od 
2 
‘tember the plant should be pruned. 
12 
BRUGMANSIA SUAVEOLENS. 
The Brugmansia should be kept fairly 
dry throughout the winter in order to thio- 
roughly ripen the wood. This will result 
in all the leaves falling, but you need not 
ecncern yourself about that. Then, in 
the latter part of August or early in Sep- 
in 
carrying this out cut away any old and 
exhausted wood, and cut back the vigor- 
ous shoots to within one or two ‘eyes from 
their base, always, of course, bearing in 
mind that one. object of pruning is to 
ensure as symmetrical a shaped plant as 
possible. With the return of spring more 
water may be given, and on bright days 
2 syringing will be beneficial. 
The flowers are white and extremely 
fragrant. From nearly the centre of the 
bulb the flower stem issues and attains 15 
inches in length or so, and at this level are 
a number of flower buds arranged in an. 
erect umbel.. The individual blossoms are 
composed of along tube. At the end of 
this tube the blosscms open out after the 
manner of a single tuberose, much longer 
and larger, however, and more elegant in 
form. 
PRIMROSES. 
Most charming of spring flowers are the 
Primroses, and it is questionable if any are 
more beautiful than the wild blossoms cf 
our fields and woodlands. In moving some 
clumps a few months ago I took up a quan- 
tity of self-sown young plants, and these 
were planted cut by themselves and have 
now attained a gcod size, and I purpose 
: planting them under a hedgerow in the gar- 
den. Few grow the common field sorts, 
perhaps Decause they are common, but in 
spring they flower freely in the garden with 
finer blooms, and on banks and hedgerows 
have a pretty effect—WoopBastTwick. 
) COMMON MUSK IN OPEN BORDER. 
During this season Ihave been much 
pleased with a large patch of musk grow- 
ing in a shady border here in kitchen gar- 
den. Some two years ago this was thrown 
out with some goil fromi the potting bench. 
On the wall above wallflowers are growing 
the seeds drop and sow themselves amongst 
the musk roots. During this summer the 
musk has found the wallflower stems a good 
support, and has climbed up a foot or more, 
spreading all over the wallflowers. For 
many weeks this was a sheet of yellow 
several feet across, and nothing could be 
more lovely. The musk roots get no pro- 
tection in winter or assistance in any way. 
Musk may be used as a carpet to many 
things with the best results—J. C. 
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OPERATIONS FOR JUNE. 
— 
Although the best time for planting is 
past the majority of orchardists will -till 
‘have to do this work. Presuming the 
ground to be in readiness and the trees to 
have arrived from the nursery, the holes 
should be opened as expeditiously as pos- 
sible. These cannct be made too large, 
although 2 ft. deep and 4 ft. across is large 
enough asarule. Before placing the tree 
in position sufficient soil should be rlaced 
in the hole to form a mound in the centre, 
rising to within 3 in. cf the ground ievel. 
On this the plant is set with its roots 
pointing downwards, in which’ position they 
are kept until covered. The hole is then 
filled and the soil well trodden, leaving a 
hollow round the tree about 2 in. deep. The 
pruning of trees should be brought to a 
finish during the month. Very few fruit 
spurs should be left on young pear and 
apple trees for the first four seasons, and if 
through injudicious pruning any consider- 
able number of such spurs have formed, 
most of them should be cut off close to the 
branch.. There is no harm in allowing a 
fruit or two to develop, either out of 
curiosity or to test the variety, but to allow 
trees so .\young to bear full crops is a quick 
way of destroying them. Now that a cer- 
tain preventive of the codlin moth pest: 
has been found, it behoves all crowers to 
adopt a uniform method of pruning to suit 
the reach of the spraying machines, and it 
is agreed that low trees; 7 to 8 ft. high, can 
be manipulated more effectively than taller 
cnes. This method will also allow pruning 
cperaticns to be carried out more expedi- 
tiously. It will be necessary to prevent 
any crowding of branches; each one should 
be quite clear of the other, with some 12 
in. at least of space between all fruit-bear- 
ing parts, so the spray may be able to setile 
upon every individual flower. In the case 
of young trees that have not commenced 
bearing as much growth as possible should 
be allowed to develop, so long as the 
future main branches are not interfered 
with, and do not, as is usually done, prune 
a young tree as though it was an aged cne 
in full bearing. There are thus two ex- 
tremes to be avoided in pruning young 
trees—one is allowing them to bear at too 
young an age, and the other not to cut 
away any more wood than is absolutely 
necessary until they arrive at a bearing 
age. 
PLANTING AN APPLE ORCHARD. 
Selection of soil is one of the first con- 
siderations. Without a 
to hold fertility, apple-growing i is not like 
ly to be profitable. A sandy soil through - 
out should be rejected, a sandy surface =oi| 
with a clay subsoil is one of the best. A 
good, rich, deep loam, capable of produc- 
ing 70 bushels corn, is about right: (writes 
Dr. Mayer in the American Agriculturist). 
- formed. 
: deep clay subsoil » 
June 1, 1905 
If not up to that standard of fertility be 
prepared to fertilise at once or don’t plant. 
Apples can be grown on nearly all soils, 
but not profitably in a commercial way. 
Farmers should plant a few ‘trees, no mat- 
ter what kind of soil they have. The pre- 
fitable orchard depends much on location. 
A. summit should be ayoided, but enough 
elevation and adjoining slope is desirable 
to have thorough air and water drainage 
always. 
The soil should be thoroughly abingical, 
or, if for only a few trees, spaded. In 
one instance we lost at least three years 
by not haying the ground in condition at 
time of planting. Merely digging ai hole 
large enough to receive the roots is not suf- 
ficient. A complete surface coat of loose, 
fine soil is necessary to secure a _ good 
growth. As to variety, locality will. very 
largely determine the choice. Those 
known to succeed in a given locality will 
be safest, as a rule, though new and old 
varieties, a few of each, should be tried, 
and may be profitable, even though they 
themselves produce but little fruit. They 
may be good pollenisers; and we should 
remember the experiment stations do not 
have a variety of soils, and can’t do every- 
thing. Varieties known to produce fruit 
of very poor quality should never be plan- 
ted, no matter how showy or productive. 
Such varieties do more to demoralise the 
market than all other causes combined. 
There are many varieties, both productive 
and good. | 
In selecting trees for planting, I would 
reject a tree with roots all to one side, no 
matter how symmetrical ‘the top. Such 
a tree, no doubt, would grow as well for a 
few years as any other, but the chances 
-are that the root growth would continue 
mainly on one side, and before the tree 
would become large enough to bear a gocd 
crop some storm would lay it low. We 
have an orchard planted 23 years ago, in 
which a number of such trees failed after 
six or more years, and now the orchard 
has an uneven appearance, to say nothing 
about the loss cf many crops of fruit. Al] 
mutilated roots should be cut off smooth, 
no more than necessary to secure a cut 
in the sound parts, as thati favors the for- 
mation of new roots. The crushed cr 
mangled part is likely after some time to 
die, and Nature’s efforts and time may 
be lost before she determines which shall 
grow or decay. As to the top, I care very 
little, if the roots are all right and evenly 
distributed around the tree. We cut back 
soverely, and the most objectionable part 
cf a fork should always be cut away. If 
the reots are right the top will be easily 
We firm the soi] over and about 
the roots with the foot and full weight of 
a heavy man, finishing with 2 or 3 in. of 
fine soil, as nearly as possible on ai level 
with the general surface. Thorough cul- 
tivation, should follow the planting for 
many years. Never grow winter grains as 
an orchard crop. The plough should not 
cut the roots of the young trees. Not a 
speck of bark should at any time he in- 
