660 
THE GARDENING WORLD.. 
June 8, 1901. 
IS GARDENING A SCIENCE? 
(tContinued prom p. 6o8.) 
Summer v . Winter Pruning. 
Winter priming is strength, while summer pruning 
is weakness. 
If a tree is pruned in summer while soft leaves 
and shoots are growing rapidly, you remove from 
the tree, it is true, what has been a great strain 
upon its resources, and which has given back very 
little in return; that I admit. But supposing you 
let these same branches and leaves remain and 
reach maturity, what do they do then ? Why they 
work for the benefit of the whole tree, as much as 
any other part of it. 
Ah, you say, then what co you recommend ? Do 
you advocate to let remain the whole growth of the 
season upon a fruit tree ? No, nothing of the kind. 
But this I advocate, that as soon as the growth which is 
necessary is made, that the tender growing point be 
pinched out; it is this growing point which is pull¬ 
ing so hard upon the tree. What is gained by this ? 
Much; for as soon as this point is removed the 
wood and leaves immediately behind it develop into 
maturity quickly, and instead of drawing upon the 
overtaxed tree, they have their square feet of leafage 
spread out, basking in sun and air, and doing its 
part to build up a fruit crop, which the tree of 
which this forms a part is endeavouring to carry. 
But then, on the other hand, suppose this growth 
is allowed to go on and grow to i ft., 18 in., 2 ft. or 
what it might be (which is often done), drawing 
upon the overtaxed resources of the tree, and when 
some of its more mature leaves are doing a little, 
suppose I say all this is removed with a stroke, what 
does this mean to the tree ? Let us look at the 
matter from a scientific standpoint. 
The roots, as you know, ihrough this abundant 
growth, are in the greatest activity and are sending 
up water and gases with it in the form of plant food 
at a rapid rate, and at the very time when this flow 
is at its height, you remove these leaves and stems, 
consequently there is not the demand above for the 
amount of water sent up, and the inevitable follows. 
The constitution of the plants becomes weakened, 
the cambium layer gets thin and watery through 
this great decrease of foliage area ; what follows ? 
The fruit suffers in quality, if not in quantity, 
through the tree receiving this severe check at a 
critical period of its growth. On the other hand, if 
the principle of pinching had been practised, how 
much m'ght have been saved ? 
Would that we gardeners put into practice more 
often the principle of pinching, and less the system 
of cutting. How much we should save by this. 
What unnecessary energy and waste of vital func¬ 
tions we might save many of our plants if we would 
only pinch instead of cut. Then, again, how often 
this cutting during the sap circulation throws open 
the door to future disease. It is by checks such as 
this summer pruning often gives, that many of our 
fruit trees fall victims to various fungoid diseases. 
This is Nature's teaching, and if followed cannot 
fail to be very beneficial in assisting her to carry her 
fruits and flowers to perfection, and to be a profit 
and a pleasure to all concerned. 
Propagation by Cuttings. 
There is also another part of horticultural practice 
to which I wish to draw your attention, and that is 
propagating by cuttings. Undoubtedly this is the 
plan adopted for the propagation of a very large 
number of plants, and especially so where nature 
has endowed plants with the powers of propagation 
in this way. Now the first indication we get that a 
cutting is going to root, is its commencing to callus 
at the bottom end. If a cutting fails to do this, 
you soon have signs of it going wrong ; probably the 
leaves and stem above the soil look green and 
all right as if all was going well, but suddenly it 
collapses, and we say that it has damped off. Yes, 
and this is the real definition of it ; it has damped 
off. Well, you say, what is the cause ? This is it; 
the cut end of ihe cutting has failed to callus 
quickly, and consequently through the soil being a 
little damp, the end being in the nature of a fresh 
wound imbibes or takes up this water freely and 
the cuttings standing in an atmosphere to the point 
of saturation, the leaves cannot give off this water 
so away goes the end first which has the greatest 
amount of this suiplus water stored. This is 
natural, and it must be obvious to the least 
observant of us. Well, you say, is there no remedy ? 
Yes; and 1 will give you nature's own remedy first. 
Tnere is nothing which accelerates the formation of 
a callus like air. Therefore, use a soil which will 
admit air freely, and a large air space at the 
bottom of the pot, made by using plenty of crocks. 
What remedy does art offer, to mitigate this evil ? 
Can she help nature here ? Yes, in a great measure 
she can. The best means I have found for forming 
this callus artificially is to dip the ends of the 
cutting in collcdium quickly, just deep enough to 
seal up the wound, and this prevents the ingress of 
too much damp. This, I have found to be an 
excellent thing to form an artificial callus, and it is 
also good when the cuttings are a bit sappy. 
This does assist nature, and it is by a knowledge 
of the necessities of nature that art can be employed 
to coax nature, as it were, to do the work required 
quicker than she would perform it unaided by 
man. Then again, the constitution of plants differs 
very considerably, and this affects their powers of 
rooting to a very great extent. 
Some species of plants will root under almost any 
circumstances, while on the other hand, it takes all 
the patience and skill that one can command to get 
them to root; and there are those which no art of 
man has ever induced to root, nor ever will. Dr. 
Lindley, in his application of principles, says, " The 
Orange and Lemon to be rooted successfully must 
have the bottom end of the cutting touching the pot. 
Obviously, this is done to get the cutting where the 
air is most active and where there can be no undue 
accumulation of water.” Other methods we find 
recommended by Mr. Forsyth and others, to induce 
those plants to root, which are so capricious of root 
action, but in every case the cuttings are with the 
ends touching the side, of the pot, and thus a con¬ 
stant circulation of air is taking place and the mois¬ 
ture is steady and even, which goes far to encourage 
root action. 
