june 29, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
703 
they made a glut on the market; this year they are 
so scarce that they will make a high price, and 
those growers who sacrificed much of the crop 
last year by thinning will be well recompensed 
this year by the trees producing good crops, thus 
givirg their owners the control of the markets, 
and enabling them to bring home good prices for their 
fruit, which if it had teen marketed last year 
would only have gone off at a cheap rate to the 
boilers. Strawberries wo jld be a good crop if they 
could get a good rain to assist them to swell their 
fruit which have set in abundance. The growers 
are only expecting about two tons to the acre, where¬ 
as if rain fell they would easily obtain three. 
Raspberries are in a bad state all over the country, 
and Wisbech canes were not exempt from the ill 
effects of last autumn, when they did not get the 
proper conditions to ripen thoroughly and conse¬ 
quently suffered from the frost. 
In Kent the prospects for the Strawberry and 
Raspberry crops are very bad, growers are not 
expecting more than 30 cwts. of. Strawberries to the 
acre, and they think that as the outlook is at present 
Raspberries will not yield more than 10 cwt. 
The Scotch grower has not many things in the 
way of fruit growing on which he can congratulate 
himself, but one thing that seems to thrive in North 
Britain better than in any other part of the island 
is Raspberries. Scotch growers think they have 
had a bad season if the output per acre does not 
exceed twice as much as ours. In Kent there are 
66,750 acres devoted to the cultivation of fruit, and 
it seems a great pity that such a large industry 
should be strangled by unfair railway rates while 
the Government looks on in its usual apathetic way 
and doses peacefully while the foreigner pockets the 
profits of our fruit markets, and the home grower 
is undergoing in too many instances the terrible 
ordeal of bankruptcy proceedings. We called it a 
pity but it is more a matter for indignation,especially 
when a grower in France can put his fruit in Covent 
Garden market not only as cheap, but cheaper 
than the grower only 20 miles out .—Fruit Grower. 
SNAGS ON FRUIT TREES AND THEIR 
CAUSE OF DISEASE. 
It does not appear to many cultivators that much 
mischief to fruit trees is caused by bad pruning and 
retaining of snags at pruning time. Training,as far as 
I have ever seen,is a secondary matter. Any form may 
be in practice with precisely the same results. The 
main object in view is to cover every small space 
with healthy free bearing wood, and when the trees 
are started in the beginning with this, free from long 
dying portions of shoots (which so often cause 
canker) they are easily kept from many evils which 
they suffer from, and which is followed by prema¬ 
ture decay. 
Rather than plant trees which have been badly 
manipulated it is much better to get maidens. 
Much hard cutting back of the young growth is not 
only waste of time in establishing healthy fruiting 
trees, but is very harmful If growth is gross, and 
many sublaterals formed, it is better to lay them in 
to form part of the permanent tree than to mutil¬ 
ate the young wood. Crowding is an evil much in 
evidence in the majority of gardens. Reverting to 
the mischief caused by leaving "snags " or pieces 
which have to die back to a wood bud, the only 
remedy is to cut them off, leaving nothing to die 
back. The wound soon heals, the bark closes 
over, and when properly cut the shoots show no 
appearance of having been pruned. The Fulham 
nurseries, so long established as an excellent fruit 
tree emporium, derived their fame mostly from two 
points in culture, viz., the absence of snags and care- 
ful transplanting in the young stages of growth. 
These nurseries of Osborn & Sons have long ceased 
to exist.— M. T., Canon, N.B. 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
The hot weather has made much work in the houses 
by causing the plants to dry up quickly and the air 
to become dry and parched if the floors and stages 
are not kept frequently welted. One of the chief 
things that seems to be occupying the attention of 
most of the men under glass is sponging, for as the 
bright warm weather promotes the growth of vege¬ 
tation so does it also stimulate the pests which attack 
plants into a more active life, and it is only with the 
greatest difficulty that the various plagues are kept 
in hand. Insect pests are not so bad, but the in¬ 
visible and subtle fungi often cause much anxiety, 
for one never knows what is going to be its next 
victim. It is both in the soil ready to attack the 
roots and in the air ready to attack the plant. 
