November 1, 1904 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
13 
a profitable lesson may be learnt as to their 
better treatment under the artificial con- 
ditions of culture. It is far too often over- 
looked that it ig not merely the flowers 
which Nature has rendered: attractive, but 
that there is a subtle harmony between 
these and the foliage and general habits 
of the plant which renders the whole a 
thing of beauty. In foliage plants, especi- _ 
ally such as are grown entirely for the 
charm of their leaves and general elegance, 
we see this element displayed, but in ama- 
teur hands it is but too frequently the case 
that an utter ignorance of the laws of 
growth leads to an equally utter marring 
of the natural grace. In rooms, for in- 
stance, the fact that all plants must per- 
force grow towards the light is totally 
ignored, and the window specimen is there- 
fore constantly being twisted and turned 
to show its best side to the room, with the 
inevitable result of contorted foliage in 
its constant endeavors at impossible read- 
justment. Nature, hitherto, despite her 
marvellous inventiveness, has failed to pro- 
duce swivel-rooted plants capable of re- 
volving and presenting themselves to dif- 
ferent points of the compass as the con- 
ventional, pot plant is often forced ta do — 
by itsowner. Although most of the hard 
and. fast lines between animals and. plants 
have been broken down by the: biologist, 
we may still accept*the fact that plants, as 
as rule, are fixtures, and this being so, the 
more we recognise it in culture, the less 
we are liable to err, and in point of fact 
the only way to grow a room plant well is 
to rigidly adhere to the rule of always keep- 
ing the same side towards the light, iden- 
tifying such side by a mark or tally. We 
recently saw a robust specimen’ of Asple- 
nium bulbiferum in a lady’s window which 
resembled a Medusa’s head, a tangle of 
snakes, rather than a graceful fern; and 
on enquiry we found some genius had told 
the lady that the proper way to make all- 
round plants was to turn them partly 
round once a day, which she had religiously 
done, with this inevitably weird effect. The 
unfolding young fronds, stiffening their 
stalks as they unrolled, had fixed each 
day’s growth at a different angle, and as 
this affected not merely the main frond 
stalks, but also all the secondary ones, 
the final result may be conceived. One 
great and essential need for proper and 
graceful development of all plants is ade- 
quate room and light. It is perfectly 
true that in the struggle for existence 
under purely natural conditions few plants 
obtain unhindered elbow-room, and: hence 
in this respect we may afford them under 
artificial, or garden, culture a great ad- 
vantage over their wild prototypes. In 
the large majority of cases, however, we 
_err in the opposite direction by crowding 
diverse plants even more closely together 
than Nature does, ag the manured soil of 
a properly kept garden naturally induces 
a lusher growth. In the wild forest we 
may see many a monarch of the woods who, 
in the course of centuries, has made room 
for himself, but the traces of the struggle 
are plain enough in gnarled and twisted 
branches, and irregular extension, and we 
perceive that if we want to fully appre- 
ciate such a tree at its best, we must seek 
it standing in solitary state in some park 
where all essentials of growth exist, and 
none of the drawbacks of a constant 
struggle to obtain them. 
AUSTRIAN BRIERS. 
It must be extremely pleasant when 
wandering in the Tyrol or Austrian Alps 
to come across a large bush of the Austrian 
“Brier, enwreathed in its rich golden or bril- 
lant copper-colored, elegantly formed 
flowers; whether the bushes be bearing 
copper-colored or yellow flowers, or pro- 
bably a mixture of the two, they possibly 
may be exceedingly beautiful. I have not 
explored these regions, but I have hunted 
roses in the Valois, and they have been 
_ disappointing, for they have not been ‘sa 
good as when under cultivation. So it is, 
probably, with! the Austeian briery the 
good soil and cultivation promotes the pro- 
duction of long shoots, which in the follow- 
ing year bear finely developed flowers to 
their whole length, as depicted in the ac- 
companying illustralion. 
The secret of their successful growth’ is 
to encourage the development of the shoots 
which are produced after flowering. If the 
plants are so cultivated as to produce full- 
sized shoots and the proper ripening of the 
wood, then refrain from pruning the shoots 
back, but bend them over and. cut out the 
two-year-old wood. They make pretty stan- 
dards, as so well exemplified in many gar- 
dens, and under favorable conditions they 
bloom satisfactorily. They, however, are 
seen to the best advantage when standards 
are formed by running up shoots from 
dwarf plants, the slender stem lending 
grace to the tree. There is no special diffi- 
culty in the production of specimens of this 
kind, the chief point being, of course, to 
commence with a vigorous dwarf that will 
produce a comparatively strong shoot. 
