916 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 31, 1903. 
Readers' Competition—continued. 
Ferns. Some of the finest Ferns I ever saw were potted very 
lightly. Thinking to equal them, I tried the same plan, but 
completely failed, and only by going back to my own method 
had I success. It is, therefore, usually best to stick by our 
own methods, only we may modify them, or experiment, by 
seeing other jjlans that succeed, and ti we find the new plans 
give the better result, we would be fools to refuse to use them. 
I could go on indefinitely with mention of failures that have 
come under my notice, but when I started I meant only to give 
those that were real failures, and for which, as yet, no remedy 
has been found. With a careful study of each failure, we can 
often find the cause. These, however, ; re more mishaps than 
real failures, and so hardly come under my present heading. 
Preston, Linlithgow. C. Blair. 
Training Fan-shape Trees. 
This is a subject that gets less attention than it really 
deserves, and well-trained trees form pretty objects with which 
to adorn the walls of the garden. Personally, I favour the fan 
shape, and will confine my remarks, which I trust may p>rove 
both interesting and beneficial, to that particular style of train¬ 
ing. On procuring a nursery-trained tree it, as a rule, consists 
of three or five shoots or branches, which from a training point 
of view are called leaders, and the first duty to perform after 
its arrival is to have it speedily planted. For this take out a 
pit fully 18 in. deep and larger in extent than the roots of the 
tree, and fill well up with a loamy mixture and make wonder¬ 
fully firm ; then prune all wounded and strong roots, and place 
it in the pit, not too deep nor too near the wall, and carefully 
spread out the roots with a tendency to point downwards, then 
cover with leaf soil, and finish off with a quantity of the loamy 
mixture, but instead of treading on the top of the roots give a 
good heavy watering. 
Meantime fasten the shoots to the wall, unpruned, but at the 
end of two months the shoots should be cut back to a foot, and 
fix 11 ie centre one truly central and the bottom one on each side 
horizontal, and if there be two more fix them on an incline less 
than a third of the distance between the other two points, and 
nearer the horizontal shoot. It will now be seen that as the 
tree grows the distance between the leaders gradually increases. 
Presuming by the end of the following summer the tree lias 
done well, all surplus shoots, such as those coming from the 
underside as well as those coming straight out from the trees 
should be half pruned, and all top side shoots laid in meantime 
unpruned, and when the winter pruning and nailing comes on 
choose ail shoots that are to remain permanent and spur all 
others. All leaders should be lengthened a foot, and if one or 
two side shoots are produced from the centre leader they, too, 
must be laid in on a steeper incline than the leader below it. 
Now, when the distance between the two inclining leaders ex¬ 
ceeds 10 in., a shoot coming out as near that distance as pos¬ 
sible must be secured and laid in 10 in. apart from the one 
above it ; the same applies to the space between the horizontal 
and first inclined leader. (It is not easy to get Nature to 
supply shoots exact, but careful pruning will force or help her.) 
The tree is now left another summer, when pruning must have 
attention, and it may be found that, excepting one or two more 
side shoots off the centre leader and the lengthening of exist¬ 
ing branches, no other new shoots will be required, although 
whenever the distance between two shoots exceeds or is 10 in. 
a new shoot must be secured and laid in that distance under 
the one above it. Now this season’s side shoots form the first 
of those that go direct from the centre leader to the extreme 
point of their growth without furnishing another branch, all 
others proceeding from the centre leader, and are laid to it, or, 
so to say, each inclining shoot after this one from the centre are 
laid in at an equal distance from the one under it. If this treat¬ 
ment is followed on for a few seasons a nice trained tree will 
soon be formed. 
As to pruning, this must in no case be overlooked, especially 
so with the centre leader, as if it is allowed to get away insuffi¬ 
cient shoots will be produced to supply the necessary wants ; 
and although shoots off the inclining and horizontal leaders 
are not so often needed, yet here too the pruning must be well 
looked to, or a scarcity of fruit buds will be the result, 
besides the tree having a naked-looking \appearance at the 
bottom, and on the appearance of too gross growth root pruning 
(which must not be delayed too long, or a season or two of fruit¬ 
fulness will be lost) will have to be attended to. It is best 
when doing this to operate on one side one season and on the 
other the next- By attending to these few simple rules a well, 
equally balanced tree and a fruit-bearing tree in a fruitful year 
will no doubt be the reward, for in this case does the saying 
“ As the tree is trained so will it grow ” stand good. 