Insecticide. —Scale seems to be causing much 
annoyance at present, and like its relative the Aphis, 
it is almost impossible to eradicate without destroy¬ 
ing the plant. There are many patent mixtures used 
for sponging plants with, but none are more cheap 
and efficacious than a handful of soft soap with as 
much paraffin worked into it as it will absorb, and 
then dissolved in a pail of water. By using the 
paraffin in this manner it does net cause trouble by 
floating on the top of the water but keeps thoroughly 
mixed. It is a good plan to apply sulphur in a 
mixture such as this, for it can be distributed at will 
with a syringe, and the soapy water will make it 
adhere to the paits to which it is applied. 
Azaleas. — Those which have completed their 
growth should now be placed outside, if properly 
hardened off, to ripen their shoots. If sufficient 
ashes or fibre are not available to plunge the pots in 
they should be shaded by some other means. They 
are very liable to suffer from thrips and red-spider. 
Syringing with clear water does not seem to disturb 
them much as the hairy covering on the leaves 
affords a good protection, but if the plants are 
syringed occasionally with the paraffin and soft scap 
mixture with a little sulphur added they will be 
rendered too unpleasant quarters for these little 
marauders. 
Aristolochias. —They are a handsome flowered 
genus of plants, at least most of them ate, but they 
have one great drawback and that is their fetid 
odour, and it is quite common among gardeners to 
hear it referred to as the essence of bad smells. The 
one I draw attention to does not possess this bad 
quality and has most brilliantly coloured flowers. I 
mean A. elegans, a Brazilian species. For growing 
on the roof of a big stove it is unequalled for grace¬ 
fulness, and when in flower, which is late in the 
summer and through the autumn, it is the pride of 
every man who owns one. The flower is not by any 
means a large one; the tube is a yellowish green, 
about 2 in. long, spreading out into a heart shaped 
limb about 3 in. across, which is a deep yellow 
heavily splashed with purple and has a rich velvety 
band of crimson round the throat. It grows very 
freely in the conservatory and has been known to 
grow out doors as a tender annual. It is about the 
most free or continuous flowering of the genus, and 
even when the roof of a hothouse is hung with 
festoons of shoots in full bloom it cannot be smelt, 
whereas with some of its sisters it would not be 
Decessary to go into the house to smell them if only 
one bloom is out, especially A gigas and A. cymbifera. 
Having no smell and being such a rampant grower 
it is invaluable for large conservatory work and has 
a quality that ought to recommend it more than 
anything and that is it is almost free from insect 
enemies. It seeds freely and can be quickly raised 
in this way, or by cuttings of the well ripened wood 
taken towards the end of the summer. It does not 
require any special soil, but the richer it is the more 
rampant It will grow. It should be pruned well 
back every spring ; if it is pruned in the winter it 
often starts into growth again, which is very un¬ 
desirable at that time of the year, as unless it receives 
plenty of light it grows weakly. 
Celosias. —These are becoming very popular as 
summer bedding plants as well as for greenhouse 
decoration. They delight in a rich soil, and it will 
be found that those which are growing in pots will 
well repay the trouble of giving them an occasional 
watering with liquid manure. Celosia cristata, the 
Cockscomb, especially, shows signs of appreciation 
of generous treatment by making a most vigorous 
growth, and thus producing a strong comb. They 
are very easy to grow, but they are very much 
troubled by redspider, which persistently attacks 
them immediately syringing is left off. To grow 
large Cockcombs they should have plenty of dried 
cow dung in the soil, and be grown along in a warm 
moist house close to the glass. A shelf in a Melon 
house is well suited to them so long as the Melons 
will allow of the air being kept moist. 
