642 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 28, 1907. 
are lifted upwards. The wasps are devour¬ 
ing them. Our gardener has been over the 
tree and gathered a great many, but as all 
our fruit is small, no doubt these are. I 
shall be so glad if you will tell me all about 
these Pears. Are they a dessert Pear? Will 
they go mellow when fit to eat, as Wil¬ 
liam’s? What is the best thing to do to all 
the trees to make them produce larger fruit? 
They are all fairly young, having been 
planted about twenty years. I hope you in¬ 
clude names of fruit in your correspondence 
oolumn. I usually read only about the 
flowers. (Blakenham, Suffolk.) 
The Pear you sent us was Beurre d’Aman- 
lis. The fruits are ripe in September. They 
become tender and juicy, but although not 
highly flavoured they make-pleasing eating. 
It should be eaten before it becomes mellow 
in the same way or to the same extent as 
William’s. The variety is valuable on ac¬ 
count of its earliness, and may be grown 
upon a wall or as a standard. It is a heavy 
bearer. Your gardener did right in gather¬ 
ing those which separated from the tree 
readily upon lifting them up. Another test 
of ripeness is to cut one open and see 
whether the seeds are brown or black, as 
that is a test of maturity. If they were not 
ripe the seeds would he white. You wall 
find they are fit to use after they have lain 
a few days in the store-room or fruit-room. 
It is a dessert variety. To get large fruits 
from your trees you should keep the branches 
properly thinned so as to let in plenty of 
light and air to all parts of the tree. If the 
fruits are produced in clusters, you should 
remove all but the best fruit. If this is done 
in July, or even a little earlier, after you 
see which fruits are going to grow well, the 
remaining ones will attain the Largest size 
of which they are capable. During July and 
August it would also increase the size of the 
fruits in a dry season if you give the trees 
a good watering now and again. Proper 
thinning of the branches and the fruit will, 
however, enable you to get good useful fruit 
from trees only 20 years old. The branches 
may be thinned at the present time, because 
when in full leaf you can see where they 
are too thick, although it may be done at 
anv time during winter. You do' not tell us 
whether' the trees are on grass or on soil 
that is kept clean or cultivated for some 
other plants. If the ground is cultivated it 
should be well stirred throughout the sum¬ 
mer season and fed in winter by means of 
farmyard manure or artificial manures. If 
on grass top dressings could be given in 
winter or early spring. 
2 239. Standard Apple Tree Badly 
Ringed. 
Two years ago I planted a number of 
fruit trees, all of which have done well, 
with the exception of a standard of Cox’s 
Orange Apple, which, in the carriage home, 
got badly barked just below the head. This 
year it has borne about a dozen Apples, and 
now I have picked them. The leaves and 
wood are fast dying. What I want to know 
is, can I cut that head right off and graft 
on below this place that is barked.? If so, 
would you kindly inform me the time, and 
explain, as clearly as you can, the opera¬ 
tion? Considering the tree is so young, is 
it worth while doing it at all ? Should 
standard Apples at the above age be pruned 
back about a third of this season’s growth, 
provided that growth, of course, is healthy 
and strong? (H. E. Whittell, Kent.) 
If the stem of the tree is quite healthv be¬ 
low the portion that is barked, it would be 
well worth your while to put another head 
on it. It could be cut to the base of the 
damaged portion towards the end of March 
and then grafted at that time. Shoots to 
graft upon it should be cut in February or 
earlier, and laid in soil in some shady situa¬ 
tion, and they will be in good condition for 
grafting at the end of March. It is evident 
that Cox’s Orange Pippin would succeed in 
your garden, and that is all the more reason 
why you should use that variety again to 
graft below the damaged portion. After 
cutting oft the dead portion you can then 
proceed to re-graft it by cutting off a portion 
of the bark about as wide as the shoot you 
intend to graft on to it. The graft or scion 
should be trimmed with a sharp knife so as 
to fit exactly to the cut portion on the stock. 
If the bark is rather thick it will be suffi¬ 
cient if you trim the graft so as to leave 
very little wood and cut out a strip of hark 
from the stock, and just sufficiently wide to 
take the graft. This form of grafting is 
termed rind grafting. While about it, you 
can put on three of these grafts at equal dis¬ 
tances all round the top of the stock, and 
that will give you three chances instead of 
one. The other standard trees you have may 
be pruned until they have formed a suffi¬ 
cient number of main branches to furnish 
the head. The exact length to cut off them 
depends very largely where you wish the 
divisions of the tree to be produced. After 
you get a sufficient number of main branches 
to form a head of the tree they may then be 
allowed to grow freely without an annual 
pruning if the trees have begun to fruit, as 
that will keep them steady. In case some 
branches are growing too strong and others 
weak they could be made more equal by 
pinching the strong ones in July and leav¬ 
ing the weak ones to grow freely. If this 
is done no pruning would be necessary in 
the case of standards after the head is 
formed, until it becomes necessary to cut out 
weak shoots where crowding is taking place. 
Judging by the drawing you sent us, the 
trees may still be cut back for one-third of 
the current season’s growth, this being done 
in winter. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
2240. Drying Helichrysums. 
I have a fine bed of Helichrysums that I 
would like to preserve for winter decoration. 
What is the best method of preserving them 
to retain their colours ? Some are orange 
and others crimson, yellow and white. (A. 