J. R. B. 
Chrysanthemums : Preparing for Exhibition. 
As the time is fast approaching when the Autumn Queen is to 
be seen and shown to as near perfection as possible, perhaps 
a few hints from an old exhibitor, and a nicciem one as well, 
might be of use to beginners. 
At the time f housing the plants every care must be taken 
to keep the flower upright. A small stick from 12 in. to 
18 in. long should be placed close under the bud, and secureiy 
tied to the stem. This will support the flower as well as keep 
it in position. Often a good flower is wasted by snapping off 
when trying to twist it into shape. Calvat’s Sun is particularly 
apt to bend after housing, and if left alone till the eve of ex¬ 
hibiting cannot be got upright. This refers to the Japanese 
section. 
With regard to incurves, the sticks used while in the growing 
stage should be removed, and the plants run up to the wires of 
a vinery or Peach house. Let the head of the flower drop over, 
and it will incurve much better, provided the heat does not 
exceed 55 degrees at night. Even with ihc heads dropping over, 
it should be supported with a stick about 6 in. long. The air 
of the Chrysanthemum house must be dry and buoyant, yet 
not draughty. Shading in bright weather it very necessary— 
that is, if one requires good colour in their blooms. The house 
should also be fumigated, to prevent fly. As the blooms expand 
they should be gone over occasionally with a pair of steel 
tweezers, removing all deformed or short petals, and reversing 
those which show the wrong side. With incurves the petals will 
require putting into place. This dressing is much more effec¬ 
tive if done on the plant. Sometimes a certain bloom, required 
on the board for the sake of its colour, seems as if it will not 
develop in time ; dressing in this case is useful. With the 
tweezers carefully remove some of the hard centre. Thus, by 
giving more room, the flower will expand quickly and freely, 
and if properly done the use of the tweezers cannot be detected. 
The best time for cutting the blooms is directly after break¬ 
fast, before the sun has any power to make them flag. Directly 
they are cut all the leaves must be strippd off, or they will 
not retain their freshness. If the schedule requires foliage with 
the bloom, a portion from another part of the plant should be 
tied to the stem of the flower. 
As show day draws near, boxes and boards should be painted 
or thoroughly washed, and legs of boards made secure. The 
flowers should be placed in the cup, a piece of stick supporting 
the stem and wedged tight with a piece of cork. The tweezers 
will prove useful in reversing the petals of a half Japanese 
incurve right back. For instance, Mrs. Barkley and W. R. 
Church, if so treated, will give a rich colour to the .board, when 
otherwise it would be neither one colour nor the other, but a 
mixture of both. Having selected the finest flowers, the next 
point is arrangement. The bottom petals of the front row 
of flowers should just touch the showboard ; the second row 
should be raised with lengthening tubes to just clear the first 
row, and the back row to clear the second row, taking care that 
each of the three rows is perfectly level. The colours should 
blend harmoniously together, even if size of bloom has to be 
sacrificed. Effect is of far more value than many a young ex¬ 
hibitor imagines. Good flowers are certainly a very strong 
point, but they must be well staked to gain the highest awards. 
The last point is to see that each bloom is clearly and correctly 
labelled. Mums. 
The King Plants a Mulberry Tree.— Before leaving Ruf- 
ford the King planted a Mulberry tree in the Italian garden, 
which is at the bottom of the old garden and adjoining the 
park. This beautiful garden, which was much admired by His 
Majesty, has been laid out during the last few years under the 
superintendence of Lady Savile. 
*** The prize last week in the Readers’ Competition was 
awarded Jto “ S. F. Donoghue ” for his article on “Winter 
Flowering Tree Carnations,” page 885, 
