June 29, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
439 
Fruit Growing 
Amateurs. 
8.— MEDLARS 
( Concluded.) 
FOR 
Pruning and Thinning Out 
(RANCHES. — The young tree may be 
■ own to represent a well-formed speci- 
en if pruning is duly attended to. The 
kbit of the Medlar tree is a drooping 
lie, but by judicious use of the knife 
■ery branch may be so trained that the 
ee as a whole will look like a well grown 
ak. Always take care of the leading 
ioot, cutting it back sparingly but treat¬ 
er the side branches to a more severe 
Planting near a -pond. The tree should 
be 10 ft. from the edge of the pond. 
uning. All the main branches should 
: trained so that plenty of light and air 
ill be admitted to interior of the tree, 
id, at the same time, allow of ample 
>ace for the lateral shoots on which the 
uits are borne. If overcrowding of 
ranches occurs thin out a few, cutting 
em well back to the main stem or trunk 
id smooth the wound with a sharp knife, 
ut there should not be any need for the 
itting away of large limbs if the young 
Priming an established tree. The dark 
hues show where the branches should be 
cut off. 
les are properly treated while the tree 
m its infancy. Do the pruning in the 
itumn; but take stock, as it were, of 
e condition of the tree while the leaves 
e on in summer time. You will then be 
he to form a good idea of the amount of 
uning necessary when autumn comes, 
ee figures 9 and 10). 
Feeding.—A pples, Pears and Plums 
generally get some attention as regards 
feeding, by novices even, but the Medlar 
rarely does. Nevertheless it is necessary 
to feed these trees also. 
A rich mulch of strong loam and well- 
rottecl manure at any season of the year 
— but in the autumn for preference—will 
prove highly beneficial; and weak doses 
of liquid manure given during the grow¬ 
ing period are most helpful. 
Thinning out branches. The dark lines 
shpw where to cut out brajiches to pre¬ 
vent overcrowding. 
Gathering and Storing the Fruit.— 
The inexperienced amateur may make a 
serious mistake in the gathering of the 
fruit by being too premature. The fruits 
should be quite ripe for gathering, though 
not fit for consumption. Wait until most 
of the leaves have fallen from the branches 
before gathering the fruit, but do not 
Storing Medlars on a shelf; A, sand; B, 
Medlars, stalks upwards. 
allow it to get frosted. Store the Medlars 
in a cool room on a layer of dry sand 
which has been previously washed. Flip 
the stalk in a strong solution of salt and 
water to prevent mould setting m while 
stored. Place the stalk uppermost, and 
only put one laver of fruits on the sand. 
(See figure 11). 
There are not any diseases nor insect 
pests which harm the Medlar when the 
tree, are well grown. 
The fruits must be quite soft or de¬ 
cayed before they are fit for the table. 
Prematurely gathered specimens would 
shrivel but not ripen properly. 
Varieties. — Dutch, large and well 
flavoured; Nottingham, small but highly 
flavoured; Royal, medium sized, acid 
flavour, and free bearing. 
G. 
(To be Continued.) 
-- 
Heliantl?emams. 
- Dry 
- Banks. 
The frequency with which I am asked 
by those with whom I am in correspon¬ 
dence on horticultural matters to recom¬ 
mend something capable of furnishing a 
dry bank in a sunny aspect leads me to 
recommend readers of the Gardening 
World to use Helianthemums for such a 
purpose. These are delightful little 
prostrate shrubs with small evergreen foli¬ 
age, some glaucous, and others glossy¬ 
leaved, either light or dark green, and 
with single or double flowers of various 
lovely shades of colour. The plants de¬ 
light in plenty of sun, and although of 
very dwarf stature, they make a tremen¬ 
dous amount of long, ramifying roots, 
which strike deep down to the cool, moist 
earth beneath the parched crust that is 
too dry for shallow rooted subjects. Two 
years ,ago I planted about 300 Heiianthe- 
mums on a particularly dry, steep bank 
exposed to the south-west. Several at¬ 
tempts had previously been made to clothe 
the bank, but it had been labour in vain. 
Last year throughout the scorching heat 
of summer the bank was completely car¬ 
peted with a fine carpet of refreshing 
green, and for many weeks the flowers 
-were produced so freely as to form veri-' 
table sheets of colour. A number of 
plants of each sort were grouped together, 
and the colours were graduated from pure 
white to chocolate, and from palest pink 
to rich crimson. Lemon and sulphur 
followed the white, and led on to clear 
yellow, rich orange, orange with a terra¬ 
cotta centre, and thus to chocolate. The 
pale pink was followed by pink of a 
deeper shade, then rose, red, dark red, 
and crimson. In most of the colours both 
single and double forms can be. obtained, 
and a dry bank thus furnished will quickly 
become a most striking object in the gar¬ 
den. 
Heather Bell. 
-- 
Cabbages. 
Before the era of kitchen gardens, 
scurvy was one of the diseases by which 
the English population was kept down. 
Cabbages were not known in England 
until the period of Henry VIII. George 
I. was obliged to send to Holland to pro¬ 
cure a Lettuce for his queen. The 
Greeks and Romans took the Cabbage as 
a remedy for the languor following 
inebriation. 