Medinilla magnifica. —There are not many 
gardens where this magnificent evergreen shrub can 
be seen ornamenting the s'ove. It must be because 
it is not sufficiently known that it is so rarely met 
with. It cannot be becau .e it is not worth growing, 
or is difficult to manage. It is a native of Manilla, 
but does not owe its name to that, for the genus takes 
its name from Governor J. de Medinilla, of the 
Marianne Islands. The flowers are borne in very 
large pendulous racemes, and of a beautiful rose 
colour, and remain out for a considerable time 
before they show signs of fading. They delight in a 
light soil; a compost of equal parts of leaf soil and 
meadow loam is the best mixture to grow them in. 
They luxuriate in moist surroundings, and a high 
temperature. M. speciosa, as its name denotes, is a 
very showy species, having deep crimson flowers 
which are borne in long drooping racemes. It was 
introduced from Java in 1845 The leaves of the 
former species make It a conspicuous plant ; they 
are rich shining green, and about 10 in. long. 
Although they delight in plenty of heat during the 
summer, 6o f> Fahr. at night will be plenty for them 
in the winter, when they should be induced to rest 
by lessening the water supply, only allowing just 
sufficient to keep the leaves from becoming limp. 
When they commence growth again, if they have 
not been repotted they should have occasional 
applications of weak liquid manure. The young 
half-ripened growths will strike readily in a good 
heat.— C. 
fiardp Fruit Garden. 
Now that the trees are growing so vigorously, they 
will require a lot of attention in the way of summer 
pruning. If this is neglected for a few weeks, the 
damage often becomes irreparable through one shoot 
running away with the sap which is required for its 
neighbour, and so on. What must be aimed at is a 
well balanced growth with plenty of room for each 
shoot which is to remain on the tree to ripen properly. 
If the wall-trees are left for a time without their 
young shoots beiDg tied in, they will grow so 
strongly in an outward direction, that it will te 
impossible to get them back again into their proper 
places without damaging them. All growth that is 
not required and is making a crowd of foliage should 
be removed, or mildew, &c., will scon put in an 
appearance. When nailing in the young growth, 
plenty of room must be left iu the shred for the 
shoot to swell. The Peach trees, &c., on walls 
should be looked to, now that the fruit is swelling 
quickly to see that it is not likely to be damaged by 
being in too close proximity to a nail or other object 
which will cause injury. 
Watering.— If the trees are properly mulched, 
they will not need watering often. When they are 
watered it should never be with cold spring water, 
as the shock 10 the roots has much to do with the 
checking and cracking of the fruit very ofteD. It is 
not always possible to obtain pond water, but when 
it is, it should be used, even if it necessitates a little 
more time and labour in fetching. 
Grafts ; — Much damage is often caused by the 
wind blowing out the scions when they burst into 
leaf. This should be prevented by running a cane 
up by the side of it and keeping it tied as it grows. 
The clay used in grafting should now be removed, 
but if the union is not quite complete, it should be 
covered again for a short time until it is. All shoots 
coming from the stock must be removed to induce it 
to throw the whole of its energy into the graft. Pear 
trees and Apple trees should be summer pruned, but 
this should not be done all at once, only one half of a 
tree should be done at a time and the other after the 
lapse of a few days; this will enable the tree to 
withstand the shock of the surplus sap beiDg thrown 
back on it. 
Netting.— In districts where small fruits are 
subject to the marauding expeditions of the feathered 
family, the trees should be netted without delay. Too 
often we see fruit destroyed wholesale, and the owner 
looking on in hopeless despair, saying he canrot 
afford to net them. If he cannot afford to net them, 
it is certain that he cannot afford to lose them, ai d 
he should choose the lesser of the two evils, for go d 
garden netting can be bought at remarkably low 
prices, and a glance down the columns of any horti¬ 
cultural paper will point out that as much as thirty - 
five square yards can be bought for a shilling, and 
surely a shilling's worth of fruit can be saved in that 
space, even during the first year.— F. J. 
