754 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 5, 1908 
f^oot Pruning of Fruit Trees. 
nothing. I throw out the hint hoping 
it may lead to practical results. 
I should like to draw attention to the 
rugosa family of Roses, and to advise 
the amateur to buy his standards on 
rugosa stocks, as the vigorous vitality of 
the latter vastly improves the Roses 
grafted thereon. 
This tribe has at present but a very 
limited range, and is much too vigorous 
for very small gardens, but the plants 
flower so abundantly early and late, and 
have such nearly evergreen foliage with 
a fine display of Rose apples lasting well 
into the winter, that it is desirable to 
have a few specimens in every garden. 
Conrad F. Meyer is as fine and perfect 
in every way as La France, and is a 
necessity to any garden which wants a 
good and long display. Probably Rose 
growers will, in due time, give us a 
greater variety of these splendid plants. 
The study of these points is exceedingly 
interesting and from all points of view 
is also profitable. 
-4^4- 
Planting Bulbs 
Under Fruit Trees. 
By far the greatest portion of lovers 
of a garden are those whose gardens are 
of a very limited area. Every inch is of 
importance, especially to the suburban 
gardener. 
Last autumn I saw in a friend’s garden 
at New Southgate an instance of what 
may be obtained in one season from one 
of those gardens, and was astonished, and 
I am convinced more interesting things 
were grown than in many gardens twenty 
times as large. 
Often the owner enjoys growing bush 
fruit, and most frequently these are in 
sight of the windows. In spring, when 
leafless, much pleasure may be had by 
growing bulbs under them in patches. 
Snowdrops, Crocuses, Daffodils, Iris 
reticulata, the early Snowflakes, Scillas, 
Chionodoxas, and many other things. It 
is easy to mark the spots by putting an 
iron or wooden peg in the centre. When 
surfacing or manuring the bushes the 
spots may be seen by the peg. In this 
way they may remain in the ground, see¬ 
ing the foliage is ripening off by the 
time the bushes are in full leaf. I grow 
them most successfully in this way. I 
have seen Snowdrops growing up from 
amongst Nut bushes splendidly, and go 
on for 20 years. In a large Norfolk 
garden I saw them a mass of bloom in 
a bed of nettles. West Surrey. 
-- 
A New Book for Rose Growers. 
A book of much interest to Rose 
growers, entitled “ Roses and Rose Grow¬ 
ing,” by Miss Rose G. Kingsley, author 
of “Eversley Gardens,” will be published 
immediately by Messrs. Whittaker and 
Co. It is an opportune moment for such 
a book, from now to March being the 
planting season for Roses. The book 
will be illustrated with 28 coloured plates 
from nature, and will be published at a 
reasonable price to bring it within the 
reach of all amateur gardeners. 
In rich soils, Apples, Pears, Plums, 
Cherries and other trees are liable to 
grow into a mass of leaves and young 
wood after having been planted three or 
four years. Naturally some fruit trees 
are of vigorous growth, but when they 
find themselves in rich soil they proceed 
to establish themselves on a large basis— 
that is, they make growth suitable for 
the foundation of what would ultimately 
become a large tree. This is contrary 
to the desire of the fruit grower, but es¬ 
pecially those having only small gardens 
or a small amount of space to devote to 
fruit. Happily this state of matters can 
be counteracted by root-pruning. In 
nurseries trees are frequently lifted in 
order to give them more room or to plant 
those closer together which occupy the 
ground in a scattered way after the rest 
of the stock has been sold. This trans¬ 
planting of young trees practically serves 
the same purpose as the root-pruning of 
an older tree. In private gardens root- 
pruning is not so much practised in cer¬ 
tain places as it might be, and, least of 
N 
all, perhaps, in the small gardens ; 
tached to villas and cottages. 
Fig. r of the accompanying illustrate 
shows a pyramid Pear tree that is ma 
ing too much wood to fruit well. Tho 
who understand the work would set abo 
root-pruning this tree in order to corre 
it. This may be done during autumn 
winter, the earlier the better, after it c; 
be done with safety to the tree. If t! 
Fig. 2 shows a half-circle excavated. 
tree has been some years in its positio 
and the grower has some doubt as to tl 
safety of doing the root-pruning entire 
at one time, he would extend it over t\ 
years. A tree that had only been plant' 
three or four years would not hurt if t' 
root-pruning was completed at one ai 
the same time, but with a tree twenty 
thirty years old the case would 
different. 
The plan is to take out a trench at 
certain distance from the trunk accor 
ing to the size and age of the same, i 5 
the strong roots that pass through tl 
are cut. Fig. 2 shows a half circle th 
has been excavated in this way. Fig., 
shows large roots being cut with a sm; 
saw. A saw used in this way will lea * 1 
a more or less ragged end to the rc: 
that has been cut. It should be trimmf. 
however, wdth a sharp knife, so as to lea' 
no ragged ends for holding an und' 
amount of moisture or causing decay. 
Fig 4 shows a portion of a trench th: 
has been filled up with fresh soil afr 
the root-pruning has been completed, f 
the natural soil is poor this gives an c- 
portunity of introducing some better sil 
in order to encourage the production f 
numerous fibrous roots at the cut. en- 
of the strong roots. Fig. 5 shows t 
tree theoretically too large to be cor 
pletely root-pruned at one time. H;t 
of the circle has been taken out, and t' 
dotted lines show' the other half that bjs 
to be taken out twelve months afterwai, 
in order to complete the root-pruning, 
a large tree wdth safety. 
