January ig, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
35 
THE DWARF .... 
Pomegranate. 
(Punica Granatum nana.) 
Many of our readers are familiar with 
he Pomegranate as it appears in the fruit 
;hops, but a smaller number have ever 
seen a Pomegranate tree growing. The 
ordinary form of this tree is so nearly 
hardy in this country that it lives against 
L wa ii in the southern counties and more 
Favoured spots, and even occasionally 
produces a few of its scarlet blooms. As 
far as we are aware it has not fruited in 
this country, but as an ornamental sub¬ 
ject it would be quite as interesting as 
■he Myrtle, if it would flower more freely. 
The dwarf form of the tree under 
notice blooms much more freely even in 
pots or tubs, according to the size of the 
plant. We have seen many very pretty 
trees only 3ft. high and growing in eight 
or ten inch pots, yet furnished with plenty 
of flowers and buds on the little round 
heads. Such plants are useful for stand¬ 
ing on the pathway leading to the dwelling 
house, on the steps by the front door, or 
on balconies by the house. 
Those who would like to grow it would 
find it a suitable subject for planting 
against low, sheltered, and warm walls, 
which it would cover in a pleasing and 
interesting way. The plant produces a 
large number of twiggy shoots, thickly 
In the more favoured parts of the 
country the plant may be kept out of 
doors all winter, but those who grow them 
in pots for the purposes above mentioned 
could manage to secure a place for it in 
the greenhouse or in a cold frame or pit 
during winter. As the leaves fall off, 
any out of the way corner of the house 
would serve to shelter it in winter until it 
commences growing again in spring. 
Those who would like to give the plant a 
trial should make a point of securing the 
dwarf variety above named, as it flowers 
much more freely than the 'type. 
-- 
Firm Planting of Fruit Trf.es. — In a 
recent lecture delivered by Mr. S. M. 
Pickering, F.R.S., director of Ridgemont 
Experimental Fruit Farm, he said as the 
result of practical experiments extending 
over twelve years, there was one item of 
practical utility' which they might re¬ 
member, and that was the stamping of the 
The Dwarf Pomegranate iPunica Granatum nana). 
quite a small state. The accompanying 
illustration represents a plant growing on 
the low foundation walls of a porch of the 
T-range at Kew. This may be considered 
a specimen of large size, as it is about 
4ft. high and twice as wide. . The dwarf 
Pomegranate is really a very old plant, 
but somehow or other , very' few people 
have recognised its value in this country . 
Our neighbours, the French, use it veiy 
largely in the form of small standards m 
furnished with small lanceolate leaves, not 
unlike those of the Myrtle, but more 
pointed. The plant figured bore a large 
number of buds and fully expanded 
flowers, though the camera fails to show 
them so well as might be, owing to their 
rich scarlet colour which comes out black, 
and therefore is mostly hidden amongst the 
leaves. At the ends of the shoots round 
the top of the plant, however, a number 
of the flowers and buds may be noticed. 
\Maclaren <S^ Sons. 
root into the ground. Mr. Stevens, of 
Egerton, in a discussion that followed the 
lecture, stated that as an experiment forty 
years ago he and his brother planted three 
Damson trees each. His own were put in 
in the ordinary way. but his brother trod 
each tree, so much so, that he thought 
they' could not live. The result, however, 
was that those that were rammed were 
alive to-day, and the three he planted died 
off at once. 
