52 
JOUBiYAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  18,  1900, 
DECADENCE  IN  WALL  TREES. 
How  forcibly  does  the  wall  of  beautiful  Pears,  photographically 
represented  on  page  3  two  weeks  ago,  contrast  with  the  curious  exami  les 
of  trained  trees  which  occupy  so  many  garden  walls  in  these 
modern  days !  Yet  the  present  quick  method  of  covering  walls,  the 
upper  parts  especially,  has  no  lack  of  defenders,  who  like  to  regard 
themselves  as  advanced  gardeners.  “  Advanced  ”  they  no  doubt 
are  in  many  things,  but  in  the  training  of  wall  trees  they  are  at 
ihe  least  a  generation  behind  the  old  past  masters  in  the  art  of 
gardening. 
The  modern  go-aheads  are  in  such  a  hurry  that  they  have  no 
time  to  train  the  branches  well  and  at  proper  distances,  so  they  flatten 
them  against  the  wall  as  best  they  can.  A  few  may  be  straight,  but 
most  of  them  will  be  the  other  way.  By  this  so-called  quickly- 
covering  space  system,  which  they  think  so  good,  we  are  almost 
certain  to  see,  during  the  first  two  or  three  years,  the  strong  branches 
where  the  weaker  ought  to  he,  and  these  latter  in  the  rightful  places 
of  the  strong.  And  then  what  ?  J ust  this :  In  a  few  more  years 
the  weaker  lower  branches  dwindling  away,  and  the  stronger  rising 
luxuriantly  3  or  4  feet  above  the  top  of  the  wall  when  the  “  summer 
pruning”  (save  the  mark!)  is  done  in  or  about  September.  If  you 
have  the  temerity  to  whisper  that  the  trees  appear  to  have  exalted 
notions,  and  do  not  seem  to  like  humbling  themselves  by  growing 
along  the  lower  part  of  the  wall,  you  will  most  likely  be  told  “  they 
always  was  so,”  and  then  you  may  listen  for  a  delightful  example  of 
making  a  virtue  of  necessity.  “  Yes,  they  always  was  so;  but  they 
make  fine  room  for  Tomatoes.  We  have  to  go  in  for  ‘stuff’  here,  I 
can  tell  you.” 
Let  us  reflect  a  moment.  Suppose  Mr.  Luckhurst,  instead  of 
selecting  the  right  number  of  branches  and  knowing  how  to  treat 
them  for  attaining  his  object,  had  allowed  twice  the  number  to  extend 
as  soon  as  they  could  after  planting  and  let  them  go  where  they 
would  the  most  easily ;  then  imagine  his  filling  the  inevitable  blanks 
on  the  lower  part  of  the  wall  between  them  with  Tomatoes,  and 
nearly  thirty  years  afterwards  showing,  the  result  in  a  photograph. 
The  wall  must  in  this  case  have  been  a  veritable  eyesore,  and  not 
half  of  it  clothed  with  fruitful  wood;  whereas  now,  as  few  will 
deny,  it  is  strikingly  ornamental — the  branches  and  spurs  uniform 
in  vigour  in  every  part  and  capable  of  bearing  as  many  fruits  as 
trees  could  carry.  They  are  splendid  examples  of  cultural  skill 
carried  out  on  intelligent  lines  and  represent  productiveness  with 
economy.  . 
The  last  word  may  startle  some  advocates  of  the  express  system 
who  “  run  up  ”  young  Pear  and  other  fruit  tree  branches  too  close  by 
half  as  tar  as  ihey  will  go,  and  “  tack  ”  them  here  and  there  with 
ail  due  celerity  for  getting  “  ropes  of  fruit  ”  in  the  least  possible  time, 
It  is  in  reality  an  exhaustive  practice.  The  crushed  and  crowded 
leaves  are  debilitated,  and  consequently  the  resources  of  the  soil 
cannot  be  utilised  by  conversion  into  the  first  essentials  of  health 
and  fruitfulness  for  storage  in  the  stems  and  buds.  Thus  the  bearing 
parts  are  quickly  worn  out,  and  have  to  be  removed  and  others 
“laid  in”  to  take  their  places.  With  fewer  and  better  managed 
branches  from  the  first,  the  leaves  of  these  branches  have  twice  the 
elaborative  power  of  those  which  have  had  no  chance  of  proper 
development. 