Huntley, Dorset.) 
Helichrysums, to be in their best form, 
should be cut when the heads have attained 
their full size and just commencing to 
bloom. They should not be allowed to re¬ 
main till they ripen seeds, because they lose 
their colour in the process to some extent, 
and the disc becomes so large that it detracts 
from the effectiveness of the bracts sur¬ 
rounding the heads. They become too open, 
in fact, if allowed to remain on the plants 
too long. You cannot get them all in the 
best condition on the stems, but you should 
cut them at the period when you have the 
largest number of heads in the most perfect 
condition, and those that are too far ex¬ 
panded could be trimmed away if in any 
way deteriorated. Tie them up in bunches 
of moderate size and hang them up in a 
shed or in a cool, .airy place, where the wind 
will blow upon them, but the sun cannot 
strike upon them. They should be sus¬ 
pended by strings so that the heads will 
hang downwards, and therefore dry with 
straight stems. They should be kept in th’s 
position until they have parted with their 
moisture, and if the shed is not sufficient to 
complete the drying process they could be 
placed in a shady part of your greenhouse, 
or even in' some convenient part of the 
dwelling house, where the atmosphere is dry 
and airy by the opening,of the windows. 
This will dry them before the moisture in 
the stems has time to discolour the heads. 
2 241. List of Publications. 
Kindly oblige with list of publications on 
flower culture, especially on Roses, Carna¬ 
tions and Piootees, and oblige. (J. D., Mid¬ 
lothian.) 
The list of books published from this 
office includes “ Fifty Best Roses,” price 
i^d. ; “ Select Annuals and Biennials,” 
price i^d.; “Select Dahlias,” price i^d.; 
“ Select Carnations, Picotees and Pinks,” 
2S. 2d., or in cloth 2s. gd. ; and “ Chrysan¬ 
themums : A Manual for Exhibitors and 
Growers,” 2s. 2d. At the above prices all 
are post free. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Amos Perry, Hardy Plant Farm, Enfield, 
Middlesex.—New Catalogue of Bulbs and 
Tubers. 
W. Th. Rodbard, Lapineburg Nurseries, 
Hillegom, N.r. Haarlem, Holland.—Illus¬ 
trated Catalogue of Dutch Bulbs and Plants. 
Horace J. Wright, 32, Dault Road, 
Wandsworth, London, S.W.—The Best 
Sweet Peas for 1908. 
Barrie and Brown, 39, King William 
Street, London Bridge, London, E.C.— 
Bulbs, Roots, Plants, Rose and Fruit Trees, 
Garden Requisites. 
Johs. Telkamp, Hillegom, Haarlem, Hol¬ 
land.—Holland Bulbs. 
W. Atlee Burpee and Co., Philadelphia, 
U.S.A.—Sweet Peas—Two New “ Spencers” 
for 1908. 
R. Wallace and Co., Kilnfield Gardens, 
Colchester.—Catalogue of Lilies, Hardy 
Plants, and Bulbs. 
NAMES OF PLANTS. 
(A. B. L.) 1, Helianthus multiflorus flore 
pleno; 2, Platycodon grandiflorum; 3, 
Lychnis chalcedonica flore pleno; 4, Lobelia 
syphilitica; 5, Polygonum affine. 
(Whitto) Judging from the specimen sent 
it is the H.P. Rose Mrs. John Laing. 
(J. Wallace) 1, Sedum Ewersii; 2, Sedum 
■Sieboldii variegatum; 3, Sedum speotabile; 
4, Sedum Telephium. 
(E. F. Waite) 1, Nephrolepis davallioides 
furcans ; 2, Nephrolepis Duffii; 3, Lomaria 
giba; 4, Blechnum occidentale; 5, Adian- 
tum formosum; 6, Adiantum Ghiesbregntii. 
(Chas. Warren) 1, Mentha Requieni; 2, 
Sedum glaucum^-3, Sedum lydium ; 4, Saxi- 
fraga Aizoon var.; 5, Sempervivum cal- 
careum. 
(E. B. Williamson) 1, Impatiens Sultani ; 
2, Oarex Morovii variegata ; 3, Miscanthus 
japonicus variegatus; 4, Carex brunnea 
variegata; 5, Cyperus Grantii. 
— ♦♦4 - 
Policeman as Horticulturist. ( 
At the Pyecombe Horticultural Show 
the champion exhibitor proved to be 
Police-constable Geall, the village police¬ 
man. He was warmly complimented on 
his good fortune by Sir Henry Aubrey- 
Fletcher, M.P., who presented the prizes. 
Carnation Mrs. T. Coulthwaite. 
The flowers of this hardy variety dre f 
large size, pure white, clove scented and 
freely produced. The calyx is not liable 
to burst. Award of Merit by the R.H.S. 
on 3rd September, when shown by Mr. 
Peter Blair, Trentham Park Gardens, 
Trentham. 
Dahlias for Potatos. 
“When, about a hundred years ago, the 
Dahlia was first brought from Mexico to j 
England by the Swedish botanist, Dr. 
Dahl, it was thought that the tuberous 
roots might be used as a kitchen vege¬ 
table like Potatos, but it was found that: 
they did not improve in this respect under 
cultivation, but remained hard and un¬ 
palatable. 
