, also so commonly 
employed, seem also to like the drought and 
heat. 
But then what suits these plants also 
suits all kinds of bedding Petunias, 
Begonias, Pelargoniums, & c., especially 
flowering varieties, provided they can find a 
sufficiency of moisture at the roots. Heavy 
rains soon become the bete noire of these 
tender flowering plants, but they make 
leafage in moderation and flower profusely in 
warmth and sunshine. There is no doubt 
but that we shall see carpet bedding in 
great beauty shortly. The plants employed 
have had wonderful opportunities, finding 
July heat in June, and an entire absence 
of cold storms and winds, which dis¬ 
colour and check them so materially. 
It may, of course, be a moot question as 
to whether this form of flower gardening 
exhibits the best taste. We are not discuss¬ 
ing that question, we are rather referring 
now to the general effects the hot weather 
is likely to have upon summer bedding in 
general, and on carpet beds in particular. 
It is one of the pleasing features of to-day’s 
bedding, especially in large gardens, that 
so much variety, not only in material but 
in style of planting, is now produced so 
that strange indeed must be the season, 
that does not specially suit something or 
other. 
ummer Pruning of Fruit Trees.— 
With respect to the application of the 
art of summer pruning to wall-trained 
trees, we are all agreed that under any other 
system of culture the successful production 
of crops of fruit on wall trees would be im¬ 
possible. It is when we come to deal with 
bush and pyramid trained, for these are 
practically trained trees, that it is found 
material difference of opinion exists amongst 
gardeners. The fact is that all such forms 
of tree training and pruning are essentially 
of an artificial kind, and are practised for 
the production of crops which could hardly 
be obtained from such trees under other or 
natural conditions. 
The raison detre of summer pruning is not 
so much the repression of sap flow as the 
diversion of it, if possible, into other 
channels, so that trees shall show at the 
close of the season less a crop of barren 
wood than an abundance of either perfect 
or perfecting flower buds. If we allow trees 
to grow ever so naturally, we still must 
more or less artificially prune or thin them. 
Still in such case we do not touch them in 
the summer. It is when circumstances of 
culture compel the application of restriction 
either to form or dimension, or both, that 
summer pruning becomes absolutely indis¬ 
pensable, as it is the aim of the cultivator to 
secure the greatest possible quantity of 
fruit from the smallest possible area 
Now the rationale of summer pruning is 
that by the removal of all superfluous 
branches, perhaps 8o percent, of the whole 
on a tree, by pinching or cutting them 
back at a specified time perhaps about mid¬ 
summer, to a few leaf-buds, not only is 
the rest of the tree thrown open to light 
and air, but that the sap force is then con¬ 
centrated upon the development of the base, 
turning as a rule wood-buds,into more or less 
perfect fruit buds, for the succeeding year’s 
cropping. That desired condition, how¬ 
ever, does not always arise. Too often this 
artificial spurring produces myriads of 
imperfect fruit-buds, which are barren. 
Not infrequently the product is only more 
useless wood growth. Local conditions 
often govern results, still it must be 
admitted that with our present garden con¬ 
ditions, summer pruning is an indispensable 
function. 
-- 
The Barnstaple Chrysanthemum Show will be held 
in the local Market Hall, on Wednesday and Thurs¬ 
day, November ist and 2nd. 
Great York Gala.—The total number of visitors 
last week were 52,915, an increase of 12,400 over that 
of 1892, and 3,169 more than the attendance in 1890, 
the highest number on record until this year. 
The North Petherton Horticultural Society will 
hold its eighth annual exhibition in the picturesque 
grounds of Shovell House, on Thursday, August 
3rd. 
A Thermometer Bursts.—At Yealmpton, Devon, on 
Monday, an ordinary household thermometer, regis¬ 
tering up to 130 deg. Fahrenheit, was exposed to 
the sun's rays about noon. Within a few minutes 
the alcohol rose to the top of the tube, and shortly 
afterwards the bulb burst under the pressure of the 
heated liquid. 