‘The flowers of the Austrian briers are 
single, and charming in color, one variety 
producing bright yellow flowers, while those 
of the other are bright coppery-orange. 
_ They bloom earty in the season, and last for 
a fair length of time, and are then over. 
The late Lord Petizance used the copper- 
colored form in raising his sweet-brier hy- 
brids, and succeeded in obtaining one or 
two very attractively-colored sweet-briers, 
but they do not equal the Austrian cop- 
per in brilliancy. There are two double 
forms, one being known as the Persian Yel- 
low and the other as Harrison’s Brier. 
They are both fairly double, and the last- 
named is rather the richest in color. Both 
are effective in. cluster; rather beautiful 
as individual flowers. The Scoteh Rosa 
spinoissima must be very closely allied to 
the Austrian briers, for the Double Yellow 
Scotch is very similar in appearance to 
Harvisoni. Its mid-Asian ally has flowered 
with me for the first time this season. This 
is known as Rosa Alberti, and is one of 
Mr. Albert Regel’s introductions from the 
mid-Asian plateau. 
The Orchard. 
—_o-—. 
OPERATIONS FOR NOVEMBER. 
By W. J. ALLEN. 
Up to the time of writing these notes the 
rainfall in many districts has been varg 
light during the last two months, and there 
are very few places away from the coastak 
districts where the subsoil has had @ 
thorough soaking. It therefore behoves 
the orchardist to give the cultivation of the 
soil every attention, in order to cunserve a¢ 
much as possible of the moistnre which has 
already fallen, or may fall, if he hopes. te 
see the fruit trees carry their crops toe 
maturity. 
Every orchardist should have the plough- 
ing comple:ed by this month, aud ihe o.sik 
around the trees should have been. welE 
loosened up with either the fork-hov vr 
garden fork, thus putting this portion of 
the soil which cannot be worked with th 
cultivator into perfect condition. 
All apple and pear trees should havea 
thorough spraying with either arsenite of 
soda or Paris green solution. If ic is 
desired to add bluestone to the arsenite of 
soda solution, 3 lb. of bluestone may be: 
dissolved in 1 gallon of hot water, and 
when thoroughly dissolved can be made ug 
to 20 gallons by the addition of more water... 
Now take.) pint of the stock solution and. 
dilute to 20 gallons with water tu which & 
lb. of fresh slaked lime has been added, 
and pour this into the bluestone mixture, 
thus making the whole up to 40 ygativiis. 
The Paris green may be mixed as fol- 
lows :—Mix 3 ounces of Paris green with: & 
little water su as to bring it to a paste as It 
mixing mustard, and to this ad? 3 tb of 
best quicklime; then dilute to 40, but if 
bluestone is to be added to this mixture it 
will be necessary to add 4 lb. of lime to the 
Paris green and dilute to only 20 gallons. 
This must then be poured into tho 2 
gallons in which the bluestone has bear 
mixed. The lime-water and Paris green or 
arsenite of soda must be poured into the 
copper solutiun, and never the copper soln- 
tion into the lime- water, etc. : 
I may state that the arsenite of soda. 
mixed as abuve gave splendid results last. 
year. Uf course several applications are 
necessary to keep the moth in check. The 
trees must also be bandaged and all fallem 
fruit destroyed to obtain best results. If the 
Copper sulphate is added to the above 
sprays it will assist in checking the ravages 
of apple-scab and any other fungus diseases 
which nay be troublesome. It will be 
found that some varieties bluvim earher 
than others, aud thereture it will Us inpos— 
sible tu spray all trees af the Same time. © 
At all times see that the sulutiuns are 
thor.uphly strained, so that they will not 
¢log the spray-pamp later on, In spraying, 
use 6s fine a uvzzle as possible, tae object 
being tu cuver the tree with as fine a mist 
88 possible without avin gs Buy ui tie solu- 
tiun running off, 
All tandages should be removed and 
examined every ten days after the grubs 
have made their appearance, and all grubs 
and chrysalids destruyed by culung Uses tae 
halves with a sharp knife carried tur ther 
purpose. 