No  man  who  really  understands  the  art  of  training  trees  into 
specimens  of  beauty  and  fruitfulness— for  these  desiderata  are  not  in 
tbe  least  antagonistic — can  inspect  a  number  of  well  formed  trees  in 
any  of  our  leading  nurseries  without  a  feeling  of  sadness  creeping  over 
him  when  he  is  compelled  to  think  that  many,  if  not  the  majority  of 
the  trees  are  destined  to  be  spoiled.  It  is  true  that  some  nursery 
trees  have  more  branches  than  they  ought  to  have,  as  these  are  to  be 
seen  only  4  to  6  inches  apart.  They  would  be  better  if  only  half  the 
number,  and  the  first  thing  a  man  like  Mr.  Luckhurst  would  do 
would  be  to  correct  them.  Unfortunately  too. many  into  whose  bands 
such  trees  fall  do  nothing  of  the  kind.  They  not  only  retain  every 
branch  its  full  length,  and  do  not  shorten  the  leader  if  4  feet  long, 
but  as  soon  as  they  can  “  tack  in  ”  still  more  growths  between  the 
already  too  numerous  mains,  and  thus  lay  the  foundation  for  ruining 
the  tree. 
It  is  a  simple  fact  that  hundreds,  aye  !  thousands  of  trees,  which 
had  been  given  a  good  start  by  skilled  nurserymen,  are  subsequently 
ruined,  and  the  wall  space  they  were  intended  to  cover  ornamentally 
and  profitably  never  will  be  covered  by  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
more  than  half  of  the  trees  will,  by  the  time  they  have  been  in  their 
permanent  position  three  or  four  years,  be  in  such  a  deplorable  state 
that  even  the  nurseryman  himself  could  not  remodel  them  otherwise 
than  by  “  stumping,”  or  cutting  the  branches  boldly  back  and  forcing 
latent  buds,  if  possible,  and  obtaining  new  growths  from  the  base  for 
a  new  start ;  but  this  desire  he  would  find  difficult  to  accomplish, 
because  some  of  the  lower  and  weaker  branches  would  be  so  stunted 
and  indurated,  with  weak  blossom  buds  along  their  entire  length  and  a 
terminal  cluster  at  the  extremity,  that  there  would  not  be  a  S)ld  wood 
bud  to  cut  back  to  with  any  confidence  of  its  producing  a  strong 
“  kind  ”  growth  for  developing  into  a  satisfactory  branch  ;  while  on 
the  upper  part  of  the  tree  the  branches  would  be  four  times  more 
rampant  than  they  ought  to  be  in  comparison  with  the  stunted  weak¬ 
lings  below  them. 
Two  gardens  are  known  at  this  moment  to  the  writer  in  which 
a  hundred  young  wall  trees  were  planted  four  years  ago.  All  the 
dwarf  trees,  and  excellent  trees  they  were,  had  leaders  and  side 
branches.  The  leaders  have  not  been  shortened  yet.  Some  of  them, 
that  did  not  form  terminal  fruit  buds  for  arresting  their  further 
progress,  are  at  the  top  of  the  wall,  and  have  thrown  a  side  branch 
here  and  there  of  varying  lengths  and  irregular  distances,  while  most 
of  the  lower  branches  are  so  thin,  lean,  and  stunted  that  they  cannot 
do  otherwise  but  dwindle  away,  and  leave  more  room  than  before 
for  the  precious  Tomatoes.  “Good  crop,  isn’t  it?”  observed  one  of 
the  Tomato  trainers,  taking  no  notice  of  and  making  no  reference  to 
the  smothered  lower  parts  of  the  trees  and  the  rampant  unruly  growths 
above. 
