46 
THE GARDENING WORLD , 
January 21, 1905. 
Hardy Fruit. 
The Peach and Nectarine — In the absence of severe frost 
the pruning of these trees may be proceeded with, and where 
the wall is wired it is convenient to cut out superfluous shoots 
before the trees are loosened, as a better idea can be formed as 
to what shoots can best be dispensed with. , If the trees were 
gone over at the end of summer after the fruit had been 
gathered, and useless wood removed with the knife, very little 
pruning will now be required ; in either case, survey the tree 
well at a distance of 6 ft. or so, where it can better be deter¬ 
mined whether a branch of some age and getting bare of young 
wood can be sacrificed to make room for more suitable wood 
for extension of the tree and likewise furnishing better fruit. 
Any necessary cuts with the saw should be smoothed afresh 
with a sharp knife, and in shortening unripe growths always 
cut when possible to a wood-bud, which is usually but not 
always the case when three buds are found together, though a 
wood-bud is much more pointed and easily detected from a 
fruit-bud, well-ripened shoots being left their entire length. 
Young trees need cutting fairly hard back if a good foundation 
is to be laid, especially maidens, shortening to within 8 in. or 
9 in. of their union with the stock, from whence three to live 
shoots should emanate to form the future tree. 
The pruning finished and gathered up, the next thing neces¬ 
sary is to cleanse the trees of any insects, which is best, done 
with a piece of sponge or soft painters’ brush, working either 
but one way, and that towards the extremity of the shoot, or 
many of the prominent buds would be knocked off. The wash 
requires to be carefully prepared, as if made strong there is a 
danger of bud-dropping. We have for several years used the 
following : To every 3 gallons of warm water add 12 oz. of soft 
soap, 2 lb. of flowers of sulphur, and l pint of quassia extract, 
thoroughly mixing the whole together and keeping it well 
stirred while using. In bad cases of black aphis it may be 
necessary to wash the trees a second time, while for brown 
scale thoroughly syringe with water at a temperature of 
130 deg. F., and after the trees are diy, apply the wash. Much, 
too, can be done with the finger and thumb in squeezing the 
large pests beforehand, these being usually found on the old 
wood and the young fiy on the growths made last season. In 
many gardens it is necessary to colour the wall every few years 
with a composition of lime (boiled), lampblack and tallow, after 
stopping-in has been done. This must destroy a host of insect 
life. 
Training the Trees. — A frequent error often committed is 
in laying in far too many shoots, or in other words, training 
them too closely together, forgetting that still another shoot 
has to be laid in a little later to provide fruiting wood for next 
year. First secure the main branches as equally as possible, 
so that neither side robs the other of the flow of sap, and then 
train in the young fruiting wood, which ought not to be closer 
than 3 in., 4 in. being better, so that light and air may play 
well among them, and the foliage have space to develop. 
Neither can there be any objection to tying young fruiting 
wood on to the bare branches, especially from the base of the 
tree, as it must be exceptionally trying for these with the full 
sun shining upon them during the hottest part of the summer. 
Guard against tight tying or nailing of the shoots, and let each 
radiate from the centre, thus forming a " fan,” which is a form 
in which all stone fruits are the better trained. This finished, 
see to the borders as to top dressing, etc., details of which were 
given a fortnight since, but avoid such work if the soil is any 
way pasty. 
Filberts. —These may still be planted, but the sooner the 
better now, as their flowering time is near. Established bushes 
if at all crowded, which they soon get if not annually attended 
to, may at this season be thinned out rather severely so that 
the sun and air can have free scope, or poor crops are the 
result. Nuts are much the best when grown on clean stems, 
thus avoiding the sucker nuisance, which quickly choke the 
centre of a bush, and as regards manuring, this may be 
applied at various seasons, but where the ground is kept clean 
dui'ing the summer with the hoe, a moderate layer of decayed 
stable manure may be forked in when the ground is workable, 
and in the case of growing on turf manurial waterings may be 
applied from the new year up to Christmas. Nuts grow very 
fast, so should be planted quite 12 ft, apart each way. Many 
defer the pruning until the small pink flowers can be seen, as 
a better guide what to cut out, arid in all cases leave a good 
percentage of male catkins. James Mayne. 
Bictcn, Devonshire. 
Among the Orchids. 
Cypripediums. — In last week’s issue I endeavoured to draw 
attention to the cooler-growing kinds of species and hybrids 
m respect to some cultural details. There are some of the 
warmer-growing kinds that may be successfully attended to for 
potting requirements—such species as C. Curtisii, C. cili'olare, 
C. callosum, and the albino form C. c. Sanderae, also C. law- 
i enceanum and C. 1. liyeanum. Some of these species cannot 
always be induced to grow satisfactorily, and many complaints 
may be heard of their deterioration. There can be no doubt 
but that there are causes for complaint, but I think a great 
deal depends on the kind of treatment afforded the plants? In 
the first place, I find that none of the tessellated foliage kinds 
of the above mentioned succeed for any lengthened period 
where excessive quantities of loam are used in the potting com¬ 
post. . In fact, I am Satisfied that the use of loam in the com¬ 
post is fatal to the well-being of the plants in the neighbour¬ 
hood of London and other districts where for the greater por¬ 
tion of the winter months the atmospheric conditions are such 
as to practically obscure the plants from the benefits of all 
rays, which are of the greatest advantage to plants that, like 
the above kinds, are found to be in an active state of growth 
during this period. 
Ihe compost under such conditions should be of the most 
porous and least moisture-retaining kind, or, in other words, 
should consist of material of such a nature that can be relied 
on to become dry in a reasonable period. I have also observed 
another item which practically helps deterioration. If we 
secure imported plants of these kinds and no attempt has been 
made to clean them of useless matter, it will be easily observed 
that the rhizome consists of a succession of growth which lias 
perhaps covered a period of many years. It is easy to see that 
there has been no attempt made to form double breaks in 
nature. If we permit the plants to continue in the same way, 
under the artificial conditions of our houses, the same tiling 
occurs, but it will be observed that in imported plants there 
are rarely more than two growths which retain their foliage,, 
nature having, no doubt, disposed of the remaining foliage 
in its own way ; but in our house these leaves are retained for 
a much greater period, even after the roots originally support¬ 
ing such growth have decayed. The result is that they derive 
their support from the proceeding growth, which naturally de¬ 
tracts from the newly developing growth, causing weakness 
accordingly. Now, if these growths are severed by division 
of the rhizome between the older growths, we find that the 
young growth immediately becomes benefited, and as a rule, 
a new growth (perhaps only a weak one 1 ) is produced from these 
older growths and an increase of stock is thus procured. 
In divisions of this kind I find the safest plan is to cut the 
rhizome asunder immediately behind the one from which the 
new growth is proceeding. If this is done when the new roots 
are making their appearance at the base of the new growth, 
they quickly became established without apparent check. I 
would advise removing the above-mentioned without disturb¬ 
ing the older growths in the pot more than is absolutely neces- 