Mr. J W. Bayne, formerly gardener to Lord Belper, 
at Kingston Hall, Darby, and lately of the Craigleith 
X ursery, Comely Bank, Edinburgh, last week received 
the appointment of Superintendent of the Cemeteries 
and Public Parks of the City of Perth. The position is 
a good one, and there were twenty-six applicants. 
Mr. Bayne, an excellent practical gardener, is to 
be congratulated on his success. 
Th8 Lowfiald Nurseries. —The annual outing of the 
employes of the firm of Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons, 
took place on Monday, the 19th inst., Portsmouth 
and the Isle of Wight being visited, the dockyard 
being first inspected. The company, numbering 
ninety-six, then adjourned to the Speedwell Hotel for 
luncheon, after which the party with their own band 
entered a special steamer chartered for the occasion, 
visiting Osborne, Ryde, Sea View, etc., returning to 
Portsmouth to tea, and thence home to Crawley 
by the last train, all having spent a most enjoyable 
day. 
The Cricket Mitch arranged between the "A” team 
of Messrs. Sutton & Sons' employes and the Swan- 
more Park Club was played on the ground of the 
latter on the 14th inst., and proved in every way a 
most enjoyable game, ending in a draw. The 
visitors batted first and ran up a total of 135, thanks 
to Messrs. Hawes, Allum, and Barrett. The home 
team replied wdth no for 11 wickets, 12 aside play¬ 
ing. The top scores were made by Messrs. Threlfal, 
Warren, and Agate. 
Early Season on the Continent— Speaking of 
Belgium, L'Illustration Horticole states that the 
evolution of foliage and flowers has not been so 
early there since half a century. By the 17th May 
the hybrid perpetual Roses commenced to flower in 
the garden of the State School of Horticulture 
at Ghent. The first or earliest Potatoes were like¬ 
wise in flower. Vegetables are five weeks in advance 
of their normal period. It is the same with the 
trees and shrubs of the park and neighbouring plan¬ 
tations. 
Trees without Water. —A naturalist writes from 
Tunbridge Wells:—“Can the authorities at Kew or 
other large arboricultural establishments inform us 
as to the length of time large trees can exist without 
rain ? In this part of England nearly three and a 
half months have passed without any regular rain¬ 
fall, and the Chestnuts, Oaks, Beeches, and Elms 
are drooping, lifeless, and in some cases withered. 
In this condition is it not probable that wind and 
rain will, when it comes, strip bare instead of revive 
their stricken foliage ? ’’ 
Agricultural Fertilisers. —The Minister of Agricul¬ 
ture has in hand a Bill to amend the law with re¬ 
spect to the sale of agricultural fertilisers and feeding 
stuffs. With respect to the former the Bill provides 
that every person who sells for use as a fertiliser of 
the soil any article manufactured in the United 
Kingdom or imported from abroad shall give to the 
purchaser an invoice stating, as near as he can, the 
percentage of the nitrogen, soluable and insoluable 
phosphates, and potash, if any, contained in the 
article. The invoice is to have effect as a warranty 
by the seller of the statements therein. With re¬ 
spect to food for cattle there shall be implied a 
warranty by the seller that the article is suitable for 
feeding purposes. Heavy penalties are provided for 
reach of these regulations. 
The Market Gardeners of Cornwall are virtually at 
their wits’ end to know what to do. Truly the con¬ 
dition of things is most uncomfortable. Everything 
is parched and dying, and the abnormal heat is such 
as the like of no one can remember, registering as 
high as 134 0 . But what can be expected after waiting 
for rain three whole months? The Currants are falling 
to the ground, and the Apples strew around the roots 
more plentifully almost than on the branches. The 
Raspberries are small, and have lost their usual 
flavour. At this particular time, when hundreds of 
girls and women are usually employed in picking fruit, 
they are numbered by the dozens only. Potato picking 
is over for the early sorts, and green vegetables are 
most eagerly sought for, but difficult to obtain. 
Flowers exist now but in rare instances, where in 
ordinary years at this time they are most profuse. 
All parts of Cornwall seem now to be sharing the 
same experience. 