The  splendid  Pear  wall  referred  to — probably  the  finest  of  the 
kind  in  the  kingdom — ought  to  prove  an  eye-opener  to  students  of 
a  neglected  art.  Let  them  look  at  the  illustration  on  page  ^3  read 
the  accompanying  notes  with  care,  and  regard  the  le.sson  conveyed 
as  a  new  year’s  gift  not  to  be  lightly  disregarded.  They  will  there 
see  that  the  branches  are  the  longest  at  the  base,  and  decrease  in 
length  upwards ;  that  every  inch  of  a  wall  may  be  furnished  with 
bearing  wood  instead  of  having  the  top-heavy  trees  that  are  so 
common.  They  will  see  that  with  the  branches  not  less  than  a  foot 
apart  there  is  space  for  leaf-development,  that  sap- pressure  is  nicely 
balanced  by  the  horizontal  and  vertical  parts,  and  that  the  spurs  are 
consequently  equalised  in  strength;  and  moreover  that  trees  thus 
formed  require  less  time  in  attention  to  disbudding,  pruning,  cleansing, 
and  occasionally  refixing  the  branches  than  must  be  involved  in 
conducting  those  operations  when  twice  or  thrice  as  many  so-called 
branches  have  to  be  treated.  Mr.  Luckhurst  has  done  a  public  service 
by  his  effective  object  lesson,  and  he  can  add  to  its  value  and  tho 
obligation  of  many  readers  by  showing  the  working  details  for  building 
up  of  such  distinctly  handsome,  serviceable,  and  entirely  meritorious 
trees. — A.  N.  0. 
STAPELIA  ASTERIAS. 
Of  all  the  members  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  there  is  scarcely  any 
which  exceeds  the  Stapelias  in  quaiutness  of  outline  and  floral  extra¬ 
vagance.  They  are  included  in  an  exhibition  section  known  as 
eucculenti,  and  which  also  comprises  the  Cactus,  the  Cereus,  the  House 
Leek  (Sempervivum),  the  Crassula,  the  Echeveria,  the  Mesembry- 
anthemum,  the  Opuntia,  arid  many  others  of  high-sounding  titles. 
The  Starfish  Stapelia,  or,  as  it  is  frequently  designated,  the 
Toad  Flower,  ought  most  certainly  to  have  a  place  in  all  collections 
of  plants  whose  owners  desire  to  possess  the  curious  as  well  as  the 
beautiful.  As  may  be  seen  in  the  illustration  (fig.  10),  the  flower  is  very 
striking.  The  colour  is  a  purple  brown,  mottled  with  yellowish  white. 
Stapelias,  like  most  succulenti,  are  not  fastidious  in  the  matter  of  soil, 
liking  a  sandy  one,  in  which  plenty  of  lime  rubbish  has  been  mixed  to 
make  it  porous.  They  should  be  kept  on  a  shelf  well  up  to  the  light, 
and  given  very  little  water  in  the  winter  time,  but  abundance  in  the 
summer,  sprinkling  the  plants,  and  not  watering  at  the  roots.  On 
summer  afternoons  they  should  be  shut  up  in  a  close  moist  atmosphere, 
when  the  odour  emitted  is  peculiarly  noticeable. 
NOTES  ON  SEAKALE  CULTURE. 
This  hardy  perennial  of  our  kitchen  gardens  is  a  native  of  the 
seaside,  and  is  found  growing  on  the  shores  of  Britain.  There  are 
several  varieties,  the  best  of  which  is  Lily  White,  which  is  chiefly 
esteemed  because  of  the  absence  of  the  purple  tip  to  the  shoots. 
Beddard’s  Improved  is  another  good  variety,  a  cross  between  Lily 
White  and  the  old  purple  variety,  combining  the  best  characteristics 
of  both. 
All  the  varieties  may  be  raised  from  seed,  though  it  is  a  slower 
method  than  planting  roots.  Seed  should  be  sown  in  March,  preparing 
the  soil  deeply  previously.  Sow  in  rows  18  inches  apart,  making  the 
soil  fine,  and  drawing  drills  with  a  hoe  or  rake.  When  the  seedlings 
push  through  the  soil  hoe  between  the  rows  slightly  to  encourage 
growth,  and  thin  the  plants  as  soon  as  possible  to  9  inches  asunder. 
The  following  season  lift  the  roots  and  replant,  or  what  may  be  better, 
lift  every  other  root  and  plant  these  in  rows  18  inches  to  2  feet  apart, 
the  roots  being  placed  15  inches  asunder.  The  following  season  the 
roots  will  be  strong  enough  to  force,  or  the  crowns  may  be  covered 