This brings me to another phase cf horticulture, 
which is an important one, namely, the feeding of 
plants. And here I claim the gardener is, of neces¬ 
sity, a sciehtist, if he has to feed his plants upon 
physiological principles. How often it happens that 
with our garden crcps too much manure is used, or, 
in other words, one kind of manure is used too 
many times in succession. 
Garden crops fail as often through over-manuring 
as by underdoing it. In fact, there is nothing in my 
opinion that will throw a plant in a bad state of 
health so quickly as being over-manured. Let us 
take for an instance the Pea and Bean family. All 
the Leguminosae, as you know, have the power of 
absorbing nitrogen from the air, and storing up 
what they cannot assimilate on their roots in the 
form of little tubercles. Supposing these plants are 
planted into land surfeited with ammonia through 
the constant use of manure, can you expect that it is 
possible for these plants, collectors of nitrogen as 
they are, to grow under these conditions, and prove 
productive, when its every tissue is gorged with a 
superabundance of this one manure ? Is there any 
necessity to be alarmed at mildew and other dis¬ 
eases making their appearance ? Not at all. It is 
my firm opinion that when we have learnt the 
science of manuring thoroughly, so that the require¬ 
ments of our crops shall be supplied to a nicety, 
then I believe we shall have gone a step towards 
keeping down disease. There is absolutely no 
necessity to manure with a nitrogenous manure for 
either Peas or Beans, and especially if the land has 
been manured the year previous. 
It has been proved by experiment that the Legum¬ 
inosae grown in a soil devoid of nitrogen (commonly 
called ammonia) that their development has been 
better and healthier than when planted in land 
glutted with manure. This, then, proves conclusively 
that the Pea and Bean are able to draw all the 
nitrogen required for their sustenance from the 
atmosphere. Well, you say, what is to be done 
when the land gets overcharged with this organic 
manure, this superfluity of humus ? Why, withhold 
those manures which contain so much of this 
organic matter altogether for a time, and use a little 
inorganic in the form of lime, etc. In fact, in the 
majority of gardens, once in three years is not too 
olten for the application of a little lime, and especi¬ 
ally where so much manure of a humic nature has 
been applied. Lime has a beneficial action upon 
the soil, which makes it so valuable in horticulture. 
Then, in addition to this lime, when the crops are 
sown—aye, or even whea they are up and growing 
—add a little artificial, that which you know your 
crop is benefited by. This system you will find far 
more economical than to be constantly using dung 
in an indiscriminate manner. Now it would be a 
very great error to suppose that artificial manure 
can do for the land what farmyard manure can, and 
further, there is no disputing the fact that where 
artificial manure is resorted to many years in succes¬ 
sion without the aid of dung, that such land will go 
completely out of cultivation, and particularly in 
heavy soils. Has not Nature or science a lesson for 
us here ? Yes. 
“ Be temperate in all things.” 
[To he continued.) 
CYTISUS ALBUS. 
If anyone wishes for an easily cultivated, floriferous 
shrub to brighten the garden and pleasure grounds 
during the early part of the year they cannot do 
better than plant the above species of Cytisus, 
known as Spanish Broom. The flowers are pure 
white and produced on long graceful branches. It 
requires a sunny position and plenty of room as it 
soon resents the encroachments of any neighbouring 
plants. It will grow in almost any soil but prefers 
a sandy loam. It was introduced into this country 
about 1750. 
BERBERIS DARWINII. 
Most of the Berberis family form pretty shrubs 
when in bloom and are beginning to be found indis¬ 
pensable in every garden of any pretensions. Like 
many other families the commonest is the prettiest, 
and none are grown more extensively than the above 
variety. During this season it has been a picture of 
floriferousness making banks of deep orange colour 
in many gardens. It was introduced from Chili in 
1849, and like most other plants which hail from 
there, requires plenty of light and room. 
EARWIGS. 
These destructive insects have some very peculiar 
habits, and differ in many respects from most others. 
One of the chief points of difference is that the female 
does not leave her eggs when laid, in the same 
manner that most insects do, but stays by them 
until hatched, and protects her progeny in the same 
way that a hen would protect her chicks. They 
have the habit also of making sudden migrations, 
coming suddenly into a position and leaving it as 
suddenly as they came. The wings are very beauti¬ 
ful, but are very small and fragile, they are very 
neatly folded when not in use. The folding is 
accomplished by the formidable forceps which are so 
well known to all who handle them. 
DIPLADENIAS. 
No climbers are more worthy of a position in every 
stove than these. They have been hjbridised with 
such success that they are now unrivalled among 
stove creepers for brilliance of colour. They have 
two glands on the ovary. It is to these glands that 
the geDus owes its name, which means double gland, 
from diploos, double, and ciden, a gland. The flowers 
are produced rather late in the summer, on the new 
growth. After flowering the young growth should 
be well thinned out. 
STREPTOSOLEN JAMESONII. 
This is one of the best of the Solanaceae order. It is 
well adapted to greenhouse cultivation, especially if 
it can be provided with a pillar to climb up, and a 
light position. The flowers are produced in pro¬ 
fusion on terminal corymbose panicles and are of a 
deep orange colour. It is the only plant in the 
genus. It thrives in almost any soil but prefers a 
sandy compost. It is readily propagated by cuttings 
inserted in sand and placed under a bell-glass. It is 
nearly always in flower, having no definite period for 
blooming. 
SOLANUM JASMINOIDES. 
This is another of the beautiful order of Solanaceae, 
also a greenhouse species. It is a graceful climber 
and a free flowerer. When grown in a light position 
on a greenhouse roof it flowers practically all the 
year round. It has much the same habit as S. 
Seaforthianum, the stove species. Tbe flowers are 
a bluish white and show out conspicuously from the 
